June 23, 2008
Nantucket’s Presidential Documents: From Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt
NANTUCKET, MASS.: The Nantucket Historical Association is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Nantucket Presidential Documents on Wednesday, July 2, 3:00 P.M., Whitney Gallery NHA Research Library, 7 Fair Street.
American presidents have been concerned in the affairs of Nantucket Island from the days of the nation’s founding. The collections of the Nantucket Historical Association hold documents signed by almost every president from Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In recognition of election year, the NHA will present an exhibition highlighting some of the more remarkable items in the collection. Some of the notable documents include: appointment of Inspector of the Revenue for the Ports of Nantucket and Sherburne, signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson; permit to pass for the schooner Charming Betsy, signed by Thomas Jefferson; ships’ papers signed by James Madison, John Tyler, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, and others; Abraham Lincoln’s appointment of George Hussey Tracey as first lieutenant in the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment; a letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow; and a letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt regarding the naming of a torpedo-boat destroyer in honor of Nantucketer Reuben Chase.
The gallery is open during regular NHA Research Library hours.
