HARPOONS AND PETTICOATS: AN EXHIBIT PROPOSAL HIGHLIGHTING THE

INFLUENCE AND POSITION OF NANTUCKET WOMEN OVER THE COURSE OF THE

ISLAND’S DEVELOPMENT

Cheyenne Dunham

HIST 620 Introduction to Public History and Public Memory

University of Massachusetts Boston

December 11, 2015

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Cheyenne Dunham

HIST 620 Exhibit Proposal

12/11/15

Harpoons and Petticoats: An Exhibit Proposal Highlighting the Influence and Position of

Nantucket Women over the Course of the Island’s Development

According to Nantucket historian Obed Macy, “History may be properly said to

contribute to the necessities of our species, inasmuch as the experience of past generations is

oftentimes the only criterion by which to judge the consequences of present acts.”1 Early in the

island’s development, Nantucketers began to value their history and its significance and make an

intentional effort to preserve and communicate it for future generations. Macy acknowledges in

his work that his account is intended for the edification and understanding of later Nantucketers

and not necessarily a greater audience. Nonetheless, his works have become intrinsically

integrated into Nantucket’s historical dialogue within a variety of circles on and off the island.

One of the strongest institutions dedicated to the preservation and communication of this valued

history is the Nantucket Historical Association. Their mission statement is as follows: “The

Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) tells the inspiring stories of Nantucket through its

collections, programs, and properties.”2 While the NHA is at the forefront of obtaining,

maintaining, and making available the island’s history for either research or general

interpretation, the organization has only briefly touched on one aspect of Nantucket’s narrative.

The role of women in the development of the island as a social, cultural, and economic entity has

been interwoven throughout various historical accounts, exhibits, interactive retellings, and

1 Obed Macy, The History of Nantucket being a Compendious Account of the First Settlement of the Island by the English (Mansfield: Macy & Pratt, 1880), 5.2 “Mission Statement of the Nantucket Historical Association.” Accessed October 13, 2015. http://www.nha.org/about/index.html.

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historical fictions, but rarely as a cohesive presentation. I will propose, in cooperation with the

NHA, to establish an exhibit highlighting the women of Nantucket and their positions in the

early history of the island and consolidate these stories into a visual history to be presented at the

Whaling Museum.

The development of this exhibit will include specific case studies of important women on

Nantucket such as Mary Coffin Starbuck, a contributor of early historical documentation and a

notable actor in the establishment of Quakerism on the island, and Susan C. Austin Veeder, a

whaling wife who was one of many that took to the seas and accounted her journey. These

women, among others, will be categorized into four specific spheres that will highlight particular

aspects of Nantucket’s development and the place of women within these frameworks. Another

intention of this project would be to highlight the various groups on the island from a female

perspective. Through the use of journals, photographs, artifacts, and other records, the exhibit

would explore the place of women on the island and their embodiment of Nantucket’s

independent progression. With the wealth of information, resources, and completed projects

within the archives of the NHA and the libraries of the Nantucket Atheneum, the role of women

both on the island and within its various industries and movements will provide a more rounded

picture of Nantucket’s historical narrative.

While the NHA has a significant record for preserving the physical manifestations of the

history of Nantucket and making it more widely accessible, the less tangible influences in the

establishment of the island such as cultural, religious, intellectual, or political changes have been

isolated into mostly transitioning exhibits within various historical institutions. I want to propose

this exhibit to add to the interpretation of the unseen influences on the island’s history such as

how its women transcended societal constructs or barriers to shape Nantucket. My proposal will

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also explore how an exhibit such as this would fit into the larger picture of the field of public

history. I will aim to articulate what this exhibit can add to the greater scope of Nantucket history

and how various aspects of interpretation within the field can enhance this project.

The incorporation of women’s history into the larger sphere of historical interpretation is

not a newly contested issue. Issues that led to a lack of inclusion within early histories include

writings from a male perspective, bias stemming from suffragist or feminist sentiment, or the

basic neglect of the woman’s role in certain events or time periods because the focus of historical

records was the transition of power or political agenda and therefore was exclusive to more

general social dynamics.3 As early as the 1970s, historians were looking at this discrepancy. In

1979, Gerda Lerner articulated the limitations of previous works on the subject stating that they

were “topically narrow, predominantly descriptive, and generally devoid of interpretation.”4

Current works to incorporate the female perspective and show more of a balanced and

multi-faceted interpretation have been intentional to compensate for this discrepancy. For

example, the National Women’s History Museum in Washington D.C., was not founded until

1996, a somewhat recent establishment compared to those historical institutions such as the NHA

that have been contributing to the field for decades and even centuries. Its founder, Karen Staser,

firmly believed in the importance of voicing this perspective and balance, stating, "A better

world awaits the generation that absorbs what women and men have to share about life from a

joint perspective. Together, all things are possible."5 One of the goals of this exhibit will be to

add to this move to provide a larger perspective on the history of Nantucket, as if to take certain

3 Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds its Past: Placing Women in History, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 1.4 Ibid.5 “About Us,” National Women’s History Museum, 2015, Accessed November 10, 2015. https://www.nwhm.org/about-nwhm/.

