Table of Contents

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Information for Researchers

Administrative Information

Collection Inventory

Subject Headings

Inventory of the Thomas Luce Papers

In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library

Biographical Note

Thomas Luce was born January 6, 1827 at Island of Flores, in the Azores Islands. His birth name has been lost over time but he came to New Bedford, Massachusetts, as a boy on a whaling ship commanded by Capt. Edward Luce, who gave him the name Thomas Luce. His application papers for citizenship state that he arrived in 1838 or 1840. He was first married on May 2, 1852, to Hannah B. Luce, the Captain’s daughter. According to the 1870 United States Census, they had four children (Edward, Eliza, Annie and Charles). After Hannah died in 1879, Luce was re-married in Sennett, New York on November 17, 1880 to Lydia Elizabeth Payne. They had no children together.

In 1849 he went to California, seeking gold, and was fairly successful. Upon returning from California in 1851 he started his cooperage business, primarily manufacturing oil casks, in New Bedford. In the early eighteen-eighties he became interested in whaling ventures and by 1890 he had closed his cooperage business, eventually owning eleven whaling ships. He retired from business at eighty years of age, leaving it to his youngest son Charles. For the last few years he travelled with his wife extensively in Europe, spending winters in Florida and California. He died on December 24, 1911, twenty days after the death of his second wife.

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Scope and Content Note

The Thomas Luce Papers collection contains business correspondence and primarily business receipts with some personal receipts, with dates ranging from 1850 to 1886. The collection is arranged in four series: Incoming correspondence; Receipts and bills; Ship’s papers; and Associated materials.

The incoming correspondence is further arranged into four sub-series, correlating with the bulk of correspondence from four business associates: H. C. French (1881-1885), J. H. Robertson (1879-1883), S. W. Thompson (1881-1885), and E. C. Van Derlip (1881-1883). Through the correspondence, waybills and shipping receipts, it is possible to track how Luce operated his business, ordering materials from across the country and having them shipped by canal boat, rail, and ship. Receipts and correspondence show that he purchased primarily lumber and some staves and hoops through S. W. Thompson of Detroit, Michigan. Thompson would send the cargo across Lake Erie, where it would be tallied and transferred to a canal boat by H. C. French. The cargo would then travel to New York City, where E. C. Van Derlip would again tally the cargo before loading it onto a vessel bound for New Bedford, or in later years, by rail. Each associate included copies of receipts of shipment with their correspondence so that Luce would have a complete record of the shipment’s progression by the time the material reached him in New Bedford. J. H. Robertson acted as a man of business for Luce, traveling to each state where materials were sourced from to negotiate deals and secure shipping agreements. Luce then sold completed casks of various sizes and parts of barrels in bulk around the country and shipped them by sea and rail.

The bills and receipts pertain primarily to the running of the cooperage business, mostly being shipping receipts and statements of payment received by local vendors, as well as Tax receipts and Insurance certificates. Some personal receipts of payment are for items like groceries, carriage repairs, dental work, magazine subscriptions, and in one case, an auction for a pew at the County Methodist Church.

The ship’s papers primarily relate to Luce’s investment in whaling voyages, including a crew list for the Bark Endeavour, settlements for the officers and crew of the Schooner Irving, and agent/owner accounts for the Bark Roscius.

Associated materials include an undated hand-drawing of a plot plan for the corner of Water Street and Hillman Street of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Arrangement of Collection

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Information for Researchers

Access to Collections

Unrestricted. Consult librarian for an appointment.

Preferred Citation

New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library Mss 151, [sub-group, series, sub-series, folder/volume as appropriate], [item]

Copyright Notice

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 United States Code 552a) governs the use of materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction if the document does not infringe the privacy rights of an individual, group, or corporation. These specified conditions of authorized use include:

If the researcher later uses a copy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," the researcher is personally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement and agrees to indemnify the New Bedford Whaling Museum from any legal action as a result of the error. Permission to obtain a photographic, xerographic, digital, or other copy of a document does not indicate permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, sell, distribute, or prepare derivative works from the document without permission from the copyright holder and from any private individual, group, or corporation shown or otherwise recorded.

Permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, prepare derivative works from, sell, or otherwise distribute the item must be obtained separately in writing from the holder of the original copyright (or if the creator is dead, from his/her heirs) as well as from any individual(s), groups, or corporations whose name, image, recorded words, or private information (e.g. employment information) may be reproduced in the source material. The holder of the original copyright is not necessarily the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is not legally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for "fair use."

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy law. This institution also places restrictions on the use of cameras, photocopiers, and scanners in the research room.

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Administrative Information

Provenance

Materials in this collection were purchased by the New Bedford Whaling Museum on 17 August 2015, as part of Accession #2015.53

Processing Information

Processed by: Gina Cullen, 2016

Encoded by: Gina Cullen, 30 November 2016

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Collection Inventory

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Subject Headings

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Vessel Names

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