Guide to the Mary Ann Beinecke Papers, 1963-1975

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Research Library at the Nantucket Historical Association. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the internet.

Collection Details

Collection Number:
MS550
Title:
Mary Ann Beinecke Papers
Date(s):
1963-1975
Creator:
Beinecke, Mary Ann
Repository:
Nantucket Historical Association
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 Mary Ann Beinecke Papers, Nantucket Historical Association.

Acquisitions Information:

Gift of Julie Beinecke Stackpole of Thomaston, Me., in May 2018 (Acc. RL2018.6).

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

  • MS539 Nantucket Needlery Collection, Nantucket Historical Association
  • MS549 Julie Beinecke Stackpole Collection on Mary Ann Beinecke, Nantucket Historical Association
  • Mary Ann Beinecke Collection of Decorative Art, The Clark Art Institute
  • Additional information regarding the Nantucket School of Needlery, and needlework in general on Nantucket can be found by searching the Oral History collection for interviews OH-39 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, OH-40 Oral History Interview with Susan Boardman, and OH-41 Oral History Interview with Suzanne Gardner.

Subject Headings

  • Personal Name
    • Beinecke, Mary Ann.
  • Corporate Name
    • Jared Coffin House (Nantucket, Mass.).
    • Nantucket School of Needlery.
  • Topical Term
    • Needlework.
    • Textile crafts.

Biographical Information

Mary Ann Beinecke (1927-2014) was born in Manitowoc, Wis., to Julius E. and Olive (née Blumenstein) Hamachek. She studied art and botany at both UCLA and Connecticut College, leaving school in 1947 to marry Herbert H. Hinrichs, with whom she had four children, including collection creator Julie Beinecke Stackpole. The couple divorced in 1959, and Mary Ann married Walter Beinecke Jr. in 1960.

Walter’s interest in the restoration of Nantucket architecture—primarily through the Nantucket Historical Trust—soon became Mary Ann’s as well. During the Trust’s restoration of the Jared Coffin House Hotel started in 1961, she sought to support the year-round economy of the island by developing craft businesses of weaving and embroidery. Her efforts gave way to the Nantucket Looms and the Nantucket Needlewomen, both of which created textiles used in the Jared Coffin House.

The Looms continued to grow after the opening of the hotel in 1963, creating custom historic and modern textiles marketed by Thaibok Fabrics in New York. In 1965, silkscreen-printed fabric was added to the Loom’s woven and embroidered textiles and the Cloth Company of Nantucket was created (disbanded in 1968). 

Mary Ann Beinecke later founded the Nantucket School of Needlery, originally located on Harbour Square on Straight Wharf and at 2 India Street in 1968. In addition to offering summer courses on Island, taught by the Nantucket Needlewomen, the School hosted international guest experts in many aspects of needlework and design. She developed a line of embroidery yarns and hard-to-find needlework supplies. In addition to teaching summer courses on island, she created a booklet on embroidery stitches, published a book on needlepoint, and collected rare books on textiles (now at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, Mass.). In 1969, the School introduced Beinecke’s Home-Study Extension Course, offering thirty-five lessons critiqued by the Needlewomen that could be completed over approximately three years for a certificate. Beinecke also developed several lines of embroidery yarns and hard-to-find needlework supplies. The School later moved to North Adams, Mass., in 1975, becoming part of Mary Ann’s new business, Textile Studios.

Upon her separation from Walter Beinecke in 1982, Mary Ann Beinecke resided in western Massachusetts and Maine while Walter stayed on Nantucket. She died on November 24, 2014, in Waldoboro, Me.

Scope and Content

Collection includes materials relating to Mary Ann Beinecke’s contributions to Nantucket’s textile industry, specifically the Nantucket Looms and Nantucket School of Needlery. Much of the collection documents the development of the School’s Home Study Course with lesson drafts, photographs, and sample embroidery pieces. There are also items pertaining to the Cloth Company of Nantucket and Nantucket Needlewomen.

Contents

Series 1: Mary Ann Beinecke Papers, 1963-1973, undated

  • Box 1 Folder 1 Certificate of membership to the American Society for Church Architecture, April 1973
  • OP-550/1 Certificate of membership to the Guild for Religious Architecture, 21 April 1970
  • Box 1 Folder 2 Nantucket Historical Trust: Invoices, 19 July 1966, undated
  • Box 1 Folder 3 Notebook, undated
    Contains notes on stitches.
  • Box 7 Folder 67 Notes, undated
    Contains notes on colors, symbols, and their meanings in needlework.
  • Box 1 Folder 4 Notecards, undated
    Contains notes on colors, shapes, myths, and people.
  • Box 1 Folder 5 Rotary Club citation, 24 April 1963

Series 2: Nantucket Looms, 1964-1967, undated

  • Box 1 Folder 6 Letters, 1965-1967, undated
  • OP-550/2 LOOK article on Jared Coffin House: Article and photographs, 15 December 1964
  • Box 1 Folder 7 LOOK article on Jared Coffin House: Photographs, 15 December 1964
  • Box 7 Folder 68 LOOK article on Jared Coffin House: Photographs, 15 December 1964
  • Box 10 Folder 74 LOOK article on Jared Coffin House: Photographs, 15 December 1964
  • OPF-550/1 Promotion book with samples, undated
  • Box 1 Folder 8-9 Public relations book for Jared Coffin House and White Elephant, circa 1960s

