Table of Contents

Scope and Content Note

Information for Researchers

Administrative Information

Description

Subject Headings

Inventory of the Business Records Collection

In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of account books and other financial records, administrative records, legal documents, correspondence, insurance policies, patents, and similar business records dating from 1712 to 1946. For the most part, these materials reflect the activities of merchants, businessmen, and tradesmen who resided in southeastern Massachusetts, especially in the towns of Dartmouth, Fairhaven, New Bedford, Rochester, and Westport. Other individuals represented by documents in the collection resided in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, Biddeford, Maine, New London and Stonington, Connecticut, Somersworth, New Hampshire, and Canandaigua, New York.

A substantial portion of these records concern the American whaling industry from about 1745 to 1925. Whaling-related documents in the collection include correspondence to and from agents, owners, shipmasters, and crew members, usually concerning voyages of particular whalers; letters and journals written by women on board whaling vessels; crew and masters’ disbursements accounts; contracts between seamen and shipping or whaling agents; Seamen’s Protection Papers and other customs records; outfitting books; insurance policies and bills of sale; bills and receipts concerning the sale of whale products; signals and signal books; and patents for and a catalog of whalecraft. Other records reflect the coastwise, West Indian, Western European, and Russian trading ventures of merchants in New Bedford and vicinity, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia between ca. 1787 – 1900. These documents include letters to and from commercial agents, business associates, and shipmasters concerning the sale of tobacco, molasses, fruit, lumber and a wide variety of other goods; account books and bills and receipts; price lists; and lists of vessels at foreign ports. Prominent Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and New Bedford whaling agents and merchants represented by records in this collection are George Howland & Sons, Lothrop & Allen and Swift & Allen, William Phillips and Son, Atkins Adams, Abraham Barker, Thomas Bennett, John Hawes, Gilbert and Isaac Howland, Thomas Nye, and Furman Reade Whitwell Sr. and Jr.

In addition, these materials feature correspondence from a New Bedford artist, Benjamin Russell (1804 – 1885), addressed to a local merchant, Henry F. Thomas, in 1850 – 1851, and a letter from Elihu Root concerning a charge against Captain Benjamin D. Cleveland of New Bedford for violating sealing regulations at the Kerguelen Islands.

This collection also contains correspondence, account books, deeds, and other records of blacksmiths, farmers, physicians, lawyers, stone-masons, carpenters, newspaper publishers, shoemakers, tailors, ship chandlers, surveyors, land agents, ship builders, and persons involved in many other occupations as well. These materials contain information about the business and personal affairs and expenses of individuals active from 1712 to 1946. Complementing these documents are minutes, ledgers, and other administrative and financial records of numerous banks, marine insurance companies, railroad and steamboat lines, bridge and land companies, textile mills, dock and wharf companies, copper, iron, and brass foundries, and other organizations or institutions, principally located in New Bedford and surrounding communities. Particularly notable among these materials are records of the American Carrier Rocket Company, Wamsutta Mills, the New Bedford Board of Trade (now New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce), Taber’s Wharf Company, the New Bedford and Fairhaven Bridge Company, and Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company.

Materials in this collection are arranged in alphabetical series according to the person or corporate body which generated or, in some instances, received the document or documents. Anonymous items are filed under a heading denoting the type or form of record. Inventory entries for the contents of each letter series have been alphabetized in sub-series by surname, corporate name, or record type/form heading. Names are accompanied by a person’s dates and place of residence or the location of a particular organization, if known.

Arrangement of Collection

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Information for Researchers

Access to the Collection

Unrestricted. Consult librarian for an appointment.

Preferred Citation

New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library Mss 56 [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

Most of the records in this collection were given to the Old Dartmouth Historical Society by many different individuals between 1905 and 1982. Accession records indicate that some items were purchased or received on exchange from manuscript dealers by the Society during this same period.

Processing Information

Processed by: Patricia J. Albright, ca. 1982

Encoded by: Mark Procknik, 19 March 2012

Funds for processing this collection were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Description

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Subject Headings

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Vessel Names

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