Edward Penniman papers

File — Box: Multi-Collection Box

Identifier: 003-02-26

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains a small number of Penniman’s personal papers and ephemera, mostly unrelated to his whaling career, including a receipt for homebuilding materials, a menu, and a visiting card.

Dates

1882

Creator

Nicholson, Paul C. (Paul Coe), 1888-1956 (Collector, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PL believes this collection is in the public domain. Users of this item are responsible for determining copyright restrictions.

Biographical / Historical

Edward Penniman (1831-1913) was born in Eastham, Massachusetts, one of nine children of Daniel Penniman and Betsey Mayo; by the age of 11 he was working as a cook on board a schooner, and at the age of 21, he traveled to New Bedford and signed on to a whaling voyage. He later became a whaling captain, serving as shipmaster on seven voyages out of New Bedford including the Jacob A. Howland, Minerva II, Cicero, Europa.

Penniman’s wife, Betsy Augusta Penniman, accompanied him on three of those voyages, and each of their three children came on voyages as well; their oldest son, Eugene, eventually became a whaling captain himself. Penniman later retired to the home that he had built on 12 acres in Eastham. He died in Eastham in 1913. His home, with a distinctive whalebone entrance gate, still stands (although the whalebone has been replaced) and is protected as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Extent

.1 Linear Feet (4 folders)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956.

Related Materials

Edward Penniman scrapbook. Providence Public Library. This wooden-bound scrapbook contains many printed articles on whaling and three manuscript letters.

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes a logbook for the Cicero, Europa, Jacob A. Howland, and Minerva kept by Penniman in 1860-1884, and an account book for the Minerva, mastered by Penniman in 1860-1867.

Nicholson Whaling Collection Photographs. Providence Public Library.

Penniman Family Records and Artifacts. Edward Penniman House, Cape Cod National Seashore.

Penniman Collection. Eastham Historical Society Local History Collection. Includes several photographs of Edward Penniman, his house, and his family members.

00.172, Box with scrimshaw and Eskimo contents. New Bedford Whaling Museum. The contents of this box are attributed to Edward Penniman.

2003.92.6, Thomas Knowles & Co. Letterbook. New Bedford Whaling Museum. Contains correspondence with Edward Penniman.

KWM 839A and KWM 839B, [Logbook of the Minerva (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Edward Penniman, keeper unknown, on voyages 1860-1868]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

KWM 840, [Logbook of the Cicero (Bark) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Edward Penniman, keeper unknown, on voyage 9 May 1874 - 6 December 1875]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

KWM 841, [Logbook of the Europa (Bark : 1876-1885) of New Bedford, Mass., mastered by Edward Penniman, keeper unknown, on voyage 12 September 1876 - 9 November 1879]. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Pam 401, Whaling with Captain Penniman: Log of Thomas Knowles. Transcription. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Pam BI-649, Augusta Penniman : journal of a whaling voyage 1864-1868. Journal of Penniman’s wife on board the Bark Minerva, 1864. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Separated Materials

Penniman’s wooden-bound scrapbook is cataloged separately. A photograph was removed from these papers and moved to the whaling photograph collection. A journal of the Cicero, Europa, Jacob A. Howland, and Minerva, and an account book of the Minerva, are cataloged separately within the Nicholson Whaling Logbook Collection. These items are digitized and available at https://archive.org/details/providencepublicnicholson

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 22. Processing by Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Kate Wells in 2024.