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In This Issue
Collections & Library News
Festival of Trees
Food for Thought Brownbags
Create a Holiday Card
Veterans Gam
Exhibition: Nantucket Presidential Papers
Quick Links
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Hours & Information
NHA Whaling Museum
13 Broad Street 
Until Dec 22:
Open Thursday - Monday,
11 A.M.- 4 P.M.Friday, 11 A.M. - 8 P.M.

Festival of Trees
December 5-22:
Thursday - Monday,
11 A.M. - 4 P.M.;
Friday, 11 A.M. - 8 P.M.
December 26, 27, 28:
1 P.M. - 3 P.M.
January 2,3, 4, 2009:
1 P.M. - 3 P.M.
 
Historic Sites and Walking Tours closed for the season.
 
NHA Research Library
7 Fair Street 
Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - Friday. Closed Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday
 Exceptional events begin with unforgettable venues. . .
whaling museum outside at night
Many NHA properties are available for weddings, dinners, and parties. Call Susan Beaumont for details at 508-228-1894, ext. 131 or visit our Web site for more information 
NHA Museum Shop
Visit the shop in person and save 25% on most items! The shop is also participating in the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce's Red Ticket Holiday Drawing.  (Sorry, there are no 25% discounts or red tickets for online or phone orders; however, the regular 10% member discount applies.) To place an order by phone, call 508-228-5785, or visit our new and improved Web site.

11 Broad Street; open daily through Dec. 23, 10 A.M. - 5 P.M. closed for the season after Dec. 23, however, orders will continue to be accepted online.
 
Featured items: 

scrimshaw tooth

Scrimshaw Tooth: View of Nantucket Massachusetts 1853
This is a reproduction of one of the hundreds of scrimshaw teeth in the collection of the NHA. $150.00. Click here to buy now from our Web site
 

plush whale

Plush Whale
Gray with blue eyes and of course a blow hole!  $15.00. Click here to buy now from our Web site 
For those "hard to buy for" on your gift lists...
trees on main
Give an NHA Membership
Free admission to our sites, use of the Research Library, discount at the museum shop, the Historic Nantucket magazine, and more!  For a full list of our membership benefits, please click here. Join online or call 508-228-1894, ext. 116 (Beth) for additional membership information.
 
Give an 1800 House Gift Certificate
Classes in making sailors valentines, chair caning, thereom painting, and many other centuries-old techniques taught by artisans from Nantucket and throughout New England. Please call 508-228-1894, ext. 0, for additional information.
 
NHA E-Newsletter  December 2008
title dec plain
Collections & Library News
NHA Acquires Important Nantucket Art and Artifacts at the David Wood Estate Sale
David WoodThe NHA acquired important Nantucket art and artifacts in Ron Bourgeault's October sale of the David Wood estate, which took place at Northeast Auctions in Manchester, New Hampshire. Auctioneer Ron Bourgeault, a lifelong friend of the late David Wood, generously offered to support the NHA collections in pursuit of material from the sale in David's memory. David Wood, of Gardner Street, was one of the great Nantucket collectors, and had one of the few remaining old-time collections of Nantucket artwork, artifacts, and memorabilia. Robyn and John Davis Chief Curator Ben Simons bid successfully on a one-of-a-kind door carved with a heart-and-scroll work by Peter Ewer (inventor of the Camels) at age 15 (pictured above), a Nantucket business sign, a rare small study of Fishing Boats by Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin, a James Walter Folger carving of 'Sconset Fish Houses, an Austin Strong watercolor, and several other fine Nantucket items. These items have been accessioned into the collections. Thank you, Ron!  We will host a David Wood Gam and Acquisitions Evening this winter; please look for it on our calendar.
 
New Digital Exhibition: 'Sconset 02564: A Celebration of the Patchwork Village
Did you miss the exhibition? Presented in the summer of 2008, the 'Sconset 02564 exhibition featured the history, architecture, personalities, and "character" of this unique village at the eastern end of Nantucket, often described as the most charming in America, following its evolution from a fishing village to a world-renowned summer resort. This digital exhibition includes a timeline of Siasconset history with much of the information and many of the images from the exhibition, and a Family Album of images from families with long ties to the village. Click here to visit the digital exhibition.
 
The Museum Shop also offers for sale the companion book, 'Sconset: A History, written by Betsy Tyler, with contributions by numerous other longtime residents. Made possible by the generous support of the Judy Family Foundation, the book is available for $19.95. 
 
