Martha's Vineyard Museum

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Biography/Historical Note

Scope and Content of Collection

Administrative Information

Index Terms

Contents of Collection

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	RU520
Creator	Town of Chilmark
Title	Town of Chilmark records
Date [inclusive]	1732-1890, 1961-1983
Extent	1 box (0.252 cubic feet)
Language	The materials are in English.
Abstract	This collection consists of material created and used by the Town of Chilmark as well as material about Chilmark. It documents the Town of Chilmark's administrative activities.

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

Gift of Lindsay Aquino in 2001 (Accession no. 2001.011.012). Gift of Marion Leavens in 2004 (Accession no. 2004.030). Individual folders are labeled with accession numbers when known. The immediate source of acquisition and date of accession for the rest of the material is 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 14, Vital Statistics, and Box 1, Folder 15, Road lay out and transcription, [CJ], August 2015

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by Lara J. Ullman and machine-encoded by Nathaniel Janick in May 2015.

 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

Born and raised in Tisbury, England, Thomas Mayhew (1593-1682) purchased the development rights for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. He and his family established the first English settlement on Martha's Vineyard as well as the townships of Tisbury and Chilmark, both named after villages in England. The first recorded settlement of Chilmark was in 1660. There is some question as to when the Town of Chilmark was officially incorporated. The date of incorporation on the town seal is September 9, 1694, however Charles Edward Banks’s History of Martha’s Vineyard states that Chilmark was incorporated on October 30, 1714. For more information and greater detail about the early settlers and history of the town of Chilmark, see Volume II of  The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, In Three Volumes, by Charles Edward Banks.

Scope and Content of Collection

This collection documents the Town of Chilmark's administrative activities from 1732-1890 and 1961-1983. Some of the topics represented include elections, schools, and various legal matters. The collection includes correspondence, a license, programs, a report, a summons, a writ, and other records.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.