Series 3: Cloth Company of Nantucket, undated

  • Box 1 Folder 10 Photograph undated
  • OPH-550/1 Mounted photograph, undated

Series 4: Nantucket Needlewomen, 1965-1966, undated

  • Box 1 Folder 11 Letters, 1965-1966, undated
  • Box 1 Folder 12 Minutes and newsletter, 1966, undated
  • Box 1 Folder 13 Stitching instructions and costume patterns, undated

Series 5: Nantucket School of Needlery, 1966-1975, undated

  • Box 2 Folder 14 Development of: Report on potential for Nantucket
    Needlework Project, 1966
  • Box 2 Folder 15 Course materials: Letters, 4 May 1969
  • Box 2 Folder 16 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 1-2 (early mock-up), 1968
  • Box 2 Folder 17 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 3-5 (early mock-up), 1968
  • Box 2 Folder 18 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 6-10 (early mock-up), 1968
  • Box 2 Folder 19 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 1-2, 1968
  • Box 2 Folder 20 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 3-5, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 21 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 6-7, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 22 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 8-9, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 23 Course materials: Home Study Course, addendum, 1980
  • Box 3 Folder 24 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 1-5, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 25 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 10-11, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 26 Course materials: Home Study Course, section 12, 1968
  • Box 3 Folder 27 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 11-15, 1968
  • Box 4 Folder 28 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 11-12, circa 1968
  • Box 4 Folder 29 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 13-15, circa 1968
  • Box 4 Folder 30 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 16-18 and first printing of sections 19-20, circa 1968
  • Box 7 Folder 69 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 19-20, undated
  • Box 4 Folder 31-32 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 16-18, 1968
  • Box 4 Folder 33 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 6-10, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 34 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 16-20, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 35 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 6-10, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 36 Course materials: Home Study Course, glossary-section 7, undated
  • Box 7 Folder 70 Course materials: Home Study Course, glossary-section 7, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 37 Course materials: Home Study Course, section 8, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 38 Course materials: Home Study Course, section 9, undated
  • Box 7 Folder 71 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 8-9, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 39 Course materials: Home Study Course, addendum, March 1976
  • Box 5 Folder 40 Course materials: Home Study Course, addenda for sections 3-5, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 41 Course materials: Home Study Course, addenda for sections 7-8, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 42 Course materials: Home Study Course, assembly, 1975
  • Box 5 Folder 43 Course materials: Home Study Course, addendum for section 10, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 44 Course materials: Illustrations and notes, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 45 Course materials: Home Study Course, notes, undated
  • Box 5 Folder 46 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 6-10 (draft), undated
  • Box 5 Folder 47 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 16-20 (draft), undated
  • Box 6 Folder 48 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 21-23 (draft), undated
  • Box 6 Folder 49 Course materials: Home Study Course, sections 21-25 (draft), undated
  • Box 6 Folder 50 Course materials: Home Study Course, “Rules of Needlery”, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 51 Course materials: Home Study Course, loose pages, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 52 Course materials: Original lessons, sections 21-25, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 53 Course materials: Original lessons, section 21, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 54 Course materials: Original lessons, section 22, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 55 Course materials: Original lessons, section 25, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 56 Course materials: Original lessons, section 24, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 57 Course materials: Original lessons, section 25, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 58 Course materials: Original lessons, section 22, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 59 Course materials: Slides, “88 Line’s Packaging”, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 60 Course materials: Slides, sections 2-3 and samplers, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 61 Course materials: Slides, section 2, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 62 Course materials: Slides, lesson 9, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 63 Course materials: Research on religious symbols, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 64 Course materials: Student record forms (blank), undated
  • Box 8 Course materials: Embroidery samples, undated
  • Box 9 Course materials: Embroidery samples, undated
  • Box 7 Folder 72 Course materials: Hedebo (needle made lace), undated
  • Box 10 Folder 75 Course materials: Hedebo (needle made lace), undated
  • Box 10 Folder 76-85 Course materials: Photographs for lesson plans, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 65 License, 1973
  • Box 6 Folder 66 Logo, undated
  • Box 6 Folder 67 Metallic sample cards, undated
  • OPF-550/2 News clippings, December 1968
  • Box 7 Folder 73 Pattern by Pamela Kuehl, undated
  • Box 10 Folder 86 Pattern by Pamela Kuehl, undated

Items Separated

  • Oversize Paper Items (OP-550/1-2)
  • Oversize Paper Folders (OPF-550/1-2)
  • Oversize Photograph (OPH-550/1)

Processing Information

Processed by Sarah Lerner, October 2018.

Finding aid by Sarah Lerner and Amelia Holmes, October 2018.

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.

We use cookies to deliver our online services. Details and instructions on how to disable those cookies are set out in our Privacy Policy. By clicking I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies unless you have disabled them.

> >