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pieces of a puzzle and present them not just within the frame of an analysis of the pieces

themselves, but also as a discussion of how they fit into completing the bigger picture.

In discussing how to integrate women’s history into the public sphere of interpretation,

especially that of a focused area such as Nantucket, an analysis must take place of the potential

ways an historical institution can facilitate this action and address these challenges. Jerome de

Groot offers the following definition:

A museum is defined by the Statues of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) as ‘a non-profitmaking, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, communicates, and exhibits, for the purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of man and his environment.’6

This fundamental definition brings together patrons and professionals as it creates a mutual

understanding of what can be offered at such an institution. The advantage that a museum has

over other forms of interpretation within public history includes the possibility that its offerings

can be utilized for a variety of purposes, by a range of different audiences, and can cover a

multitude of topics within the same presentation space unlike monuments or tours. These can be

limited to a singular topic or time period, be used by a more limited audience for a less dynamic

range of purposes, or be restricted by the method of delivery alone. It is on this basis that I turn

to the Nantucket Historical Association as the most viable channel through which this exhibit

could be presented.

Established in 1894, the Nantucket Historical Association has been dedicated to the

collection and preservation of the island’s history for over a century and is responsible for

maintaining the majority of historic sites on the island, the research library and collections, and

the Whaling Museum. This organization’s wealth of primary and research resources, ample

exhibition space at the museum, and dedication to communicating the story of Nantucket and its 6 Jerome de Groot, Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture (New York: Routledge, 2009), 234.

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people with integrity makes it ideal for a presentation of how the women throughout the island’s

history reiterated its unique separation and development. “Providing Transformative

Experiences” is one of the noted goals of the NHA. This goal shows an alignment with the intent

of my exhibit in its statement, “Our island is a ‘microcosm’ of America, and so our stories are

American stories. We believe that direct and moving encounters with our past make for a more

informed and engaged public.”7

While I plan to offer a particular perspective through my exhibit, if displayed, it would

not be the first project on women’s history by the NHA shown at the museum. Running through

the Whaling Museum’s summer and autumn seasons of 2010, “Sometimes Think of Me: Notable

Nantucket Women through the Centuries,” was a multi-medium exhibit that featured

embroidered story boards by Susan Boardman and accompanying biographies by NHA research

fellow and current Obed Macy Research Chair Betsy Tyler. According to the NHA, this was the

first exhibit of its kind that delved into the history of the island’s women on a large scale.8 It

featured thirty-two women from Nantucket’s past, ranging from the Wampanoag maiden,

Wanoma, to whaling wife Eliza Brock, to abolitionist Eunice Ross. Boardman’s embroidered

narratives and Tyler’s biographical research were displayed alongside artifacts, logbooks,

manuscript material, an informational video synthesizing the NHA’s wealth of material and the

work of these women, and an illustrated catalog that was added to the NHA’s library of

publications. The NHA presents Boardman’s work as covering “the lives of some of the most

exemplary Nantucket women, whose spirit of independence, resourcefulness, and ambition, often

in the face of their husbands’ long absences at sea, have made them much admired in American

7 Mission Statement of the Nantucket Historical Association,” Nantucket Historical Association, Accessed October 13, 2015. http://www.nha.org/about/index.html.8 “Exhibitions at the Nantucket Historical Association,” Nantucket Historical Association, Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.nha.org/exhibits/previousexhibitions.html.

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history.”9 “Sometimes Think of Me” effectively presented a multi-dimensional perspective of

these women and the place they held in Nantucket’s society and historical development. In a

review of the exhibit, Chief Curator Ben Simons stated:

From whaling wives to today’s independent businesswomen, the women of Nantucket have always possessed a moral fiber that’s made them exceptional. What’s amazing about Nantucket women are the full rich lives they lead. For instance, there is a monument to wives of early setters and these women lived into their seventies. These women in the seventeenth-century had up to 12 children, raised them, ran the house, ran businesses, and still lived to old age. They’ve had an independent streak that’s always been there, with Mariah Mitchell, with women joining husbands at sea, just an incredible range of talent and its great they are now being celebrated.10

This project is now available as a digital exhibit on the NHA’s website where published catalog

containing both of these women’s works can be read.

