- Azubah Bearse Handy Cash aboard the Ship Columbia
Azubah Bearse Handy Cash (1820-94), the wife of successful whaling master, William Cash, accompanied her husband on the 1805-53 cruise...More Read more from Azubah Bearse Handy Cash aboard the Ship Columbia - Who was Helen Marshall?
Young Helen Marshall (1851–1939) joined her family aboard the 1856–61 voyage of the whaling bark Aurora. Helen’s father, Joseph Marshall...More Read more from Who was Helen Marshall? - What was going on in Nantucket around the time when American women finally got the vote?
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from denying the right to vote...More Read more from What was going on in Nantucket around the time when American women finally got the vote? - When did women first vote on Nantucket?
Women on Nantucket voted for the first time in February 1880. The Massachusetts legislature passed a law allowing women to...More Read more from When did women first vote on Nantucket? - Who was Diana Jones?
Diana Jones (1801–1879) was born in New York and came to Nantucket sometime in the 1820s. Around 1828, she became...More Read more from Who was Diana Jones? - Who Was Eliza Barney?
Eliza Barney filled volume after volume with a neat hand and assiduous accuracy, documenting the family trees of islanders from...More Read more from Who Was Eliza Barney? - Who was Eliza F. Codd?
Eliza F. Codd (1882–1920) was the leading architect on Nantucket in the 1910s. She is best known for her renovations...More Read more from Who was Eliza F. Codd? - Who was Florence E. Clay Higginbotham?
Born in Virginia in 1893, Florence E. Clay Higginbotham made Nantucket her home. After formally training at the Boston Cooking...More Read more from Who was Florence E. Clay Higginbotham? - Who was Harriett “Nellie” M. Cooper?
Harriett “Nellie” M. Cooper (1845–1905) moved to Nantucket from St. Johns, Newfoundland, in 1882 to marry George Hooper, who owned...More Read more from Who was Harriett “Nellie” M. Cooper? - Who was Maria Louisa (Tallant) Owen?
Maria Louisa (Tallant) Owen (1825–1913) was one of New England’s foremost botanists. Born on Nantucket, she taught school before marrying...More Read more from Who was Maria Louisa (Tallant) Owen? - Who was Mary Ellen Pleasant?
Mary Ellen Pleasant, born into slavery in Georgia in circa 1817, came to Nantucket in 1827 as a young bonded...More Read more from Who was Mary Ellen Pleasant? - Why is Lucretia Mott a famous daughter of Nantucket?
Lucretia Mott did the things that made her famous as an adult living in Philadelphia, but her formative years were...More Read more from Why is Lucretia Mott a famous daughter of Nantucket? - A Paper Trail: Piecing Together the Life of Phebe Hanaford
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Phebe Hanaford was asked to help officiate at the funeral services for...More Read more from A Paper Trail: Piecing Together the Life of Phebe Hanaford - Anna Gardner, 1816 – 1901, Teacher – Abolitionist – Women’s Rights Advocate – Author
Born on Nantucket on January 25, 1816, Anna Gardner grew up in an abolitionist Quaker family. She was one of...More Read more from Anna Gardner, 1816 – 1901, Teacher – Abolitionist – Women’s Rights Advocate – Author - Anne Ramsdell Congdon’s Nantucket Renaissance
An artist’s return to painting in her own words. This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of Historic Nantucket....More Read more from Anne Ramsdell Congdon’s Nantucket Renaissance - Judith Macy and Her Daybook; or, Crevecoeur and the Wives of Sherborn
Of the more than five hundred account books held in the collections of the Nantucket Historical Association, there are just...More Read more from Judith Macy and Her Daybook; or, Crevecoeur and the Wives of Sherborn - Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians”
Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians” is a sheepskin-covered ledger tracking the credits and debits of the two...More Read more from Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians” - Eliza Starbuck Barney, 1802 – 1889, Mother of Island Genealogy
Eliza Starbuck Barney is known almost as much for her blue H-style Victorian home at 73 Main Street on Nantucket...More Read more from Eliza Starbuck Barney, 1802 – 1889, Mother of Island Genealogy - Nantucket and the Carter Family
Florence Carter Johnson Smith was a school teacher and entrepreneur. She and her sister Isabel ran a to-go lunch business...More Read more from Nantucket and the Carter Family - Nantucket Women, How The Quakers Women’s Meetings Established The Foundation For The National Women’s Rights Movement
The abolitionist movement of the early nineteenth century. The Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights in 1848. The women’s suffrage...More Read more from Nantucket Women, How The Quakers Women’s Meetings Established The Foundation For The National Women’s Rights Movement - North Carolina and Anna Gardner
Anna Gardner went south during and after the Civil War to teach freedmen. Twice her assignments took her to North...More Read more from North Carolina and Anna Gardner - History of Social Activism on Nantucket
Social Activism in Nineteenth-Century Nantucket Before there were protest marches and sit-ins on live television, 24-hour news coverage, and social-media...More Read more from History of Social Activism on Nantucket - Reverend Phebe Coffin Hanaford, 1829 – 1921 Minister – Author – Women’s Rights Supporter
Universalist minister and author Phebe Coffin Hanaford was born in Siasconset on Nantucket on May 6, 1829, to Phebe Ann...More Read more from Reverend Phebe Coffin Hanaford, 1829 – 1921 Minister – Author – Women’s Rights Supporter - The Power of Voice, Reflections on Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)
She’s the best-kept secret in American history, and even on Nantucket, where she was born in 1793. I met her...More Read more from The Power of Voice, Reflections on Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) - The Real Women of Petticoat Row
Crèvecoeur, in his 1782 Letters from an American Farmer, famously noted how the maritime economy of Nantucket engendered independence and...More Read more from The Real Women of Petticoat Row
The Nantucket Historical Association preserves and interprets the history of Nantucket through its programs, collections, and properties, in order to promote the island’s significance and foster an appreciation of it among all audiences.