Guide to the Nantucket Needlery Collection, 1959-1983

Collection Details

Collection Number:

MS539

Title:

Nantucket Needlery Collection

Date(s):

1959-1983

Creator:

Nantucket School of Needlery

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 Needlery Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.

Acquisitions Information:

Gift of Suzanne Gardner of Nantucket, Mass. (Acc. RL2014.92).

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

• MS549 Julie Beinecke Stackpole Collection on Mary Ann Beinecke, Nantucket Historical Association
• MS550 Mary Ann Beinecke Papers, Nantucket Historical Association
• 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
  • Nantucket School of Needlery.
• Topical Term
  • Needlework.
  • Textile crafts.

Biographical Information

The Nantucket School of Needlery was founded by Mary Anne Beinecke (1927-2014) in the latter half of the 1960s. Originally located on Harbour Square on Straight Wharf and at 2 India Street in 1968, the school brought needlework experts from around the world to Nantucket, Mass. It introduced Beinecke’s Home-Study Extension Course—the first of its kind—in 1969; this correspondence course offered thirty-five lessons to be completed over approximately three years for a certificate. In 1975, the school moved to North Adams, Mass., becoming part of Mary Ann Beinecke’s new business, Textile Studios. The efforts of the Nantucket School of Needlery represent a portion of the craft revival taking place on island in the 1960s and 1970s.

Scope and Content

The Nantucket Needlery Collection contains material from the Nantucket School of Needlery—specifically, the Home-Study Extension Course, which includes lessons, educational diagrams, stencils, certificates of completion, and the box in which the material was sent.

Alongside the material for the Extension Course is material for the Symbol and Color Courses taught by Henry Lee Willet of Willet Studios, Philadelphia, Pa.

The collection also contains newspaper articles relating to the Nantucket School of Needlery, Nantucket Needlery, Nantucket Needleworks, and Nantucket Historical Trust and promotional brochures and catalogs for the Nantucket Needlery and Nantucket Needleworks.

Contents

Series 1: The Nantucket School of Needlery, 1959-1973.

Includes material from the Extension School Course; the Symbol and Color Courses taught by Henry Lee Willet of Willet Studios, Philadelphia, Pa., as well as newspaper articles.

Arranged according to the design of the course materials, unless noted otherwise.

• Box 1 Folder 1 Extension Course: Introduction to the course, “Rules of the
  Game of Needlery”, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 2 Extension Course: Section One, the Running Stitch, pg. 9-18, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 3 Extension Course: Section One, illustrations and examples, 1968
  Box 1 Folder 4 Extension Course: Section One, notes Extension Course:
  Section One, notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 5 Extension Course: Section One, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 6 Extension Course: Section Two, the Darning Stitch, pg. 19-30, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 7 Extension Course: Section Two, illustrations and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 8 Extension Course: Section Two, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 9 Extension Course: Section Three, the Stem Stitch and Buttonhole Stitch, pg. 31-38, 1968
• Box 2 Folder 1 Section Three: Stencil, 1967
• Box 2 Folder 2 Section Three: Example, 1967
• Box 1 Folder 10 Extension Course: Section Three, examples and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 11 Extension Course: Section Four, the Double Open Stem Stitch, or the Chained Border Stitch and Split Stitch, pg. 39-47, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 12 Extension Course: Section Four, examples and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 13 Extension Course: Section Five, the Upright Gobelin Stitch, an Eyelet Hole, and the Buttonhole Wheel, pg. 48-56, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 14 Extension Course: Section Five, illustrations, examples, and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 15 Extension Course: Section Five, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 16 Extension Course: Section Six, the Tent Stitch, pg. 57- 67, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 17 Extension Course: Section Six, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 18 Extension Course: Section Seven, the Back Stitch and the Buttonhole Stitch, pg. 68-76, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 19 Extension Course: Section Seven, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 20 Extension Course: Section Eight, Patterns and Fillings, pg. 77-88, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 21 Extension Course: Section Eight, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 2 Folder 3 Section Eight: Example, 1967
• Box 1 Folder 22 Extension Course: Section Nine, Fillings, the Feather Stitch, and the Looped Stitch, pg. 89-98, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 23 Extension Course: Section Nine, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 24 Extension Course: Section Ten, Satin Stitch and various fillings,
  pg. 99-110, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 25 Extension Course: Section Ten, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 26 Extension Course: Section Eleven, Florentine Work, pg. 1-21, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 27 Extension Course: Section Eleven, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 28-33 Extension Course: Section Eleven, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 34 Extension Course: Section Twelve, Straight Stitch and Chain Stitch, pg. 22–45, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 35 Extension Course: Section Twelve, illustrations and design drawings, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 36 Extension Course: Section Twelve, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 37 Extension Course: Section Thirteen, Long and Short technique, the Long Armed Feather Stitch, Spine Stitch, and the Cretan Stitch, pg. 46-62, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 38 Extension Course: Section Fourteen, Drawn Fabric fillings, pg. 63-81, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 39 Extension Course: Section Fourteen, notes and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 40 Extension Course: Section Fifteen, Drawn Fabric fillings, pg. 82-102, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 41 Extension Course: Section Fifteen, illustrations and examples, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 42 Extension Course: Section Sixteen, Drawn Fabric fillings, pg. 103-120 ,1968
• Box 1 Folder 43 Extension Course: Section Sixteen, illustrations and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 44 Extension Course: Section Seventeen, Arrowhead Stitch, Eye Stitch, Chain Stitch, pg. 121-135, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 45 Extension Course: Section Seventeen, Ornament, 136149, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 46 Extension Course: Section Eighteen, Drawn Fabric Filling, pg. 150-163, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 47 Extension Course: Section Eighteen, Drawn Fabric Filling, pg. 164-173, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 48 Extension Course: Binder, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 49 Symbol Course: Symbols of the Church, edited by Carroll E. Whittemore, 1959
• Box 1 Folder 50 Symbol Course: Willet Studios, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 51 Symbol Course: Outline and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 52 Symbol Course: Notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 53 Symbol Course: Bibliography notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 54 Color Course: Outline and notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 55 Color Course: Notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 56 Color Course: Notes, 1968
• Box 1 Folder 57 Newspaper articles, 1966–1968
• Box 1 Folder 58 Newspaper articles, 1969–1970
• Box 1 Folder 59 Newspaper articles, 1970–1973
• Box 2 Folder 4 Nantucket School of Needlery Certificate of Completion,
  awarded to Cornelia E. Huyser, 31 August 1967
• Box 2 Folder 5 Nantucket School of Needlery Certificates of Completion,
  awarded to Priscilla E. Stanley, 31 August 1967
• Box 2 Folder 6 Extension Course Home Study box undated

Series 2: The Nantucket Needlery and Nantucket Needleworks materials, 1964-1983.

Includes materials from the Nantucket Needlery and Nantucket Needleworks. Also includes newspaper articles pertaining to each business as well as the Nantucket Historical Trust.

Arranged organizationally and chronologically when possible.

Box 1 Folder 60 Nantucket Needlery: Handbook, 1967
Box 1 Folder 61 Nantucket Needlery: Handbook, 1967
Box 1 Folder 62 Nantucket Needleworks: Catalog, 1970
Box 1 Folder 63 Newspaper articles, 1964–1983

Processing Information

Processed by Sarah Helm, July 2015.

Finding aid by Alison Barr, August 2018, with additional description by Sarah Lerner in October 2018.