“Sometimes Think of Me” addressed the silence of the female presence within

Nantucket’s historical retelling. This exhibit comprehensively presented influential women from

its earliest recorded history through the twentieth century. Boardman’s vivid embroideries

brought the stories of these women to life, giving visitors a visually stimulating window into key

points of the lives of these women. In order to be effectively comprehensive, the element of

interpretation did not weigh heavily within this exhibit. The information was presented in order

to stimulate the visitor to think about the presence and identity of these figures. It did not expand

into the realm of drawing an overt conclusion or bringing the visitor to any particular

understanding aside from acknowledging the fundamental notability of the subjects. This is

where my exhibit will branch off into a less comprehensive but more interpretive presentation of

Nantucket’s historical women. The intention of my proposed exhibit is to build on what the NHA

has already started. They have opened the door to honoring the women who contributed to

9 “Exhibitions at the Nantucket Historical Association.” Nantucket Historical Association Exhibits and Collections, Nantucket Historical Association, 2015, Accessed November 11, 2015, http://www.nha.org/exhibits/previousexhibitions.html.10 Chris O’Day, “Sometimes Think of Me,” Yesterday’s Island, Today’s Nantucket, Accessed November 7, 2015. http://yesterdaysisland.com/2010/events/9-nha.php.

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shaping Nantucket into what it is today. My exhibit would combine the celebration of these

women with that of the identity of the island itself. It would be another step in bridging the gap

that Lerner identified in the interpretation of women’s history and an effort to utilize the

cooperative approach articulated by Staser in order to place these smaller stories into

Nantucket’s larger historical identity.

In order to provide context to the significance of my exhibit and the presence of its

subjects, the history of Nantucket’s establishment and early progress must be considered. The

island of Nantucket has a unique history, geographically, culturally and industrially, that has

contributed to its separation from the mainland for centuries. It has always maintained a duality

within itself of reaching out across the world and embracing a global influence yet being an

isolated city, content to remain politically and socially individualized. Nantucket acted as a

religious haven from Puritanical New England in its early years, enabling Quakerism and a

renewal of religious tolerance to obtain a solid foundation. It was also a beacon of hope that

offered the opportunity for new beginnings to those beckoned by reasons similar to the ones that

motivated the first settlers to come to the New World. By looking at its inhabitants and presence

during pivotal periods of historical change, Nantucket can be seen as having an history unique

unto itself that both mirrors and contrasts the events that transpired on the mainland and adds to

the broader stories of industry, political and social reform, religious transition, and immigration.

From the beginning, Nantucket was settled by unconventional means or for reasons not

always aligned with the general status quo of the time. This is evident in the development of its

immigrant population as well as in the establishment of the social structure of the island. Non-

native populations did not arrive to Nantucket in masses by boats sailing from Europe, but by

trickling onto the island through industrial opportunities, connections with families already on

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the island, or other means of secondary migration. In order to better understand the progression

of Nantucket’s population development and the key players within this, we must look at the

history of the island itself and the story of its early settlement.

Nantucket’s story has in many cases been told from the inside out. Most of the earliest

historians who set out to communicate its historical development and to compile records of

events or significant moments were permanent residents of the island and more often than not,

descendants of the original settlers. These early historians held strong ties to the island and its

people not only through genealogy but also through a passion for its identity and historical

legacy. As previously identified, Macy as one of Nantucket’s earliest historian noted the

significance of documenting and communicating the progression of the island. Another early

historian, Alexander Starbuck, acknowledged the romanticism held by both the islanders and

those recording their history in his work History of the American Whale Fishery saying, “If in

the search for facts the historical idols of others have been shattered, it may be a source of

satisfaction to them to learn that the writer has been equally iconoclastic with many that he too

has reverenced.”11 Whether recorded for the purposes of posterity, preservation, or simply to gain

an understanding of origin for both the islanders themselves or those who have little to no

understanding of Nantucket, the island’s history has always been a valued and preserved element

of its identity.

This history can be traced to many starting points, but the English interaction with the

island begins with its recorded discovery by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602 amidst the

initiation of the English reach of colonization and settlement in the New World. The first

documented purchase of land on the island, however, did not occur until 1641 when James

Forrett, an agent to William, Earl of Sterling, deeded rights and ownership of the island to

11 Nathaniel Philbrick, Away Off Shore: Nantucket and its people 1602-1890 (London: Penguin Books, 1994), xv.

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Thomas Mayhew of Martha’s Vineyard.12 The island remained populated by the native

Wampanoag tribes with the only English interaction being usage of grazing and livestock

cultivation from Vineyard farmers until 1659. In the late fall, Thomas Macy arrived on the island

with his family and a small number of settlers who would eventually become members of the

“First Purchasers” through buying cooperative rights to land on the island. According to “Mr.

