Explore Nantucket History with the NHA

Historic Nantucket

Historic Nantucket is published quarterly, one issue of which is the NHA's Annual Report.

With each issue readers are drawn into the history of the island. Themes as diverse as whaling, genealogy, and folk art are explored by contributing researchers and Nantucket Historical Association staff.

For forty years, members of the Nantucket Historical Association have been receiving this valuable and fascinating publication. To receive Historic Nantucket please become a member of the NHA. For more information, or to contribute to the magazine, please contact us.

Historic Nantucket Articles

The most current issue of Historic Nantucket is available only to NHA members.
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Selective information from prior issues is available below.

Spring 2011 (Vol 60, No. 3)
The Henry Coffin House

Henry Coffin: A Portrait, by Betsy Tyler (p.4)
A Legacy in Brick:The Home of Henry Coffin, by Mark Avery & Andy Buccino (p.6)
Henry Coffin Carlisle's Attic Museum, by Miles Carlisle (p. 10)
The Garden at 75 Main, by Kathrina Pearl (p. 14)

Click on the magazine below to read the articles in full screen.

Fall 2010 (Vol 60, No. 3)
America, Whaling & The World

Two Illustrated Nantucket Whaling Journals in the New Bedford Whaling Museum, by Michael P. Dyer (p.5)
Bino, Old Jack, and Some Others: Pets on Whaleships, by Dr. Leslie W. Ottinger (p.9)
Thomas Nickerson's Account of the Wreck of the Two Brothers, by Ben Simons (p. 12)
Lost and Found in Papahanaumokuakea Marine Nantucket Monument: The Possible Wreck Site of the Nantucket Whaleship Two Brothers, by Kelly Gleason, Ph. D. and Jason T. Raupp, Ph. D. Candidate (p. 13)
The Earliest Picture of the Essex Disaster, by Klaus Barthelmess (p.18)

Additional Articles on the Wreck of
the Two Brothers

Click on the image to read
the magazine.

Spring 2010 (Vol 60, No. 1)
In Memoriam: Walter Beinecke Jr. (1918-2004)

My Satisfaction in Life: Walter Beinecke Jr., A statement of his personal philosophy
"Preservation was enlightened self-interest," Walter Beinecke Jr. and the Nantucket Historical Trust, by Betsy Tyler
In Memoriam: Walter Beinecke Jr., by Jim Lentowski

Click on the image to read
the magazine.

Fall 2009 (Vol 59, No. 3) Whaling

The Hadwen & Barney Candle Factory: How It Worked, by Mark Foster
Edward F. Sanderson: Father of the Nantucket Whaling Museum, by Robert Hellman
Built to Last: The Macy Warehouse on Straight Wharf, by Steve Sheppard

Summer 2009 (Vol. 59, No. 2) Annual Report

The NHA Today: Museum as Community
Reports from all departments
Lists of accessions and more

Spring 2009 (Vol. 59, No. 1) 350th Anniversary of Nantucket's Early Settlers

Nantucket's Native Foodways, by Debra McManis
Nantucket's "Immemorial Highways," by Frances Karttunen
Nantucket Real Estate: 1659, by Mark Avery

Fall 2008 (Vol 58, No. 4) Whaling

Mutiny on the Potomac: Race and conflict in the New England Whale Fishery, by Justin A. Pariseau
"...my home is on the deep waters" : Nantucket & New Zealand, by William J. Tramposch
Captain Eber Bunker : Pioneer of Australian and New Zealand Whaling, by Tim Blue

Summer 2008 (Vol. 58, No. 3):

Baseball: Its Beginnings on Nantucket, by Erik Ingmundson
'Sconset-born Charles Frederick Briggs, by Bette S. Weidman
'Sconset Days: Excerpts from a Life, by Robert Longley

Volumation of the Historic Nantucket now skips to Vol. 58

Winter 2008 (Vol. 57, No. 1): An Island of Characters

Freedom on Nantucket: The Reverend James Crawford and William Benjamin Gould, by Helen Hannon
Arthur Hayden and the Madaket Free Press, by Jim Powers
Reuben Macy: A Nantucket Doctor, by Helen P. Seager
Flying Santa: Edward Rowe Snow and the Romance of History, by Joseph P. Theroux
Academy Hill: A historical tour of Nantucket's hilltop neighborhood, by Pat Butler

