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receives Honorary Degree
Photo by F. W. Lucas
Mrs. Louise R. Hussey, Honorary Degree recipient
AT THE COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES held on June 6 at the University of Massachusetts-Boston's Harbor Campus, Louise R. Hussey, the Librarian of the Nantucket Historical Association's Library, at the Peter Foulger Museum, was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.
12 HISTORIC NANTUCKET
This honor was one which Mrs. Hussey richly deserved. For a quarter century she has served as the Association's Librarian at both the Whaling Museum and, when the Library was transferred to the newly built Peter Foulger Museum, was installed more firmly in her position. During the past ten years she has worked with many people from most every State in the Union, as well as many countries in the world, including students, authors, historians, genealogists and descendants of Nantucketers who visit ancestral homes.
Louise Hussey has been a strong influence on students who are working on theses, as well as on writers and visitors who come regularly to the Foulger Library. To genealogists and researchers she has been a constant aid, and her contributions have been as many as they are varied. Her kindness, coupled with her knowledge, has made her one of the valued forces which has created the Foulger Library as a featured attraction for the Association.
In awarding the Degree, the University's spokesman stated: "A resident of Nantucket for over fifty years, Louise Hussey has served for many of them as librarian of the Whaling Museum and of the Peter Foulger Museum. She has aided scholars from all over the world in their researches on maritime history and scores of more casual visitors to the island every year. She has impressed all with the extent of her knowledge and with her professional command of research methods. Her connection with the Nantucket Program of the University of Massachusetts at Boston has extended her constituency, as she has inspired deep respect and loyalty in both the faculty and students of the University with whom she has come in contact. The enthusiasm and affection with which she greets new students, nurtures them during their stay, and maintains contact with them after they leave have made her an important and integral part of the University community. We are pleased and proud to honor Louise Hussey today, both for her many services to the University and to the citizens of the Commonwealth, and for her contributions to the scholarly life of the world."