Mayhew’s Bill of Sale,” this agreement was settled on during the summer before their arrival and

entitled Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard,

Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain, and William Pile “all that right and interest that I

(Thomas Mayhew) have in the island of Nantucket by Patent” at the cost of thirty pounds and

two beaver hats.13 In 1660, a similar written agreement between the sachems of the island,

Wanackmamack and Nickanoose, and these settlers determined land rights and usage and helped

initiate positive relations between the English and Wampanoag people.

The motivation behind this settlement can be attributed to the environment of Puritanical

New England. Macy encountered conflict with officials for harboring Quakers during a

rainstorm, Coffin was confronted for not conforming to production standards of beer, and others

were simply motivated by an opportunity to gain land and a new beginning beyond the reach of

both the current regulations of New England and the trans-Atlantic control of the area. Obed

Macy describes Thomas Macy’s situation saying,

He could now live no longer in peace, and in the enjoyment of religious freedom, among his own nation; he chose therefore to remove his family to a place unsettled by the whites, to take up his abode among savages, where he could safely imitate the example and obey the precepts of our Saviour, and where religious zeal had not yet discovered a crime in hospitality, nor the refinements of civil law, a punishment for its practice.14

12 Macy, 17.13 Macy, 19-20.14 Macy,29.

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While not all of the early settlers came for the same reasons, religious or political, they did

embody the first instances of Nantucket being a haven for the opportunity, reform, and

individualism, as well as the desire for inclusiveness and acceptance that was not found in New

England at the time. This pattern of thinking continued to be present over the course of the

development of the island’s community. It is illustrated in approaches to interaction and

cooperation with the native population, the role of women in the community in both the social

and industrial spheres, religious and political policies including those concerning slavery, and the

incorporation of immigrant populations within the island’s economic network.

As the island began to come into its own, eventually it did fall under regulation and in

1664, came under the mainland authority of New York. In 1671, Tristram Coffin was appointed

as chief magistrate by Governor Francis Lovelace. This relationship established a very loose

mainland regulation and allowed for Coffin to have a heavy amount of island jurisdiction while

maintaining the ability to do things on the Nantucketers’ terms with a small amount of

accountability to New York. Coffin and the island’s authorities only consulted the mainland

authority when it suited them or was absolutely necessary and very irregularly paid their annual

dues of two barrels of “merchantable codfish.”15 Nantucket maintained its status under New

York until William and Mary took the throne of England in 1693. At the request of the island’s

inhabitants, it became included within the newly drawn boundaries of the Province of

Massachusetts Bay in May of that year.16

When considering Nantucket’s history, it is difficult to deny the extent of the whaling

industry’s impact on solidifying Nantucket’s place in the greater story of New England’s

industrial development. It became one of the most profitable and furthest reaching whaling ports

15 Philbrick, 43.16 Macy, 47.

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in the world as well as the third largest port in New England.17 In this way, the isolated island

that had made such a deliberate effort to establish itself in independence and under its own

influence, turned its sights to extending its reach first regionally, then globally. This pivotal

establishment had humble beginnings despite the scale of financial success, myth and legend,

and social restructuring that eventually developed as a result of the industry.

Whaling on Nantucket began with the inspiration and influence of the Wampanoags. The

natives had been incorporating the harvesting of whales as a way of life for centuries, mostly

utilizing those that washed ashore. This knowledge of the whales’ value motivated the first

whaling expedition in 1672. Obed Macy retells the traditional story of when a stranded Atlantic

grey whale inspired this movement stating, “A whale, of the kind called 'scrag,' came into the

harbor and continued there three days. This excited the curiosity of the people, and led them to

devise measures to prevent his return out of the harbor. They accordingly invented, and caused to

be wrought for them a harpoon with which they attacked and killed the whale.”18

Since the island had been previously thriving primarily on farming and raising sheep, the

prospect of turning whaling into a lucrative endeavor appealed to many. Later that year, an

experienced whaler from Southampton, James Lopar, and a cooper, John Savage, joined in

cooperation with the islanders and set up an official whaling business. In Lopar’s original record,

he states, “5th 4th mo. 1672 James Lopar doth Ingage to carry on a design of Whale Citching on

the Island of Nantuckket…”19 initiating the first official business settlement of the industry.

