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.
Summary
The Nantucket Agricultural Society was organized in the early 1860s. The society sponsored annual cattle shows and fairs with a large variety of exhibits. The last fair was held in 1934. This collection includes handwritten meeting minutes and notes, lists of exhibitions, programs, and ephemera from the Nantucket Agricultural Society’s annual fairs.
Collection Details
- Collection Number:
- MS171
- Title:
- Nantucket Agricultural Society Records
- Date(s):
- 1856–1917
- Creator:
- Nantucket Agricultural Society.
- 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 Nantucket Agricultural Society Records, Nantucket Historical Association.
Acquisitions Information:
Envelope 22 a gift of Mrs. Rupert Folger (Acc. 55-45); Folder 2 R. Easton notice a gift of Harriet R. Easton (Acc. No. 872); Folder 8 and envelope 27 gifts of Edward A. Swain (Acc. No. 965).
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
- AB 139 Nantucket Agricultural Society account book, MS10 Account Books Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
- AB 140 Nantucket Agricultural Society account book, MS10 Account Books Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
- AB 435 Nantucket Agricultural Society account book, MS10 Account Books Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
- AB 458 Nantucket Agricultural Society account book, MS10 Account Books Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
- Folder 4 Agricultural Society, MS335 Edouard A. Stackpole Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
Subject Headings
-
Corporate Name
- Nantucket Agricultural Society.
-
Topical Term
- Agricultural exhibitions -- Massachusetts.
- Agriculture -- Massachusetts.
- Cattle -- Massachusetts.
- Cattle -- Showing.
- Fairs -- Massachusetts.
Biographical Information
The first agricultural exhibition in Nantucket, Mass., was held on 28 October 1856 in the Nantucket Atheneum, with public exercises in the Methodist Church and cattle exhibits in a vacant lot at Federal and Chestnut Streets. By the early 1860s, the Nantucket Agricultural Society was organized. The society sponsored annual cattle shows and fairs with a large variety of exhibits. Interest in the fairs waned in the early twentieth century due to an increasingly busy summer tourist season and the decline of horses on Nantucket. The last fair was held in 1934. In the 1950s, the Nantucket Agricultural Society sold its property and relocated to Foxboro, Mass., where it continued sponsoring harness racing to fund a scholarship.
Scope and Content
This collection includes handwritten meeting minutes and notes, lists of exhibitions, programs, and ephemera from the Nantucket Agricultural Society’s annual fairs. The majority of the collection consists of the society’s published annual reports, including meeting minutes, officers, treasurer’s reports, reports of exhibitors and winners, and the winners’ premiums.
Contents
Folder 1 Admittance ticket, 1888
OPF-171/1 Broadsides, 1897, 1902, 1916
OPF-171/3 Broadsides, 1874, 1876
OPF-171/2 Diplomas, 1856, 1867
Folder 2 Notices, 1856, undated
Folder 3 Programs, 1856–1914
Folder 4 Reports, 1906–1907, undated
Folders 5–9 Transactions of the Nantucket Agricultural Society, 1857–1861
Envelopes 10–51 Transactions of the Nantucket Agricultural Society, 1862–1917
Items Separated
- Oversize paper folder (OPF-171/1–3)
Processing Information
Processed by NHA staff.
Finding aid by Ashley Miller, December 2022.
Materials in this collection were digitized with support from Connie and Tom Cigarran.