Summer 2007 (Vol. 56, No. 3): Nantucket Art Colony

Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket, by Robert Frazier
Nantucket in the Art of Maginel Wright, by Mary Jane Hamilton
Remembering the Artist Robert J. Freiman, by René Lapierre
Sankaty Light: “I see Sankaty, the mariner’s friend!” The future of Nantucket's "blazing star", by Robert D. Felch

Winter 2007 (Vol. 56, No. 1): Whaling

Nantucket Whalers in Milford Haven, Wales, by Jane Clayton
The Cruise of the Nantucket Ships Asia and Alliance: In Consort to the Indian Ocean and the Coast of New Holland, Australia, 1791-94, by Rod Dickson
Native Hawaiian Whalers in Nantucket, 1820-60, by Susan A. Lebo
Shearing Day, by Leslie Ottinger
Monument Square, by Helen Seager

Summer 2006 (Vol. 55, No. 3): Theatre Issue

Reminiscences of 30 Years with the Theatre Workshop, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Curtains Rising: The First 50 Years of the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, by Jennifer M. Ahlborn
Mousetrapped, by Ginger Andrews

Winter 2006 (Vol. 55, No. 1)

Author Exposed! Young Sailor is Revealed as "Anonymous" Keeper of Excellent Voyage Narrative, by Mary Malloy
The Portrait of Absalom Boston, by Frances Ruley Karttunen

Commemorative Issue (Vol. 54, Nos. 3 & 4)

Whaling Museum Tour, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Interpretive Themes for the Whaling Museum, by Kirstin Freeman Gamble
If These Walls Could Talk, by Niles Parker
A Museum for Families, by Kirstin Freeman Gamble
Island Treasures: Gifts to the NHA, by Niles Parker
Nantucket's Whaling Museum: Architectural Intentions, by Martin Sokoloff

Winter 2005 (Vol. 54, No. 1): Of Whales and Whaling

A Treasure Found: Computer Technology Leads to Nantucket Scrimshaw Discovery, by William J. Boylhart, introduction by Tony N. Dumitru
A Photographic Mystery Solved, by Ryan Cooper and Robert Hellman
The Whalemen's Shipping List, by Donna Cooper
Sperm Whale in Residence, photos by Cecil Barron Jensen and Jeffrey S. Allen

Fall 2004 (Vol. 53, No. 4): Gleanings

Azubah Cash's Whaling Days, by Amy Jenness
The End of the Whaling Era as Recorded by Obed Macy, by Frank Milligan
Diary of a Trip to Nantucket: Charles C. Dyer, 1846 by Georgen Gilliam Charnes
"Letter of Apology to Bert From This Wretch" Tony Sarg Writes from London, by George Korn

Summer 2004 (Vol. 53, No. 3): Summer Stories

Summering in Windsor Cottage, by Isabel C. Stewart
Archaeology of the Polpis Bike Path, by Mary Lynn Rainey
Writer-in-Residence: Poetry of Cape Verde, by Jarita Davis

Spring 2004 (Vol. 53, No. 2): Researching Nantucket

The Robber Baron Behind the 1881 E. Howard No. 3 Striking Town Clock, by Ben Simons
Christopher Hussey Blown Out (Up) to Sea, by Ben Simons
Edmund Fanning, I Presume: Or, How to Flesh Out a Life Through Local Records, by Betsy Tyler
Susan Mitchell: A Woman of Many Identifiers, by Jim Sulzer

Winter 2004 (Vol 53, No. 1): Saw a comet ablazing...

"Saw a Comet Star Ablazing...Log of the New Bedford Whaling Ship Washington, March 6, 1843, by Leslie W. Ottinger
The Adventurous John Egle, by Frances Ruley Karttunen

Fall 2003 (Vol. 52, No. 4): A Nineteenth Century Chronicle

The Asylum at Quaise: Nantucket's Antebellum Poor Farm, by Alison M. Gavin
"Good Bye Mary Mitchell Hard Lucky Craft" Capt. Samuel Joy's Journal, 1835 - 38 by Leslie W. Ottinger
Seizing Agency: Black Nantucket and the Abolitionist Press, 1832-48, by Justin A. Pariseau

