Ship’s Papers of President (Bark) of New Bedford

File — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 003-02-27

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains papers from two of the President’s whaling voyages: 1865-1869 under master Edmund Kelley, and 1869-1872 under master Eber C. Almy. The papers for the second of these voyages are scant. The collection also includes papers regarding the ship’s building and maintenance history which are unrelated to any specific voyage. Of additional note in this collection is a volume of sailing directions for Buzzards Bay published in New Bedford in 1821, which has since been reprinted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Dates

1821 - 1875
Majority of material found within 1865 - 1873

Creator

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

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

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

Biographical / Historical

The Bark President was built in 1811 in Rochester, Massachusetts (now Mattapoisett). It was altered to a bark in 1859. It sailed on fourteen voyages out of Nantucket from 1812-1855 before being sold to New Bedford interests in 1855. From 1855-1877, it set sail on six whaling voyages from New Bedford.

Extent

.2 Linear Feet (.5 manuscript box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Materials are arranged into three series: the first two series have materials grouped by whaling voyage, and the third series contains papers related to the ship’s building and maintenance history.

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956. Materials related to the 1866 voyage under Capt Edmund Kelly were purchased at Bennett’s Antique Shop in Buzzard’s Bay, Mass.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Paul C. Nicholson, 1956.

Existence and Location of Copies

The printed volume of Sailing Directions for Buzzards Bay, published in New Bedford in 1821, has been reprinted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes two logbooks for the President from 1847-1850 and 1865-1869.

Photographs of the Bark President. New Bedford Whaling Museum. Includes several prints of the President, as well as a glass negative.

President logbooks, 1851-1855, 1869-1872, and 1875-1876. New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Separated Materials

Two logbooks of the President 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 23. 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.