Recent Acquisitions in PPL Nicholson Whaling Collections - On Exhibit
History / Heritage - Exhibit
Thursday, January 1, 2009 - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Providence Public Library, Central
Special Collections, 3rd Floor Exhibit Area
150 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
Google Maps - MapQuest
Providence Public Library's (PPL) Special Collections Department is exhibiting (through February) a number of recent acquisitions within its Nicholson Whaling Collection, one of the Library's most notable and utilized special collections.
In all, eight logbooks and a colorful lithograph were added during the past year and constitute the current exhibit. The jewel in the crown of this year's acquisitions is the logbook for the Ship Petrel purchased at auction in New York in June.
The journal was kept by a particularly literate and colorful Petty Officer named Alden W. Tripp. It contains illustrations as well as stamps of whales, dolphins, ships, pigs, turkeys, and angelfish. After an unpleasant encounter with the crew of another ship, Tripp commented "their was but one man on board, and that was the captains wife." On liberty in New Zealand for New Year's Eve, he recounts: "about 30 of us all told with tin kittles and fiddles and some other instruments of war too numerous to mention. Went serronadeing the town until 3 A in the morning. We had a jolly olde time of it, and to top it off we danced until daylight." He also describes frequent bartering for food with islanders, his brawl with the Third Mate, and the death of a crewmate. The Petrel was captained by William C. Fuller, and returned to New Bedford three months after the conclusion of this journal with 1,409 barrels of sperm oil.
PPL's Nicholson Whaling Collection
Currently, PPL's Nicholson Whaling collection of over 800 volumes of manuscript logbooks containing entries related to over 1,000 voyages constitutes 20 percent of all known and extant American whaling logs and journals. The collection also contains scrimshaw, a narwhal tusk, three harpoons, a harpoon gun, prints and photographs, and ship models.
The Nicholson Whaling Collection was bequeathed to PPL in 1956 by Providence industrialist Paul C. Nicholson. Since that time, the Library has acquired logbooks, journals, letters, and other artifacts with funds given for this express purpose by the Nicholson family and other donors with an interest in whaling and maritime history. The collection has become the Library's model for other special collections -- a well-endowed and completely cataloged collection which is known to scholars and enthusiasts around the globe.
Whaling Logbooks and Journals
There are over 15,000 known American offshore (or "pelagic") whaling voyages from the 1700s to the 1920s (not including the modern factory ship voyages of the mid-20th century). Of those, there are logbook records extant (complete and partial) for approximately 5,000 voyages.
U.S. maritime law required the Mate, or first officer, to keep the logbook. American whalemen were rather casual about recording navigational data, especially compared to the English mariners. Although the logbook was considered to be a navigational record which provided the only acceptable evidence in the event of a court case, American whalemen used it primarily as a means of recording the taking of whales, weather conditions, damage to the vessel, the handling of the vessel and the behavior of the crew.
As stated, a logbook is the official record of the voyage, usually kept by the Mate. A journal is any written record of the voyage (with daily or regular entries) kept by any member of the crew, supercargo, or anyone else on board. What no one knows is how many surviving logbooks and journals remain in private hands - gathering dust in attics or growing mold in cellars. Those which surface in the antiquarian trade have usually come from a family whose ancestor served on a whaler, or from a collector's horde. As you will see from this exhibit, the logs and journals we have acquired in the past year have come from a spectrum of possible sources - private individuals, institutions, antiquarian dealers, and auction houses.
Cost: Free
Suggested Audiences:
Elders, Adult, College
E-mail:
rring@provlib.org
Phone: 401-455-8021
Last Modified: January 14, 2009 at 3:07 PM
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Recent Acquisitions in PPL Nicholson Whaling Collections - On Exhibit
History / Heritage - Exhibit
Thursday, January 1, 2009 - Saturday, February 28, 2009
Providence Public Library, Central
Special Collections, 3rd Floor Exhibit Area
150 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
Google Maps - MapQuest
Providence Public Library's (PPL) Special Collections Department is exhibiting (through February) a number of recent acquisitions within its Nicholson Whaling Collection, one of the Library's most notable and utilized special collections.
In all, eight logbooks and a colorful lithograph were added during the past year and constitute the current exhibit. The jewel in the crown of this year's acquisitions is the logbook for the Ship Petrel purchased at auction in New York in June.
The journal was kept by a particularly literate and colorful Petty Officer named Alden W. Tripp. It contains illustrations as well as stamps of whales, dolphins, ships, pigs, turkeys, and angelfish. After an unpleasant encounter with the crew of another ship, Tripp commented "their was but one man on board, and that was the captains wife." On liberty in New Zealand for New Year's Eve, he recounts: "about 30 of us all told with tin kittles and fiddles and some other instruments of war too numerous to mention. Went serronadeing the town until 3 A in the morning. We had a jolly olde time of it, and to top it off we danced until daylight." He also describes frequent bartering for food with islanders, his brawl with the Third Mate, and the death of a crewmate. The Petrel was captained by William C. Fuller, and returned to New Bedford three months after the conclusion of this journal with 1,409 barrels of sperm oil.
PPL's Nicholson Whaling Collection
Currently, PPL's Nicholson Whaling collection of over 800 volumes of manuscript logbooks containing entries related to over 1,000 voyages constitutes 20 percent of all known and extant American whaling logs and journals. The collection also contains scrimshaw, a narwhal tusk, three harpoons, a harpoon gun, prints and photographs, and ship models.
The Nicholson Whaling Collection was bequeathed to PPL in 1956 by Providence industrialist Paul C. Nicholson. Since that time, the Library has acquired logbooks, journals, letters, and other artifacts with funds given for this express purpose by the Nicholson family and other donors with an interest in whaling and maritime history. The collection has become the Library's model for other special collections -- a well-endowed and completely cataloged collection which is known to scholars and enthusiasts around the globe.
Whaling Logbooks and Journals
There are over 15,000 known American offshore (or "pelagic") whaling voyages from the 1700s to the 1920s (not including the modern factory ship voyages of the mid-20th century). Of those, there are logbook records extant (complete and partial) for approximately 5,000 voyages.
U.S. maritime law required the Mate, or first officer, to keep the logbook. American whalemen were rather casual about recording navigational data, especially compared to the English mariners. Although the logbook was considered to be a navigational record which provided the only acceptable evidence in the event of a court case, American whalemen used it primarily as a means of recording the taking of whales, weather conditions, damage to the vessel, the handling of the vessel and the behavior of the crew.
As stated, a logbook is the official record of the voyage, usually kept by the Mate. A journal is any written record of the voyage (with daily or regular entries) kept by any member of the crew, supercargo, or anyone else on board. What no one knows is how many surviving logbooks and journals remain in private hands - gathering dust in attics or growing mold in cellars. Those which surface in the antiquarian trade have usually come from a family whose ancestor served on a whaler, or from a collector's horde. As you will see from this exhibit, the logs and journals we have acquired in the past year have come from a spectrum of possible sources - private individuals, institutions, antiquarian dealers, and auction houses.
Cost: Free
Suggested Audiences: Elders, Adult, College
E-mail: rring@provlib.org
Phone: 401-455-8021
Last Modified: January 14, 2009 at 3:07 PM
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