History and Ancestry

There are no artifacts yet that match the categories you have selected. If there is a "Show All" button available, use it to display artifacts.

Log: July 16, 1842.

South Seas introspection...

Julian Grace's descendants

Visitors: Relatives relish chance to imagine Cape Verdean’s 1921 voyage

Julian Grace had filled in as the ship’s cook for a one-way trip. Ahead of him was a new life. Behind him were the Cape Verde Islands.

Edward Uncas

Jason Mancini: Connecticut Indian Mariners

A resource set for educators, including digital maps revealing the global traveling histories of American Indian mariners.

Jason Mancini Indian Mariners Project

Jason Mancini: The Indian Mariners Project

“The history of Native New England cannot be told adequately or accurately without turning an eye towards the sea.”

Foy Green Turtle

Charles Foy: 18th Century Black Mariners

Foy explores the situations of blacks on whaleships in the 18th century.

Log: July 15, 1866.

Confrontation with the Captain....

Stellwagen Bank NMS Oceans Live

NOAA: OceansLive broadcasts from the Morgan

The arrival of the whaleship Charles W. Morgan was the inspiration for a series of live web-television shows that detailed transitions in science, art and society from whaling days to today.

Thus was my introduction as a young girl to the world of whaling and the adventurous life of Marian Shaw Smith.

Kathleen Lafferty: My Cousin Marian

A pair of tall vases. A ruby ring. Huge whale teeth. A carved walrus tusk. An umbrella swift made of whalebone used to wind yarn. Old photographs of whaling ships. Letters written on thin vellum, with fading ink, signed by a woman named Marian.

Lafferty envelope I

Kathleen Lafferty: Letter to an Ancestor I

Lafferty writes to her ancestor Marian Smith, navigator, photographer, and correspondent, who sailed throughout the world at the turn of the 20th century with her whaling captain husband.

Lafferty Envelope 2

Kathleen Lafferty: Letter to an Ancestor II

Second in a series of letters to her ancestor Marian Smith.