Special Collections: Guide to the Herbert E. Tracy Boat Shop Records

Herbert E. Tracy Boat Shop Records
 
Arranged and described by Brenda Howitson Steeves
Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department
August 2004
 
Introduction and Summary Information
 
Collection Title: Herbert E. Tracy Boat Shop Records.
Dates of the Collection: 1896-1916 (inclusive); 1899-1913 (bulk).
Provenance: The Herbert E. Tracy records were purchased in 1984.
Collection Number: MS 506.
Box Numbers: 1 (formerly Box 1632).
Size and Arrangement: The collection consists of one document box of material (1 cubic foot).
Conservation Note: The collection has been re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes.
Preferred Citation: Herbert E. Tracy Boat Shop Records, Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine.
Restrictions on Access and Use: Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
 
History
 
The collection contains financial records of a boat shop and dock owned by Herbert E. Tracy in Winter Harbor, Maine.
 
Herbert Tracy was born in Winter Harbor in 1853, the son of Leonard B. Tracy and Martha C. Stover Tracy. Tracy had been a master of ocean-going vessels before establishing his boat business, first in Bar Harbor and then in Winter Harbor. There he owned a fleet of small boats, including a gasoline-powered launch, which he made available to summer residents of the area. His letterhead lists his business as “steam and sail yachts, sail or rowboats and canoes to let, yachts of all sizes housed in winter, licensed pilots furnished, yachts put in commission, wharf and boat builder, and house painting.” During World War I, answering a call for men with seagoing experience, he was put in charge of a schooner patrolling the Frenchman Bay area. At the age of 63, he thus became the oldest person in Maine to enter military service. After a year he was assigned as a construction officer at Bar Harbor and then was assigned to a radio station on Mount Desert Island where he served until he was discharged in 1920. He then returned to his business in Winter Harbor.
 
Herbert Tracy died in 1923.
 
Scope and Content Note
 
The collection contains five volumes of records, primarily financial, of Herbert Tracy’s business in Winter Harbor. Tracy records expenses for services he provided to boats in his yard, including repairs, refittings, berth rentals, towing charges, wharf accounts, and sales of all kinds of nautical supplies.
 
One of the volumes, listed as a memo book, contains town financial records for Winter Harbor for 1896, as well as a list of names and addresses of yacht and ship owners who used Tracy’s services.

Box List
 
Box 1
 
Folder
 
1 Ledger, 1899-1901
2 Ledger B, 1903-1904
3 Ledger C, 1905
4 Ledger, 1913-1915
5 [Memo book, 1896, undated]
6 Correspondence, etc., 1903, 1906, 1916, undated

Finding Aids for selected manuscript collections in the Special Collections Department at Fogler Library are accessible online in URSUS, in a browsable Guide to Manuscript Collections. Please contact Special Collections at spc@umit.maine.edu or (207) 581-1686 for further information.

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Special Collections Staff: spc@umit.maine.edu | Revised: 01/17/2013