Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday - Friday. Closed December 22 - January 2

The shop is closed for the season; however, you may visitour new and improved Web site or place orders by calling 508-228-5785.

 

Featured items: 

Whale Plaque 

 

Many NHA properties are available for weddings, dinners, and parties. Celebrate life amid Nantucket treasures at the Nantucket Whaling Museum or one of our other properties. Surround your guests with elegant art and important objects that bring the story of Nantucket's past to life. Call Susan Beaumont for details at 508-228-1894, ext. 131 or visit our Web site for more information 

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.

This year the NHA added many items to its collections, continuing in its mission to preserve the history of Nantucket. Photographs, diaries, letters, oral-history tapes, and paintings have all contributed to our knowledge of the lives of the people of Nantucket. One of the most exciting initiatives completed this year surrounded the preparation of the 'Sconset 02564 exhibition. This event became an interactive process with the 'Sconset community, involving not just an "exhibition," but also collecting artifacts and images, oral histories, research, a major publication, and a digital exhibition. (Click here to visit the digital exhibition.)

 

Many other welcome donations were made, including the Pinkham family papers (given by the Stackpole family), material related to the 1958 Northeast Airlines plane crash (given by survivor Paul Kozinn), Coffin and Carlisle family papers (given by Miles Carlisle), Walter Beinecke papers (given by Bridgette Beinecke), ship logs and personal correspondence of Capt. Edward B. Coffin and his his wife Delia Maria Coffin (gift of the estate of Mary L. Reith), a collection of Andrea Doria materials (given by Jan Nagrowski), Sylvia family papers (given by Peter Sylvia and Eileen Sylvia Duke), David Wood's notes of baskets and basketmakers (given by Ronald Bourgeault), and tapes of Nantucketers prepared (and given) by Nancy Newhouse. In addition, 2008 saw the historic acquisition of two early whaling paintings of the ship Spermo by the Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association and David Wood's amazing collection (see digital exhibition). All in all, it was a dramatic year of growth for the collections of the NHA. Thank you to all who have helped preserve the legacy of Nantucket Island!  

 

Much of the reason the NHA has world-class access to its collections is the continuing efforts of its volunteers. Many logs have been summarized, images scanned and catalogued, the subject file updated, and many scrapbooks have been indexed by our volunteers. Thank you Les Ottinger, Doris Glazer, Helen Didriksen, Chip Jackson, Pat Belford, Eleanor Wright, Robert Gambee Jr., Margaret Wright, Sam High, Vera Lochtefeld, Connor Martin, and Mary Wawro!

 

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.

 

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.