Whaling began strictly as an off shore endeavor with various stations set up on the ocean

side of the island and smaller boats being sent out directly from shore until the off-shore whale

population became exhausted. It was then that sights were set on the deep sea and on larger,

17 Philbrick, 9.18 Macy, 41. 19 Ibid.

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more profitable whales such as the sperm whale. The eighteenth century saw a rapid growth and

setting of the stage for whaling to continue for nearly 150 years. By 1834, at the later end of the

industry’s peak, Nantucket had acquired 73 ships, 20 schooners, 40 sloops, and one steamboat.20

According to historian Frances Ruley Karttunen, with the incredible growth of the number of

vessels going out to sea between 1700 and 1750 came the significant increase in deaths and

whaling-related hazard and tragedy. She states, “A private record of Nantucket deaths lists a

dozen or so whaling-related losses between 1722 and 1756, ranging from a single man struck by

lightning to ten boats lost with all hands ‘at sea,’ ‘in the shoals,’ and most frequently ‘awhaling

to the southard.’”21

Despite the significant risk, whaling saw great success and continued to increase its

profitability until it finally fell into decline in the 1850s following the Great Fire of 1846 and a

gradual geographic reshaping of the harbor that resulted in the necessary deep-draft ships

becoming unable to utilize the port.22However, the industry did not fade without leaving a lasting

mark on the island. It had brought in a variety of immigrant groups from whaling ports around

the world and challenged current views of ethnic roles through utilizing multi-racial crews. It had

reshaped the social dynamic of a woman’s role in the community as most had to become self-

sufficient in the extended absence of the whalers and take on the responsibilities left by their

spouses in order to support their families and maintain economic stability on the island. And,

finally, it had made it possible for Nantucket to maintain its self-sufficiency and independent

development. Historian Nathaniel Philbrick effectively describes this separation: “As a nation

beside a nation, Nantucket was (and is) both a microcosm of America and an exception to the

20 Nantucket, MA, Nantucket Census Records, 1850-1885 bulk: 1850, Massachusetts Historical Society.21Frances Ruley Karttunen, The Other Islanders: People Who Pulled Nantucket’s Oars (New Bedford, MA: Spinner Publications, 2005), 45. 22 Philbrick, 13.

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rule: a tightly knit community that took its special brand of provincialism all across the world,

becoming, in the process, one of the most cosmopolitan places in America.”23

In order to effectively portray the role of women in this development, this project would

include a variety of figures throughout various points in Nantucket history, each showing a

different aspect of life on the island and her place within the events of the time. The exhibit will

have four sections of history with various biographies within those sections and are as follows:

“Early Settlement and the rise of Quakerism;” “the Whaling Era;” “Activism in Abolition and

Suffrage;” and “Science, Progressivism, and the Foundation of a New Nantucket.” For the sake

of brevity, this proposal includes only select biographical representations of each section. Further

research and acquisition of primary resources will continue to add content to this exhibit. The

initially presented women in this proposal are discussed alongside the articulation of the

structure and presentation of their place within the project. The final exhibit would include

women from the first settlement of Nantucket through the beginning of the 20th century and the

rise of the island as a tourist destination as opposed to an industrial center. Each woman will be

tied to a significant movement, event, or era of development within these sections in order to tell

the story of Nantucket as an island apart through the lens of their lives.

One of the first women to be presented in this exhibit would be Mary Coffin Starbuck

within the category of “Early Settlement and the rise of Quakerism.” Perhaps one of the most

influential female figures in the Quaker movement within the first century of Nantucket’s

establishment and a powerful example of a woman willing to step forward with an equal voice,

Starbuck was a prominent presence. She was an embodiment of the duality of the Nantucket

woman that existed within the religious world and the economic. Philbrick expressed, “For it was

23 Philbrick, xiv.

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Mary Starbuck, Tristram Coffin’s youngest daughter, that the interplay of worldly success and

spiritual destiny created the truly prototypical Nantucketer.”24

Starbuck was born in 1645 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and arrived on Nantucket as a

child with the first purchasers when her father, Tristram, relocated his family following the

investment. She gained historical relevance early in her life when she married Nathaniel

Starbuck around the age of eighteen. They were the first English couple to marry on Nantucket

and proceeded to provide the island’s population with ten children in the years to come.25 Acting

as a voice and support alongside her husband during times of decision making and town affairs,

Starbuck provided influence within community decision-making while monitoring business

endeavors and keeping the records for the family’s company store. The NHA holds the original

logbook of these business accounts and begins with the inscribed title, “Mary Starbucks Account

Book with the Indians began in 1662 – Nathaniel Junior continued it.”26 This is just one example

of her impact within the business and professional relations within the family.

Starbuck’s influence on the island was not limited to the business world but presented

itself within spiritual circles as well. She was a pivotal figure during the establishment of

Quakerism on Nantucket and was noted as a significant spiritual leader within the community.

