The Edouard A. Stackpole Collection
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AT THE DECEMBER meeting of the Council of the Nantucket Historical Association, President Leroy H. True announced that a com plete collection of Nantucket material, plus a segment on American Maritime History, has been presented the Association by Edouard A. Stackpole, and is now stored at the Peter Foulger Museum. This extensive collection consists of files and boxes containing the following material: The History of Nantucket chronologically arrang ed; Streets and Lanes of the town; Steamboats, Schooners, Catboats and other craft; Life Saving; Wrecks and marine disasters; Lighthouses; Fishing and marine affairs; Artists and Writers of Nan tucket; Photographers and their work; Nantucket Merchants; The Migrations of Nantucketers, including the whalemen to Hudson, Dart mouth, Nova Scotia, Milford Haven, Wales, and Dunkirk, France; The Revolution and Nantucket; The War of 1812; The Development of "Summer Business." The Whaling Collection includes an alphabetical listing of Nan tucket whaleships, as well as another similar file on Nantucket whaling masters. Individual boxes contain whaling accounts from other ports — New Bedford, Poughkeepsie, New London, Stonington, Mystic, Mar tha's Vineyard, Bristol, and Fairhaven. Other boxes hold records of whaling adventures; South Sea Islands frequented by the Nantucket whalemen; Arctic whaling, with Hudson Bay, and Alaska included. Files are arranged to include whaling agents and whaleship owners, as well as businesses related to whaling — outfitters, riggers, coopers, sail makers, ropewalks, etc. "The Camels" is included. The section of Maritime History is contained in ten individual boxes, as well as two bookcases with 400 volumes, many now out of print. The collection includes framed prints, miscellaneous photographs, some carvings from Pitcairn Island, models from Vietnam and the Solomon Islands, a large edition of Ewer's map of Nantucket, and other Nantucket memorabilia. An entire room in the Peter Foulger Museum has been converted into a repository for the immense collection of Nantucket history. At the present time, the collection is being catalogued and arrang ed for future use by scholars. This process will be exceedingly lengthy, yet will insure the proper identification of manuscripts, news articles, photographs and personal letters. Association President, Leroy H. True, has been seeking avenues of financial help to plan and build a suitable addition to the Peter Foulger Museum. This new extension of the library and research space would be designated as the suitable headquarters for the Stackpole collection.
