This collection consists of a folder of legal documents and a folder of business records. The folder of legal documents contains the original Indian deeds to Tuckernuck Island and other areas of Nantucket, a charter, Indian petitions for the use of pastureland, land deeds of Tristram Coffin (1605-1681) and Edward Starbuck (1604-1890), and record books of meetings of Nantucket proprietors kept by John Swain (1633-1715) and Nathaniel Starbuck (1634-1719), 1674-1678. Included also is a list of Indians, heads of Indian families, and widows in 1723, taxation documents, an account of the sale of a whale by Peter Micah (1777-1801), an agreement for division of land, a view of the controversy over Starbuck land in 1768, and an account of a bank robbery in 1795. The folder of business papers consists of ship clearances, Biblical notes, ship's supply lists, business accounts (including shoemaking), cash accounts, and miscellaneous bills and receipts. Several items refer to the management of Nantucket lighthouse by Paul Pinkham (1736-1799), as well as his shipping interests, the business of Silas Gardner (1753-1826), and Lt. James Fairfield's ( - ) handling of merchant ships. The octavo volume of Nantucket Anecdotes is a small collection of characteristic stories, verses, and sayings of the people of the island, apparently compiled in 1895 by Mrs. Eliza Mitchell ( - ). Included are old Indian and seafaring stories, as well as those about old Nantucket families. The end of the book, in reverse, contains a genealogy of the Gardner Family, and a small folder of a few printed anecdotes.