The island did not have a dominant belief system for much of its early years, but the turn of the

eighteenth century brought a shift in belief toward some centralization. An account of her

influence on the people was recorded in 1701 by a visiting English Quaker, John Richardson. He

describes her reaction to his speech during a religious meeting:

[She] fought and strove against the testimony, sometimes looking up in my face with a pale, and then with a more ruddy complexion, but the strength of the truth increased, and the Lord’s mighty power began to shake the people within and without doors; but she

24 Philbrick, 90. 25 Roland L. Warren, Mary Coffin Starbuck and the Early History of Nantucket, (Andover, NY: Pingry Press, 1987), 2.26 Philbrick, 91.

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who was looked upon as a Deborah by these people was loth to lose her outside religion, or the appearance thereof; when she could no longer contain, she submitted to the power of truth and the doctrines thereof and lifter up her voice and wept: Oh! Then the universal cry and brokenness of heart and tears was wonderful!27

Starbuck contributed to both the Coffin and Starbuck legacies on the island by placing

her hand in the adoption of Quakerism within the community, exemplifying the strength of a

woman’s presence in the business world, and being a voice within the community alongside her

husband without overshadowing him. She is an example of Nantucket’s individualism in her

overt influence at a time when often women were still more silent in larger social or political

affairs. In order to present her within the exhibit, I would proposed to include excerpts from

documents such as Richardson’s account that showed the view others had of her. I would display

her account book and portrait to show that aspect of her life and proceed to place these primary

documents within a brief point by point history of Quakerism and a description of

commercialism in Nantucket following the business transactions of Starbuck leading up to the

development and social acknowledgment of the predominantly female-run commercial area

known as “Petticoat Row.”

Another aspect of Nantucket’s history that is impossible to overlook when creating a

presentation that encompasses an extensive historical spectrum is the whaling industry. The role

of women within this industry is both fascinating and influential enough that an entire exhibit

could be built on it exclusively. However, my intent is to present a broader focus of women

throughout the island’s history as opposed to focusing on a specific chapter therein. Two of the

women that would be included within this section of the exhibit to represent the personage of the

whaling captain’s wives are Susan C. Austin Veeder and Eliza Brock. Both of these women

entered into Nantucket’s historical lineage by providing journals and ledgers from voyages with

27 Philbrick, 94.

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their husbands, providing irreplaceable accounts of the reality of this industry from the eyes of a

woman at sea.

Veeder’s journal was one of the first written at sea by a woman and provided extensive

detail about the nearly five year voyage. According to historian Betsy Tyler, “Veeder charted the

course for the sisterhood of mid-nineteenth century women who went to sea from Nantucket.”28

The journal was kept from September 13, 1848, through March 24, 1853, and recounts details of

the voyage led by her husband, Captain Charles A. Veeder, aboard the ship Nauticon. Detailed

writing and vivid watercolors are combined in her account of everything from the standard

records of weather pattern or whales killed to the ports visited throughout the voyage to daily

reflections of otherwise unreportable events that would be ignored in strictly technical ledgers.29

Also included in her journal is the account of both the birth and death of her child at sea. It is an

emotionally poignant aspect of conditions during a whaling voyage that may not have been

recorded outside her journal.

Brock’s journal occurs after the return of the Veeders to Nantucket. From May 21, 1853,

through June 25, 1856, Brock records her experiences aboard the Lexington with her husband,

Captain Peter C. Brock. Her meticulous account was written not only for personal expression,

but to provide an understanding of the experience of whaling voyages for a greater audience. On

October 1, 1853, Brock writes, “And I heard a voice from heaven; saying unto me; write,

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord; they rest from their labours; and their works follow

them;”30 Her journal occurs at the end of the whaling industry and provides insight into being

present at the decline of this industry and the consequences of the overhunting of whales. She 28Betsy Tyler, “Sometimes Think of Me: Notable Nantucket Women Through the Centuries,” Nantucket Historical Association Digital Exhibition, 2010, Nantucket Historical Association, http://www.nha.org/digitalexhibits/SometimesThinkofMe/Narratives.html. 29 Ibid.30 Sherri Federbush, “The Journal of Eliza Brock – At Sea on the Lexington,” Historic Nantucket, Vol. 30, No. 1 (July 1982), p. 13-17.

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acknowledges how this overhunting provided an added challenge to capturing the whales, saying

on July 5, 1854, "the whales have grown wild and shy, they are not easily captured as in times

gone by…the bowhead is no longer the slow and sluggish beast he was at first found to be...they

are not so numerous as in seasons past and are more difficult to strike, how can it be otherwise,

by day and by night the whale is chased, harassed, the only rest they have is when the fogs are

thick and the wind high."31 While details of her personal life on board are not as consistently

included throughout the journal, it still provides a valuable account of the life of a woman on

board a whaling vessel at the end of a dynasty.

