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
This is an artificial collection of poems and songs assembled by the Nantucket Historical Association. In some instances, the NHA gathers materials on a single topic to preserve them and make them available. In these cases, the NHA is seen as the creator of the artificially constructed collection.
This artificial collection contains published and unpublished poems and songs related to Nantucket. The bulk of them were written in the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily by Nantucket authors, and describe Nantucket people, places, or events. Some of the poems were printed in small privately published booklets or in the weekly newspaper, but many survive as individual manuscripts. Also contains sheet music, several oversized paper documents, and one volume with handwritten annotations.
Collection Details
- Collection Number:
- MS43
- Title:
- Nantucket Poems and Songs Collection
- Date(s):
- 1745–1983
- Creator:
- Nantucket Historical Association
- 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 Poems and Songs Collection, Nantucket Historical Association.
Acquisitions Information:
“Down in Old Nantucket” (Acc. RL2005.38), Work of James Henry Barnard gift of Mrs. Eliza Jane Kempton; Edwina Stanton Babcock gift of Alcon Chadwick; “‘Sconset,” gift of Miss. Josephine Bender (Acc. 1983.2); Hezediah Cartwright poem gift of Mrs. S. M. Ewer, Phebe Coleman poem gift of Mr. Henry P. McCleave, Nantucket gift of George Murphy. Acc. 1986.129; “Trivia in Rhyme” gift of Geraldine VanderBurgh; Poem by Ruth Gardner gift of Miss. S. A. Starbuck; “The Alarmed Skipper” by James T. Fields gift of Mr. H. S. Wyer; “Nantucket Surnames” gift of Mr. Kenneth Folger Crafts Acc. 92.38; “A Song for Christmas,” gift of Mr. Walter Beinecke, Jr.; “Eliza Roach,” gift of Mrs. Florence Easton Couable Acc. RL2005.44 (Mostly Nantucket) Acc. 1980.75; Eliza Macy Poem gift of Miss. Phebe A. Barker; William Hussey Macy Poem gift of Charles Congdon; Caroline Swain Poem gift of Mrs. Ella Spencer; “Who’s Who at the Island” and “A Provincial” gift of Miss. Mary E. Starbuck; “An Islander’s Love” gift of George Murphy Acc. 1986.129; “A Rhyme of Nantucket” by William Woodward gift of William D. Woodward, Gift of Miss. Hannah Hatch (Henry S. Wyer I), Gift of Mr. Henry S. Wyer (Henry S. Wyer II), Gift of Myron Samuel Dudley (Whittier); “There is mourning on Nantucket…” gift of an anonymous donor in January 2012 (Acc. RL2012.2); “Another World” by Herb Sweet gift of Herbert Robert Sweet; “Daughters of Nantucket” by Robert Convery gift of Katherine Walker of Nantucket, Mass., in October 1988 (Acc. 1988.093); “A Whaling” by Howard C. Barber gift of Mrs. James Whittier of Glastonbury, Conn., in February 1988 (Acc. 1988.26); “Ode to Life Savers” by Burt G. Wilder gift of Dr. Burt G. Wilder; “Green Chimneys” song book gift of Robert Mooney; “This is Home” gift of Mr. Charles Noblit of Nantucket, Mass., in July 1986 (Acc. 1986.118); “Little Islands” gift of Lucien Nochomovitz; “Songs of Sconset” gift of ‘Sconset Casino; “Another World” gift of Herbert Robert Sweet; “Buy a Ticket to ‘Sconset” by Kenneth and Roy Webb gift of the Estate of William P. and Mary Dickinson Herbert in September 2016 (Acc. RL2016.59).
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.
Subject Headings
-
Topical Term
- Poems--Massachusetts--Nantucket—19th century.
- Poems--Massachusetts--Nantucket—20th century.
- Songs--Massachusetts--Nantucket—19th century.
- Songs--Massachusetts--Nantucket—20th century.
Biographical Information
This is an artificial collection of poems and songs assembled by the Nantucket Historical Association. In some instances, the NHA gathers materials on a single topic to preserve them and make them available. In these cases, the NHA is seen as the creator of the artificially constructed collection.
Scope and Content
This artificial collection contains published and unpublished poems and songs related to Nantucket. The bulk of them were written in the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily by Nantucket authors, and describe Nantucket people, places, or events. Some of the poems were printed in small privately published booklets or in the weekly newspaper, but many survive as individual manuscripts.
Contents
Box 1 Folder 1: Poets A–B, 1916–1978
Box 1 Folder 1¼: Poets B, 1811–1967
Box 1 Folder 1½: Campbell, Joseph A., Clifford, Henry A., 1910–1911
Box 1 Folder 1¾: Bliss Carman, 1908–1910
Box 1 Folder 2: Poets C, 1745–1966
Box 1 Folder 3: Poets D, 1970–1975
Box 2 Folder 4: Poets D–G, 1783–1979
Box 2 Folder 5: Poets H, 1917–1947
Box 2 Folder 5½: Poets I–K, 1864–1930
Box 2 Folder 6: Poets L–M, 1772–1969
Box 2 Folder 7: Poets N–P, 1813–1983
Box 2 Folder 7½: R–Elizabeth Starbuck, 1863–1967
Box 3 Folder 8: Poets: Mary Elizabeth Starbuck, 1906–1937
Box 3 Folder 9: Poets: Mary Elizabeth Starbuck – Scrapbook of Poems by Others, 1881
Box 3 Folder 10: Poets: R. L. Stevenson–A. C. Vickery, 1969, undated
Box 3 Folder 10½: Poets: F. Waters–H. S. Wyer, 1893–1927
Box 4 Folder 11: Poets: Henry S. Wyer, 1890–1908
Box 4 Folder 12: Poets: Henry S. Wyer, “Songs of the Gray Mother,”
“Poems of Nantucket,” 1888, undated
Box 4 Folder 13: Poets: Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1895, undated
Box 5 Folder 13½: Poems about Nantucket – by other poets or Anonymous, 1861–1980
Box 5 Folder 14: Poems about specific Nantucket events and people, 1811–1962
Box 5 Folder 14½: Elegy on the death of Priscilla Coleman, 1782
Box 5 Folder 15: Poems not associated with Nantucket, 1827–1974
Box 5 Folder 15¼: Poems not associated with Nantucket, cont’d, 1842–1961
Box 5 Folder 15½: Poems about Siasconset, 1841, undated
Box 5 Folder 16: Songs about Nantucket, 1861–1983
Box 5 Folder 16½: Songs about Nantucket, cont’d, 1892–1983
Box 5 Folder 17: Songs with no Nantucket subject, 1807–1874
Box 5 Folder 18: “Seaweeds from the Shores of Nantucket” (Identification of poets), 1853
OPF-43/1: Oversize sheet music, 1903–1915
Items Separated
- OPF-43/1
Processing Information
Processed by NHA Staff.
Finding aid by Teddy Leane, June 2021.