Scrimshaw: An Annotated Bibliography

Carpenter, Charles H., Jr.; and Mary Grace Carpenter.
The Decorative Arts and Crafts of Nantucket.
New York: Dodd Mead & Co. and the Nantucket Historical Association, 1987.

Well developed overview of nautical and domestic decorative arts, largely based on institutional and private collections on Nantucket and elsewhere. The chapter on scrimshaw provides a social context for the genre and an hypothesis concerning its evolution in America and precursors in Europe. Illustrated, some color plates, bibliography, index.

Flayderman, E. Norman.
Scrimshaw and Scrimshanders, Whales and Whalemen.
New Milford, Conn.: N. Flayderman & Co., 1972.

Pioneering comprehensive guide to scrimshaw places the genre in historical context as occupational art, nicely peppered with quotations from the whalemen’s own shipboard journals and diaries, all profusely illustrated. Also includes such non-scrimshaw analogues as powder horns and French prisoner-of-war carvings. Unfortunately, the book is long out of print and can be obtained only from antiquarian booksellers and at auction.

Frank, Stuart M.
Dictionary of Scrimshaw Artists.
Mystic, Conn: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1991.

Winner of the North Atlantic Society for Oceanic History’s Lyman Book Award for "Best Maritime Reference Work."

500 biographical sketches of the men and women in the whale fishery, naval, and merchant services of America, Britain, Australia, the Azores, and Continental Europe who produced scrimshaw at sea and ashore in the great age of sail, circa 1625-1930, based on more than 75 institutional and private collections worldwide. 29 plates illustrate dozens of examples; glossary of terms, many defined in the whalemen’s own words from shipboard journals; Foreword by Norman Flayderman; introductory essay tracing the evolution of scrimshaw since Medieval times; 3 appendices, bibliography, 3 indexes. Contributions by Joshua Basseches, Joost Schokkenbroek, and Dr. Janet West.

Frank, Stuart M.
More Scrimshaw Artists.
Mystic, Conn: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1998.

This stand-alone volume is also a sequel and supplement to the Dictionary of Scrimshaw Artists (see above). It has biographical sketches of dozens of newly discovered scrimshaw artists, additional information on many of the artists noted in the Dictionary, articles about the origins of Native Alaskan souvenir scrimshaw and about the influence of the Navy and the China Trade in the genesis of scrimshaw in the Pacific, gleanings from Charles W. Agard’s oral history interviews conducted at the turn of the century, and the complete journal of an Arctic whaling voyage by a dedicated, articulate scrimshaw artist.

Hellman, Nina; and Norman Brouwer.
A Mariner's Fancy: The Whaleman's Art of Scrimshaw.
New York: South Street Seaport and Balsam Press, 1992.

Highlights of South Street Seaport collection and the history of whaling from New York.

Malley, Richard C.
‘Graven by the fishermen themselves’: Scrimshaw in Mystic Seaport Museum.
Mystic, Conn: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1983.

Comprehensive guide to the fine collection of a leading maritime museum, articulately explaining the genre in historical and social contexts as occupational art, with many sidelights on other genres related to scrimshaw, profusely illustrated in black and white and with many color plates, index, bibliography.

Malley, Richard C.
‘In their hours of ocean leisure:’ Scrimshaw in the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum.
Cold Spring Hbr., N.Y.: Whaling Museum Society, 1993.

Interesting guide to a modest collection, with Malley’s characteristic attention to historical and social context, well illustrated.

Martin, Kenneth R.
‘Some Very Handsome Work’: Scrimshaw at the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eastham, Mass.: Eastham National Park and Monument Association, Inc., 1991.

Good catalogue of a modest National Park Service institutional collection contains many worthwhile insights into the context of scrimshaw in the American whale fishery.

McManus, Michael.
A Treasury of American Scrimshaw: A Collection of the Useful and Decorative.
New York: Penguin Books, 1997.

Groundbreaking view of utilitarian scrimshaw by an Adjunct Professor of Art at the University of Miami and Florida International College, and former Curator at the Museum of American Folk Art. Examples are drawn from major museums and private collections, brilliantly photographed by Mark Sexton.

West, Janet; and Arthur G. Credland.
Scrimshaw: The Art of the Whalers.
Hull (UK):Hull City Museums; Beverley, East Yorks. (UK): Hutton Press, 1995.

Interesting treatise with British and zoological emphases, by Kendall Whaling Museum Advisory Curator Dr. Janet West (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge) and whaling historian A.G. Credland (Keeper of Maritime History, Town Docks Museum, Hull). Profusely illustrated primarily with holdings in the United Kingdom; glossary; bibliography.