Through the presentation of the journals of both of these women, making sure to

highlight their accounts of life at sea as well as their contribution to the dynamics of living on

board, Brock and Starbuck would be used to highlight Nantucket’s famous industry that resulted

in much of the island’s global acknowledgement and place within international commercialism.

Pictures of the women would accompany the journals and another point by point background

history of the whaling industry would surround these sources for context.

Occurring simultaneously with the integration of the maritime culture is the aspect of

Nantucket’s history represented by the third section of the exhibit, “Activism in Abolition and

Suffrage.” New Guinea was a prominently black community on the island during the nineteenth

century and one of the most influential women in taking a stand for providing education to the

children of the area was Anna Gardner. She was a notable activist in women’s rights and

abolition and taught at the African School from 1836 to 1840. She was also the secretary of the

local women’s anti-slavery society, contributing to the organization of Nantucket’s first Anti-

Slavery Convention in 1841.32 Her activism embodied the fight for equality that rose out of the

31 Ibid.32 “Anna Gardner’s House.” Black Heritage Trail, Nantucket, Museum of African American History, Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.afroammuseum.org/bhtn_site6.htm.

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small island community within both the racial and gender spheres. Other notable women who

entered the same circles of activism as Gardner included Eunice Ross, Lucretia Coffin Mott, and

Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Nantucket has a long history of anti-slavery sentiment and equality movements. It

preceded the mainland in abolishing slavery and exemplified inter-racial inclusion within its

industrial infrastructure early on. The logs of whaling ships showed crews consisting of English,

African, Native American, and many other ethnicities working alongside one another early in the

19th century. 33 Nonetheless, racism, equal rights, and abolition were not issues strange to

Nantucket. Gardner was moved to abandon her teaching position at the African School after one

of her brightest students, Eunice Ross, was denied access to high school because of segregation.34

This led her to dedicate her time wholly to activism until she left the island to teach for the

Freedman’s Bureau in Virginia following the end of the Civil War. She eventually returned to

retire in Nantucket and continued her push for equality teaching and lecturing at various events

and locations such as the Nantucket Atheneum until her death in 1891 at the age of eighty-five.35

Through presentations of her poetry, portraits, correspondences between her and other notable

women of the time and a brief history of abolition and suffrage following the format of the

previous profiles, Gardner would be incorporated into the exhibit to highlight this duality of

activism that was not uncommon and showed the influence of Nantucket in circles of social

change both on and off the island.

Representing the fourth section “Science, Progressivism, and the Foundation of a New

Nantucket.,” and the final example of an influential woman intended to represent Nantucket

33 Karttunen, 45.34 “Women in History,” Nantucket Atheneum, 2015, Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.nantucketatheneum.org/about/testhistory/atheneum-womens-history/.35 Ibid.

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within this proposal is astronomer and scientist, Maria Mitchell. Mitchell was a product of

Nantucket’s scientific progressive thinking. Unlike the mainland at the time, Nantucket

encouraged the women within its community to engage in scientific thought and exploration

alongside the men. Astronomy was a prominent study during the whaling era because of its

prevalence in navigation and the maritime culture and a field that was inclusive to this gender

neutrality. In 1829, Samuel Jenks, the editor of the Nantucket Inquirer, posed the argument, “Are

the imaginations of women less vivid than those of men? If not, why should their minds be

denied the privilege of contemplating the countless orbs of argent light that roll in silent

magnificence through the deep illimitable expanse?”36 It is this mindset that opened the door for

Mitchell to become a leading astronomer on Nantucket.

Succeeding in a male-dominated field was not Mitchell’s only notable accomplishment.

She spent some time as a schoolteacher and nearly twenty years as a librarian at the Nantucket

Atheneum. She interacted with many notable figures including Herman Melville and Nathaniel

Hawthorne and lived her life in contrast to the societal expectations of women at the time,

avoiding community dances, religious meetings, and other social events.37 Mitchell truly gained

her notoriety after her discovery of a comet opened the door for her to become the first female

member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848.38 She would go on to travel the

world and become a professor of astronomy at Vassar College before returning to live out her

remaining days on Nantucket.39 Mitchell embodied the aspect of progressive thinking and

scientific inquiry that existed on the island. Her unwillingness to conform to societal

expectations of what the woman’s role should consist of contributed to her success and influence

36 Philbrick, 218.37 Philbrick, 224.38 Ibid., 231.39 Ibid.

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both on the island and in the global scientific community. To best present her representation of

this aspect of Nantucket’s history, papers from the collection of the Maria Mitchell Science

Library and excerpts from her sister Phebe’s compilation Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters, and

Journals would be presented within the exhibit.

