A quantity of customs house records, all that can be found of the invaluable files of the former Edgartown customs house, have been acquired by the Dukes County Historical Society, Marshall Shepard, the society’s president, announced at the quarterly meeting held at the West Tisbury library Wednesday afternoon. The documents, which Mr. Shepard described as a pile three or four feet high, are a remnant of eighteen large packing cases in which the papers of the customs house were packed and shipped to Boston when the office was discontinued in 1912.
Hiding from the Nazi regime, escaping across the Iron Curtain, fainting at Beatles concerts, these stories and many others were recorded by sixth graders at the West Tisbury School while interviewing Islanders who had immigrated to this country.
To the already exceedingly valuable and interesting collection stored in the rooms of the Historical Society there have been added further treasures which are interestingly described below:
Representatives of the Vineyard Libraries met at the Oak Bluffs Library on April 21st for the purpose of forming a collection of Vineyard literature for use by the County’s Public Libraries. The Committee organized as follows: President, Mr. Marshall Shepard; Editor, Dr. Charles E. Banks; Treasurer, Mr. Walter Ripley; Secretary, Mrs. Johnson Whiting.
Bequest to the Dukes County Historical Society by Miss Ethelinda Mayhew of the historic Squire Cooke house which was her home in Edgartown, became known this week with the filing of Miss Mayhew’s will at the registry of probate. Miss Mayhew’s interest in the house was subject to the will of her brother, the late Horace Mayhew, and there are two other heirs in addition to the historical society, Mrs. Gertrude Kimrod of South Tacoma, Washington, and another niece of Miss Mayhew whose whereabouts are not known.