Volunteer Milestone
Our longtime and valued volunteer Les Ottinger has just finished reading and excerpting his FIFTIETH log. His work, pulling out the most important, and sometimes the most amusing, entries in each log, greatly assists researchers of maritime history. These summaries are viewable in our database, available online.
Festival of Trees: Walking in a Winter Wonderland
FOTThe 15th Festival of Trees opens to the public on Friday, December 5 
Featuring over eighty brilliantly decorated trees designed by community members, local merchants, nonprofit organizations, artists, artisans, and schoolchildren-the Festival of Trees will transform the Whaling Museum into a festive winter wonderland.
 
The festival runs through December 22: Thursday - Monday, 11 A.M. - 4 P.M.; Friday, 11 A.M. - 8 P.M.  For the first time since its inception, the festival will reopen December 26-28, Friday - Sunday, 1 - 3 P.M., and January 2 - 4, Friday - Sunday, 1 - 3 P.M. General admission is $15; for Nantucket year-round residents, $5 (with a valid driver's license or other proof of year-round residency); free for children and NHA members. The Whaling Museum is handicap accessible.
 
For the fourteenth year, Nantucket Bank, a division of Sovereign Bank, is the lead underwriter for the Festival of Trees. Additional support is provided by All Point Taxi / Cranberry Transportation Service; Bartlett's Farm; The Beachside at Nantucket; Cape Air/Nantucket Airlines; Chase Canopy LLC; CMC Construction; Great Point Properties; Hatch's Package Store; Killen Real Estate; Madaket Marine; National Grid; Nantucket Listing Services; Nantucket Real Estate Co.; Norton Preservation Trust; New England Brokerage Insurance; and Trianon / Seaman Schepps.
NHA'S Popular "Food for Thought" Brownbag Lunch Series
This season's theme: Collecting Community:  A vibrant, unique island community- Nantucket's rich history.
 
This season's theme, "Collecting Community:  A vibrant, unique island community- Nantucket's rich history," showcases island speakers who will share experiences and comment on collecting or concentrating on various aspects of the community.
 
December 11: "A Nantucket Christmas, Then and Now," presented by Leslie Linsley

December 18: "Songwriting Inspired by Nantucket," presented by
local musicians Amy England and Susan Berman
 
January 22: "Literary Nantucket," presented by Mary Jennings and Lucretia Voigt

January 29: "Fifteen Years Later: Collecting Characters (and Community) in Away Off Shore," presented by Nat Philbrick
 

Each talk begins at noon and is free to the public. Bring your lunch. Whaling Museum, 13 Broad Street.  For additional information about the Food for Thought series, please call 508-228-1894, ext. 0; to view the full schedule, please visit the Web site.
Create a Holiday Card
December 5 - 22
Whaling Museum, Discovery Room 
treeVisitors of all ages are invited to create handcrafted cards to celebrate the winter holidays. Beautiful collage materials and holiday sentiments will be provided for this self-directed activity, held in the museum's Discovery Room. Free with the cost of museum admission. 
Veterans Gam: An Evening of Remembrance and Music on Pearl Harbor Day
Sunday, December 7
7 P.M. in the Whaling Museum
veteranOn the anniversary of the United States involvement in World War II, this Veterans Gam will represent veterans from that war and from the Korean, Vietnam, and Desert Storm conflicts.
 
The gam will include island veterans who will share anecdotes and personal memories from their wartime experiences; relevant items and artifacts from the NHA collections; and singer and songwriter Susan Berman, who will perform musical selections from various wartime eras, including a few well-loved sing-a-longs. 
 
The gam is free for veterans and NHA members, $5 nonmembers. For further information about this unique evening, please call 508-228-1894, ext. 0.
Exhibition: Nantucket Presidential Papers:
From Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Whitney Gallery at the Research Library, 7 Fair Street
 
HELD OVER! Due to popular response from many visitors, this will be extended throughout the winter.

American presidents have been concerned in the affairs of Nantucket Island from the days of the nation's founding.  The collections of the Nantucket Historical Association hold documents signed by almost every president beginning with George Washington. In recognition of election year, the NHA presents an exhibition highlighting some of the more remarkable items in the collection, including: appointment of Inspector of the Revenue for the Ports of Nantucket and Sherburne, signed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson; ships' papers signed by John Tyler, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, and others; Abraham Lincoln's appointment of George Hussey Tracy as first lieutenant in the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment; a letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow; and a letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (as Acting Secretary of the Navy) regarding the naming of a torpedo-boat destroyer in honor of Nantucketer Reuben Chase. The exhibition is made possible by the generous support of Susan R. and L. Dennis Shapiro.
 
Free and open during regular NHA Research Library hours.