Martha's Vineyard Museum

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biography/Historical Note

Scope and Content of Collection

Administrative Information

Index Terms

Collection Contents

Descriptive Summary

Repository	Martha's Vineyard Museum, Gale Huntington Research Library 59 School Street P.O. Box 1310 Edgartown, MA 02539 (508)627-4441
Call Number	RU 429
Creator
Title	Nantucket tourism collection
Date	1873-1964, undated
Extent	1 box + 1/2 box (0.756 cubic feet)
Language	The materials are in English.
Abstract	The collection consists of printed ephemera dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s, including, pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, serials, maps and small publications related to the tourist industry on the island of Nantucket.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use and Reproduction Restrictions

Requests to reproduce material from this collection should be directed to the library's staff. Reproduction fees may apply.

Acquisition Information

The materials in this collection were acquired from various sources, including: viewbook, Souvenir of Nantucket, gift of Doris Walker in 1987, (Accession no. 1987.071); viewbook, 106 Views of Nantucket; Town, Island and County…, gift of Thomas Thatcher in 1988, (Accession no. 1988.071); two leaflets, "The Whaling Museum," gift of Dorothy Jernegan in 1993, (Accession no. 1993.027); brochure, Nantucket, gift of Mrs. Upton Thomas in 1984 (Accession no. 1984.075).

Publication Information

Martha's Vineyard Museum

Gale Huntington Research Library
59 School Street
P.O. Box 1310
Edgartown, MA 02539
(508)627-4441

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Insley Julier in December 2012. Machine-encoded by Nathaniel Janick April 2014.

 Creation of this finding aid was sponsored by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Biography/Historical Note

The island of Nantucket, located off the south-east coast of Massachusetts has been a tourist destination since the mid-19th century. As the whaling industry declined, the tourist industry expanded, with visitors intrigued by Herman Melville's description of the island in Moby Dick. Nantucket's maritime history has been preserved by the Nantucket Historical Association and other local museums, while the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1934, remains active in promoting island businesses associated with the tourist economy. Temperate weather, pristine beaches, old architecture and rich history continue to attract visitors to the island to this day.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection consists of printed pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, serials, maps and small publications related to the island of Nantucket dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Many of the items in the collection were issued by the Nantucket Historical Association, the town Information Bureau or the ferry and railroad lines which served the island. Most of the materials are illustrated with prints; some by well-known illustrators and publishers, such as John Held, 1947- (illustrator) and L. Prang & Co. (publisher), and others with stock photographs reproduced using photomechanical processes. Although these materials were acquired from a variety of sources, they were gathered together by a previous staff member to form an artificial collection on Nantucket.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged chronologically.