Summer 2003 (Vol. 52, No. 3): Nantucketers Remembered

"The Best of Us All": Dr. Benjamin Sharp, by Frank D. Milligan
Nantucket Hero: General George Nelson Macy, by Robert F. Mooney
Captain George A. Grant: Whaleman, by Peter M. Wilson
Mary Starbuck: Poet, Author, Nantucket Historian, by Ben Simons
Nikita Carpenko (Excerpt from the Other Islanders), by Frances Ruley Karttunen
Florence Folger Webster: A Nantucket Life in Pictures, by Claire O'Keefe
Margaret Fawcett Barnes: A Little Episode in the Life of a Grande Dame, by Elizabeth Oldham
Memories of Mac, by Kate Stout
"Might as Well Sit Right Here:" An Interview with George Andrews, by Jim Sulzer

Spring 2003 (Vol. 52, No. 2): Vine & Hearts

Family Registers: Genealogical Decorative Art, by Donna Smith Fee
A Brief (and Ongoing) History of Collections at the NHA, by Ben Simons
Behind Every Photograph... The Image Collection of the NHA's Research Library, by Georgen Gilliam Charnes

Winter 2003 (Vol. 52, No. 1): Winter Tales

Nantucket's Master Mason: Christopher Capen, by James L. Dunlop
William Comstock's Nantucket Goak, by Thomas Farell Hefferman
Captain Ahab of West Barnstable, Joseph Theroux
Old Gaol Restoration, by Cristin Merck

Fall 2002 (Vol. 51, No. 4): Nantucket Harvest

A Paper Trail: Piecing Together the Life of Phebe Hanaford, by Lisa M. Tetrault
"No Harvest of Oil": Nantucket's Agricultural Fairs, 1856-90 by Aimee E. Newell
Living in the China Closet, by Frances Ruley Karttunen

Summer 2002 (Vol. 51, No. 3): Collections

Nantucket's Collections, by Niles Parker
A Young Collector: An Interview with David Wood, by Amy Jenness
"Time Lies in One Little Word": Antique, by Amy Jenness
A Postcard from Nantucket, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Reminiscing on 25 Years of an Antiques Show, by Nina Hellman
Confessions of a Nantucket Collector, by Scott Waldie

Spring 2002 (Vol. 51, No. 2): The Other Islanders

Black and White Relations on Nantucket, by Robert Johnson
Portuguese Islanders and The Old Mill, by Helen Seager
Dorcas Honorable: The Life and Heritage of an Oft-Married Woman, by Frances Ruley Karttunen

Winter 2002 (Vol 51, No. 1): Around the Globe

Stevenson's Pillow: A Sketch of Austin Strong, by Joseph Theroux
The South Seas Room, by Joseph Theroux
"Fine Times on the Old Three Brothers", by Leslie W. Ottinger
Helen Marshall's Travels Abroad, by Margaret Moore Booker

Fall 2001 (Vol 50, No. 4): The No-Name Storm and Other Anniversaries

Journal of the No-Name Gale, by Susan F. Beegel
October 30, 1991, at the NHA: As Remembered by Maurice Gibbs, by Cecil Barron Jensen
"My Yale College and My Harvard": The Writings of Herman Melville's Sea Works, by Mary K Bercaw Edwards
Celebrating Fifteen Years of Collecting Nantucket Art and History, by Niles Parker

Summer 2001 (Vol. 50, No. 3): Brave Buildings

The Casino, by Amy Jenness
The Atheneum: Born from Ashes, by Robert A. Frazier
48 West Chester Street: A Stucco Bungalow on Nantucket, by Margaret Moore Booker
73 Main Street: The Eliza Starbuck Barney House, by Renny Stackpole & Julia Beinecke Stackpole
141 Cliff Road: Nantucket's Geodesic Dome, by Betsy Lowenstein
New Home, Old Soul, by Donna Smith Fee
Salvaged Materials: Unique Artistic Vision and Economic Constraints Lend Historic Contexts to Two Special Nantucket Houses, by James Sulzer

Spring 2001 (Vol 50, No. 2): Annual Report

The Very Heart of this Institution: The NHA Research Library, by Aimee E. Newell

Winter 2001 (Vol. 50, No. 1): Spirituality

"Evidence of Things Not Seen": Greater Light as Faith Manifested, by Angela Mazaris
"If we will but an effort make": The Sewing Circles of Nantucket's Congregational, Methodist, and Unitarian Churches, by Aimee Newell
Helping Hands, by Kate Stout
A Brief History of Religion on Nantucket, by Rev. Georgia Ann Snell
The African Meeting House, by Helen Seager