The vision of this exhibit and both its presentation and interpretation of these and other

influential Nantucket women would be multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary. All aspects will

be presented within an overarching context in order to maintain a theme of duality which will

align with the thesis of individual histories within the encompassing story. For example, within

each woman’s story, information will be presented from the inside looking out such as from the

woman’s perspective, and then from the outside looking in via accounts of interactions with the

women and the historical context surrounding them and their accomplishments. The wealth of

primary documents pertaining to most of these women within the NHA archives will be the

foundation of the internal perspectives. These sources will include the whaling journals of Susan

C. Austin Veeder and Eliza Brock, the paintings within Veeder’s journal, the account/logbook of

Mary Coffin Starbuck, and poetry and letters from Anna Gardner. Accompanied by the profiles

would be portraits and, if available, newspaper clippings or public announcements to reinforce

historical context.

The structure of the exhibit will be both chronologically and thematically organized and

separated into sections based on the various periods and events addressed beginning with early

settlement and the foundation of religion (Mary Coffin Starbuck). It would conclude with the

progression of thought and transition of economic structure at the turn of the twentieth century as

represented by Mitchell. Each profile will be presented within each section of historical context,

as stories within a story. Visitors would be led in at one entrance and exit through an opposing

22Dunham

doorway to support clarity of direction. To expand interest and inclusion, a proposition for

interactive components to engage children might involve a simple handout with a scavenger hunt

format. As children go through the exhibit, they would be asked to match an event with a

woman, all of which would be in no particular order on their paper. The end of the exhibit would

feature a timeline mural of Nantucket’s history with the portraits of the women placed

respectively therein to summarize and tie together the specific sections of the exhibit. This

timeline would include several quotes from local historians about the island such as Nathaniel

Philbrick’s words on Nantucket’s identity as cited on page 1440 of this proposal.

In cooperation with the NHA archives and research facilities as well as the Nantucket

Atheneum and the Whaling Museum, the proposed exhibit intends to present a vivid story of a

collection of influential women on the island. The aim would be to parallel their lives and their

unique contributions to the history and development of the town with the greater timeline of

significant events, movements, and socio-political development. It would attempt to address the

greater silence of the inclusion of women’s history within a balanced narrative. By using these

women to illustrate these various points in history, not only are their lives and accomplishments

brought into relevance, but the history of Nantucket is reinforced as having a unique, multi-

dimensional, and dynamic foundation.

40 See footnote 23

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Works Cited

Primary Resources: Nantucket, MA, Nantucket Census Records, 1850-1885 bulk: 1850, Massachusetts Historical

Society.

Secondary Resources:“About Us,” National Women’s History Museum, 2015. Accessed November 10, 2015.

https://www.nwhm.org/about-nwhm/. “Anna Gardner’s House.” Black Heritage Trail, Nantucket, Museum of African American

History. Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.afroammuseum.org/bhtn_site6.htm. de Groot, Jerome. Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular

Culture. New York: Routledge, 2009. “Exhibitions at the Nantucket Historical Association.” Nantucket Historical Association

Exhibits and Collections. Nantucket Historical Association, 2015. Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.nha.org/exhibits/previousexhibitions.html.Federbush, Sherri. “The Journal of Eliza Brock – At Sea on the Lexington.” Historic Nantucket.

Vol. 30, No. 1 July, 1982.Karttunen, Frances Ruley. The Other Islanders: People Who Pulled Nantucket’s Oars. New

Bedford, MA: Spinner Publications, 2005. Lerner, Gerda. The Majority Finds its Past: Placing Women in History. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1979.Macy, Obed. The History of Nantucket being a Compendious Account of the First Settlement of

the Island by the English. Mansfield: Macy & Pratt, 1880.“Mission Statement of the Nantucket Historical Association.” Nantucket Historical Association,

Accessed October 13, 2015. http://www.nha.org/about/index.html.O’Day, Chris. “Sometimes Think of Me.” Yesterday’s Island, Today’s Nantucket. Accessed

November 7, 2015. http://yesterdaysisland.com/2010/events/9-nha.php.Philbrick, Nathaniel. Away Off Shore: Nantucket and its people 1602-1890. London: Penguin

Books, 1994.Tyler, Betsy. “Sometimes Think of Me: Notable Nantucket Women Through the Centuries,”

Nantucket Historical Association Digital Exhibition, 2010. Nantucket Historical Association, http://www.nha.org/digitalexhibits/SometimesThinkofMe/Narratives.html.

Warren, Roland L. Mary Coffin Starbuck and the Early History of Nantucket. Andover, NY: Pingry Press, 1987.

“Women in History,” Nantucket Atheneum, 2015. Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.nantucketatheneum.org/about/testhistory/atheneum-womens-history/.