Martha's Vineyard Museum

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biography/Historical Note

Scope and Content Note

Administrative Information

Related Materials

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

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 454
Creator	Dexter, Thomas, 1906-1936
Title	Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter collection
Date	1778-1935, 1980, undated
Extent	1 box + 1 oversize folder (0.529 cubic feet)
Language	The materials are in English.
Abstract	A poet, genealogist and local historian, Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter, researched historic homes in Edgartown, Massachusetts, and gathered primary source material and genealogical information about his Martha's Vineyard relations in the early 20th century.

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

Scrapbook gift of Mrs. Thomas A. Dexter, July 9, 1943 (accession no. 1943.011). Primary source documents, undated poetry and genealogical research notes gift of Mrs. Thomas A. Dexter, November 15, 1943 (accession no. 1943.034). Poetry and clippings dated 1923 and undated, gift of Esther C. Conkling in 1974 (Accession no. 1974.025). The immediate source of acquisition and date of accession of the essay, address, Coffin letter transcriptions and notes on historic houses are unknown.

Publication Information

Martha's Vineyard Museum

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

Revision Description

 Addition to the Collection; Addition of Box 1, Folder 18, Epitaphs[CJ]. August 2015

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Insley Julier in August 2013 and completed by Lara J. Ullman in May 2014. Finding aid was machine-encoded by Nathaniel Janick in March 2015.

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

Related Materials

Related Material

The museum holds an oil painting and a drawing of Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter, see accession numbers 1950.006 and 1936.019 respectively.

Biography/Historical Note

Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter was born April 28, 1906 to Carleton H. Dexter, 1889-1916, and Alice McLeod, 1889-1949. Thomas Dexter was the only grandson of Thomas A. Dexter, 1859-1946, and Gertrude Leonard Ripley, 1863-1948. A poet, collector, genealogist and local historian, he was the treasurer of the Dukes County Historical Society (predecessor to the Martha's Vineyard Museum). Thomas Dexter died in 1936, just before his 30th birthday.

Scope and Content Note

This collection largely consists of undated genealogical research notes created by Thomas Nevin Jernegan Dexter. Most of the material pertains to the Coffin, Jernegan and Ripley families. There is a scrapbook with notes and clippings compiled by Thomas Dexter focusing on genealogical research, poetry, and articles about the artist Paul Cadmus, who was a friend of Dexter's who painted and drew portraits of him. There are several primary source documents created by members of the Jernegan family, 1811-1852. There is also a 1778 bill from Henry Fish to Thomas Smith. In the 1930s, Thomas Dexter researched old houses in Edgartown, Massachusetts, and the collection contains notes on historic buildings and their previous occupants. In addition, the collection includes a few pages of poetry, an essay titled "Epitaphs," and several hand-written transcriptions of Dexter's notes, clearly written at a later date, including some from 1980.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by record form or topic and therein chronologically, with primary source documents first, followed by genealogical notes, poetry, and notes on historic houses and other subjects.