Some Recently Recorded Accessions

S o m e o f t h e M ore R e c e n tly R e c o rd e d I n t e re st in g a n d V a l u a b le A c c essio n s

by Edouard A. Stackpole IT WOULD REQUIRE a considerable space to do full justice to the listing of the interesting and valuable accessions which our Nantucket Historical Association has recorded in recent months. However, a summary of several outstanding items will be of interest to members, and serve as a reminder that visits to the several exhibit buildings and museums will show the various gifts in their new homes.

An excellent oil portrait of William Starbuck (1732-1812) is the gift of Dr. Mark D. Altschule, of the Harvard Medical School. It is a well executed painting, thought to have been done by an English artist, and shows William Starbuck in his later years. Here was a Nantucket whaling merchant who served as a Selectman of the town of Sherborn during the difficult days of the American Revolution. He may be seen at the Peter Foulger Museum.

Leon M. Royal has presented a model of the first successful steam engine to be used in generating electricity on Nantucket. This model was made by Mr. Royal's father, Leon Royal, who served as the chief engineer of the plant for nearly half a century. Close by in the same case with this model is the bluefish drail and line used for many years by Walter Royal, brother of the donor.

The record book of the Commercial Insurance Company of Nantucket for the period Oct. 1850 to Sept. 1871 was presented by the Pacific National Bank. This is an important acquisition as it contains manuscript documents concerning the important Nantucket whaleships of that period, including the Montano, Baltic, Edward Cary, Lydia and Clarkson.

A watercolor painting of the whaleship Mount Vernon has been given by Mrs. John J. Gardner, and is now a part of our exhibit relating to the farms of Nantucket. This is not so strange as it may seem as Mount Vernon Farm was named for this ship when it was purchased by Capt. Henry Coleman. John J. Gardner worked on the farm as a young man when his father owned it. The painting is by the Nantucket artist William H. Coffin.

Miss Eunice B. Haden, of Washington, D.C., a descendant of Captain Zophar Haden, of Nantucket, has presented a "Pounce Set."

INTERESTING AND VALUABLE ACCESSIONS 7

This is a small wooden box containing a powder used to blot ink on writing paper, and it dates back to 1805.

An exquisite white, Chinese silk, embroidered shawl, with a deep fringe, was presented by Mrs. Mary (Brock) Lewis. It is contained in the original lacquered outer box, with the brightly colored inner box in which the shawl is wrapped in the original rice paper, and was brought home to Nantucket by Captain William Cartwright, Mrs. Brock's grandfather, on the clipper ship Houqua, and was first used by his wife, Lucretia (Coleman) Cartwright. It is on display with the exhibits on the "China Trade" at the Peter Foulger Museum.

A complete set of the Project Papers prepared by the students of the Preservation Institute of Nantucket during the past three years has been donated by Professor F. Blair Reeves, Supervisor of the Institute. These represent studies of Nantucket houses and neighborhoods and are invaluable to all interested in Nantucket's architectural heritage.

An unusual and valued gift came to the Association early this year when Mrs. Joseph W. Cochran and Mrs. David D. Gray presented a collection of Nantucket books and pamphlets, which is to be known as the "Lucille Ralston Collection," for our Association's Library. The donors are the daughters of Mrs. Ralston, and knowing of their mother's devotion to Nantucket felt this would serve as a fitting memorial. Placed on a special shelf in the Foulger Museum Library these books may be enjoyed by many interested in the literary history of our Island.

A seaman's trunk bearing the name A. W. Starbuck is the gift of Mrs. Allen E. Norcross. Its approximate date is 1840, as Albert W. Starbuck, the owner, was a seafaring man at this time. He married Mary Joy in 1832, and he was the son of Simeon and Tamar Starbuck. The inside lid of the trunk has a large watercolor painting of a full-rigged ship. In the trunk has been placed a sail-cloth bag — a ditty bag used by a caulker or cooper, and which is a part of a collection of items which came from the Turner estate, given by Messrs. Tiffney and Boynton, who purchased the house at 27 Pine Street and were permitted to present a collection of articles that were owned by the Turner family who had lived there. Among the items were framed photographs of the Old Mill, opening Hummock Pond, and the Snow Storm of 1930, all taken by the distinguished Nantucket Editor Harry B. Turner.

As the gift of Robert D. Congdon, of Nantucket, we have received an unusual account book, dated 1872, as kept by Captain Robert McCleave, one of our outstanding whaling masters. Much of the pages contain copies made by Capt. McCleave and his wife, Eliza Ann McCleave, of

8 HISTORIC NANTUCKET Nantucket genealogical records from 1830 to 1890, with some interesting written comments in the last few pages of the volume.

From Robert Tristram Coffin, of Stanfordville, N.Y., comes a family heirloom intimately connected with the Coffin family and Nantucket. This is a Powder Horn, which once belonged to the original Tristram Coffin, one of the leaders in the original settlement of Nantucket. When Abishai Coffin moved from the Island to Dutchess County, New York, in 1773, he took the Horn with him, and his son, Robert Coffin, inherited it. Charles Coffin, grandson of Abishai, acquired it and placed the date of 1840 on it — just two hundred years after the original Tristram Coffin brought it to his home in Salisbury, Mass.

Robert J. Leach, who has been with the International School at Geneva, Switzerland, for over two decades, and who is well known as a writer and student of Nantucket's Quaker history, has presented two of his valuable manuscripts, together with his verbal statements of the same in cassettes. These are: "Why Nantucket Quakers?" an annotated bibliography, listing, developed from an earlier work entitled "Nantucket Monthly Meeting;" and Vol. Ill, "Nantucket Monthly Meeting — 17631773." Mr. Leach has compiled an impressive series on Nantucket and the Society of Friends, and his work is deeply appreciated.

One of the most significant gifts in recent years is the Logbook of the Nantucket whaling sloop Diamond, on a voyage from Nantucket to the Grand Banks and the Straits of Belle Isle, from July 4, 1765 to October 18, 1765, under Captain John Aken. The Logbook was kept by Thomas Kempton, of Dartmouth, Mass. It is historically important as it not only represents one of the earliest logbooks extant but provides an excellent study of the period, with its listing of other whaling sloops from this Island on the whaling grounds. Mrs. Marjorie McMaster, of Columbia, South Carolina, is the donor to whom the Association is indebted for a thoughtful and valuable gift.

E. A. S.