Guide to the Hazel Kingsley Turley Papers, 1958, 1998, undated

Summary

Hazel Kingsley Turley (1933-2016) was a nurse at Nantucket Cottage Hospital in Nantucket, Mass., during the summer of 1958. She took part in the aftermath of the Northeast Airlines Flight 258 crash, a passenger flight that crashed in dense fog while attempting to land at Nantucket Memorial Airport in Nantucket, Mass., on 15 August 1958. Twenty-three people were killed and eleven survived.

The Hazel Kingsley Turley Papers contain a notebook, two copies of a manuscript, a newspaper article, one photograph, and a prepared reading on cassette tape. The items in the collection mostly pertain to then Hazel Kingsley’s experience as a nurse and taking in the dead and injured from the crash of Flight 258 at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Names and street addresses of the dead and survivors are noted. Injuries of the survivors are detailed as well.

Collection Details

Collection Number:

MS562

Title:

Hazel Kingsley Turley Papers

Date(s):

1958, 1998, undated

Creator:

Turley, Hazel Kingsley, 1933-2016.

Repository:

Nantucket Historical Association Research Library

Language:

Material is in English.

Information for Users

Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use: No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice: Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation: [identification of item], in the Hazel Kingsley Turley Papers, Nantucket Historical Association.

Acquisitions Information:

Gift of Michele E. Fogg of North Kingstown, R.I., in 2019 (Acc. RL2019.10).

Sensitive Materials Statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Nantucket Historical Association assumes no responsibility.

Related Collections

• 488 - Documents related to the Northeast Airlines Crash of August 15, 1958 / Paul Kozinn Collection

Subject Headings

• Personal Name
  • Turley, Hazel Kingsley, 1933-2016.
• Corporate Name
  • Nantucket Cottage Hospital Corporation.
  • Nantucket Memorial Airport.
• Topical Term
  • Aircraft accidents -- Massachusetts -- Nantucket.
• Geographic Name
  • Nantucket (Mass.) -- Aircraft accidents.

Biographical Information

Hazel Kingsley Turley (1933-2016) was a nurse at Nantucket Cottage Hospital in Nantucket, Mass., during the summer of 1958.

Hazel was a nursing graduate of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. In August 1958, she assisted in saving a retired general from drowning at Jetties Beach and took part in the aftermath of the Northeast Airlines Flight 258 crash.

Northeast Airlines Flight 258 was a passenger flight that took off from La Guardia Airport in New York on the evening of 15 August 1958. Flight 258 later crashed in dense fog while attempting to make its scheduled landing at Nantucket Memorial Airport in Nantucket, Mass., shortly before midnight.

The aircraft flew into the ground a third of a mile short of Runway 24 and veered 600 feet off the runway’s center-line. The plane was engulfed in flames shortly after impact.

Twenty-three people were killed and eleven survived. Many of the survivors suffered severe burns.

After leaving Nantucket, Hazel continued her career in nursing, became vocal in local issues and politics in Rhode Island, and was a published writer. She died in 2016 and was survived by five children, including daughter Michele E. Fogg of North Kingstown, R.I., who donated Hazel’s papers in 2019.

Scope and Content

The Hazel Kingsley Turley Papers contain a notebook, two copies of a manuscript, a newspaper article, one photograph, and a prepared reading on cassette tape. The items mostly pertain to then Hazel Kingsley’s experience as a nurse and taking in the dead and injured from the crash of Northeast Airlines Flight 258 at Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

Of note is a notebook kept by Hazel, documenting the medical response to the crash of Flight 258. The notebook contains her handwritten notes of arriving at the hospital and taking in the injured and dead. Her shifts at the hospital over the next few days are well documented. The names and street addresses of the dead and survivors are also noted. Injuries sustained by the survivors are detailed as well.

Two copies of a manuscript written by Hazel chronically her summer in 1958 on Nantucket is also included. The account begins with her time on Nantucket that June and culminates in the aftermath of the crash of Northeast Airlines Flight 258. The final accounts are from that September. Photographs of Hazel, along with a typed list of the dead and survivors, are bound within one copy of the manuscript.

A cassette tape recorded in 1998 documents a reading narrated by Hazel of her account of the airplane crash and taking in the victims. She discusses the process of identifying the victims as well.

Due to the nature of the events these papers describe, material within this collection may be distressing for some researchers. Sensitive material includes detailed descriptions of injuries the victims sustained in the airplane crash.

Contents

ContainerFolder TitleDate

Folder 1Nurse’s Notebook1958

Documents the medical response to the crash of
Northeast Airlines Flight 258. This notebook contains
Hazel’s handwritten notes of arriving at the hospital
and taking in the injured and dead. Her shifts at the
hospital over the next few days are well documented.
The names and street addresses of the dead and
survivors are also noted. Injuries sustained by the
survivors are detailed as well.

Folder 2 Manuscripts undated

Contains two copies of a manuscript written by Hazel
chronicling her summer in 1958 on Nantucket. The
account begins with her time on Nantucket that June
and culminates in the aftermath of the crash of
Northeast Airlines Flight 258. The final accounts are
from that September. Photographs of Hazel, along with
a typed list of the dead and survivors, are bound within
one copy of the manuscript.

Folder 3 Providence Evening Bulletin article on Hazel Kingsley 21 November 1958

Folder 4 Photograph of Nantucket Harbor scene circa 1958

CT–562/1 Recording on crash of Flight 258 13 July 1998

Cassette Tape previously numbered as CT-363.
Tape recording is of a reading by Hazel of her account
of the airplane crash and taking in the victims. She
discusses the process of identifying the victims as well.

This recording has yet to be transcribed.

Items Separated

• Cassette Tape (CT-562/1)

Processing Information

Processed by Kerry H. McAuliffe, October 2019.
Finding aid by Kerry H. McAuliffe, October 2019.