Fall 2000 (Vol. 49, No. 4): Love, Marriage, & Family

Love, Marriage, and Family in the Nineteenth-Century Whaling Communities, by Lisa Norling
"A genuine relic of old Nantucket": Eliza Ann McCleave's Museum, by Aimee E. Newell
Researching the Diary of Martha Fish: Writing a Woman's Life, by Christina Gessler

Summer 2000 (Vol 49, No. 3): Making Nantucket Connections

Literate Culture and Community in Antebellum Nantucket, by Lloyd P. Pratt
The Nantucket Railroad, by Peter Schmid
Nantucket in a New England Linguistic Atlas, by Frances Karttunen

Spring 2000 (Vol. 49, No. 2): Annual Report

Time Past, Time Present: Annual Meeting Address, by Lonn W. Taylor

Winter 2000 (Vol. 49, No. 1)

Nantucket in a Nutshell, by Elizabeth Oldham
"That pride in our Island's history": The Nantucket Historical Association, by Aimee E. Newell
An Island in Time: An Overview of the NHA's Collections with Accompanying Timeline

Fall 1999 (Vol 48, No. 4): Wrecked on the Feejees

William Cary (1804-1883): the Loss of the Oeno, by Joseph Theroux
The Book of Books: Bibles in the Collection of the NHA, by Betsy Lowenstein
Sally Takes the Smallpox, by Leslie W. Ottinger
Nantucket Jetties, by Matt Byrne
Collecting for the Future: A Call for Twentieth-Century Materials, by Aimee E. Newell

Summer 1999 (Vol 48, No. 3): Gold Rush

Read All About It!, by Kate Stout
Where Are They Now?, by Mary Woodruff
Rounding the Horn and Crossing the Isthmus to a Life in California, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Chrysopolis: San Francisco, City of Gold, by J. S. Holliday
James S. Russell: Nantucket Native, California Miner, By Linda McBeath-Van Gundy
The Nantucket Coffee Connection, by Robert F. Mooney
Consequences of California Mania: Nantucket and the Whaling Industry, by Judith Downey
Recording the Voyage of the Henry Astor to San Francisco, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Seeing the Elephant, by Cecil Barron Jensen

Spring 1999 (Vol. 48, No. 2): Annual Report

Eastman Johnson's Summers on Nantucket, by Patricia Hills
Spotlight on Collections: Presidential Signatures, by Betsy Lowenstein

Winter 1999 (Vol. 48, No. 1): Historic Interiors

"Showing you the house restored": Edward Sanderson and Moor's End, by Aimee Newell
Protecting Historic New England Interiors: One House at a Time, by Shantia Anderheggen
An Ode to an Old Nantucket Home: 32 West Chester Street, by Nancee Erickson
Hadwen House: A Work in Progress, by Reema Sherry
Resources for Old Nantucket Houses, by Patricia Butler
From Fireplaces to Floorboards: Reading Historic Interiors, by Patricia Butler and David Wood
Bibliography for Historic Interiors Research, compiled by Aimee Newell and Betsy Lowenstein

Fall 1998 (Vol 47, No. 4)

"The Bride Was Tasily Dressed in White": Nantucket Weddings 1665-1928, by Aimee Newell
The History of Nantucket's Golf Courses, by J.C. Gamble
What Was Good for What Ailed You: Curatives and Remedies in the 1800s, by Susan Kirp Hochwald

Summer 1998 (Vol 47, No. 3): Whaling

The Story of Nantucket's Sperm Whale, by Cecil Barron Jensen
The New England Aquarium's Responses to Marine Mammal Strandings, by Jim Rice and Belinda Rubinstein
Sperm Whales, by James McKenna
Whaling Tools in the Nantucket Whaling Museum, by Robert E. Hellman
Beginning with Candle Making: A History of the Whaling Museum, by Patty Jo Rice
The Changing Perception of Whales in Literature, by Richard J. King
Rare Books: A Look at the NHA's Collection of Nineteenth-Century Books on Whales and Whaling, by Betsy Lowenstein

Spring 1998 (Vol. 47, No. 2): Annual Report

More Than Just a Summer Job: Reflections on Teaching in the NHA Children's Program, by Allie Beman
Creating Lasting Memories, by Jeremy Slavitz
Speaking African Nantucketers' Names Once More, by Frances Karttunen

Winter 1998 (Vol 47, No. 1): Family Roots

A Walking Genealogical Tree: Benjamin Franklin Folger, Nantucket's First Genealogist by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Eliza Starbuck Barney Genealogical Record, by Joan Elrick Clarke
Who was Eliza Starbuck Barney? by Kate Stout
Eureka! Nantucket Blood, by Dwight Beman
A Modern Nantucket Sleighride: From Nantucket to Norfolk Island and Back, by Mary Hills Munroe
"What's in a Name!" by Elizabeth Oldham

Fall 1997 (Vol. 46, No. 4): Island Voices

And Greasy Luck to You!: Nantucket Language That Has Prevailed, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Nantucket Indian Place Names, by Elizabeth A. Little
Mary Coffin Starbuck's "Account Book with the Indians," by Helen Stehling

Summer 1997 (Vol. 46, No. 3)

Views from the Ship Nauticon, one woman's journal, by Cecil Barron Jensen
The Nantucket-Newport Axis: Early links between Nantucket and Newport Quakerism, by Robert Leach and Peter Gow
E.C. Cutter's Nantucket Holiday, by Betsy Lowenstein
25 Pleasant Street in Miniature: a fully furnished scale model of an historic home, by Cecil Barron Jensen

Spring 1997 (Vol. 46, No. 2): Annual Report

"Carefully Inwrought": Nantucket Needlework 1797-1997, by Aimee Newell

Winter 1997 (Vol. 46, No. 1): Winter Tales

Collecting Nantucket Oral Histories, by Mary Miles
Oral History: Some Notes, by Edward D. Ives
A Guide to NHA Library Resources, by Betsy Lowenstein
Maria Mitchell's Journal of the Hard Winter: Excerpts from her diary at 38, transcribed by Barbara Baxter Pillinger; edited & annotated by Elizabeth Oldham
"Very Good Sleighing" 1843 entry from Gorham Hussey's journal
"Capital Sleighing": editorial from The Inquirer; transcribed by Elizabeth Oldham

Fall 1996 (Vol. 45, No. 2): Historic Preservation

Nantucket Historical Association Properties: A complete list of our twenty-four homes, museums, monuments, and sites, by Michael Jehle
Preservation Institute: Nantucket : A Model Preservation Program, by Patty Jo Rice
The Nantucket Historical Commission: An Overview, by Patricia Butler
Preservation Restrictions: A creative tool for preserving private property, by Cecil Barron Jensen
Dreamland Theatre: A Moving Picture House, by Patty Jo Rice

Summer 1996 (Vol. 45, No. 1): Annual Report

Edouard A. Stackpole Remembered, by Renny Stackpole

Spring 1996 (Vol 44, No. 4): Milling About

The Old Mill: A reprint of the original 1913 article, by H.B. Turner
History Reexamined, by Helen Winslow Chase
Too Frail a Thread?, by Michael Jehle
The Old Mill Remembered, by Clay Lancaster
"So Tottering a Tabernacle" : The wonder of the old mill, by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Old Mill: What we know about it and what we don't, by Elizabeth Oldham

Winter 1996 (Vol. 44, No. 3): Nantucket's Native Americans

Native American Symposium: A Report
Beyond Repatriation (or How the "Other" Became the "We), by Richard West
The Whipping Post, by Nathaniel Philbrick

Fall 1995 (Vol. 44, No. 2): Maritime Mementos

Gulf Stream Charts of Benjamin Franklin & Timothy Folger, by Captain John Lacouture
Those Meridian Markers, by Robert C. Orr
"I feel as if a part of myself were gone..." Whalers' Letters, by Elizabeth Shore

Spring 1995 (Vol. 44, No. 1): Westward the Women

Martha Dunham Summerhayes: A Nantucket Lady in Apache Country, by Susan F. Beegel
Mary Ellen Pleasant: Mother of Civil Rights in California, by Susheel Bibbs

Fall 1994 (Vol. 43, No. 3): Fish Stories