Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers, 1928-1965 | Maine Maritime Museum Manuscript Collection Online Catalog

Title: Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers, 1928-1965

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Abstract

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Administrative/Biographical History

Born May 13, 1904, Mark William Hennessy was the son of William and Margaret

(Conley) Hennessy. His father worked for the Maine Central Railroad as an engineer, and the family lived in Bath at 32 Summer Street.

In 1923 he graduated from Morse High School, Bath, and headed to Boston to attend art school. He later attended another art school in Boothbay, ME. (Examples of his art and photography were displayed in a memorial exhibit at the Patten Free Library, Bath, after his death.) In the summer of 1924 Hennessy worked as office boy in the Sewall office at 411 Front St., Bath, for Samuel S. Sewall and W. D. Sewall II, remaining partners of the famous shipbuilding/ shipping firm of Arthur Sewall & Co. Perhaps his lifelong interest in the Sewalls and in maritime history began during that time.

He joined the Gannett newspapers (owners of Portland, Maine's three newspapers) in 1925 as the papers' first Bath correspondent and photographer. Hennessy was the Bath correspondent for the Portland Press Herald in particular for almost forty years. His feature articles and photographs about the history of shipbuilding in Bath and the people who went to sea appeared frequently in the Maine Sunday Telegram. In 1964 he resigned his position to fulfill his lifelong dream of writing a maritime history of Bath for the Marine Research Society of Bath (now Maine Maritime Museum).

Hennessy's writing style probably developed from his work with the newspapers. His much acclaimed volume, Sewall Ships of Steel, published in 1937, and his subsequent work and outlines reveal a style of relatively short sections which he called "divisionals." Generally he made an outline consisting of titles and after the title noted the number of words he intended to write. Each of these sections or "divisionals" evolved into a chapter or a feature article.

Through his connection with the Gannett Publishing Co., Hennessy acquired a strong ally and friend in Fred V. Lord, vice-president of the Kennebec Journal Press in Augusta, ME. Mr. Lord seems to have been a mentor and supporter of Hennessy's publishing endeavors. Hennessy also had long-running correspondence with many former ship captains and others who shared his interest in the history of shipbuilding and the sea.

Hennessy was active in community affairs. He was a member of the Bath City Council, 1926-1930, and a life member of the Colonial Club and the Marine Research Society of Bath.. (In his capacity as Bath correspondent, he attended every City Council meeting from 1925-1964.) He served as trustee, secretary and treasurer of Bath Memorial Hospital over a span of twenty years. In 1933 he became a corporator of the Patten Free Library and later served on the Book Committee as well as the Building Committee for the Barker-Wright Memorial Wing. At St. Mary's Catholic Church he was a corporal worker of the Mercy Society from 1930 until his death. Hennessy was deeply involved with the formation of the short-lived Kennebec Marine Museum in the 1930's and later on, the Marine Research Society of Bath. With support and encouragement from the Society, Hennessy undertook to write the maritime history of Bath. The Society's first archives facility was named in his honor after his death.

Hennessy married Flora I. Fraser (ca. 1904-1977), a fellow graduate of Morse High School, Class of 1923, in 1930. She was the daughter of Coleman and Josephine Fraser of Bath and was a stenographer at the time of her marriage. According to the wedding announcement in the newspapers, they were married on the same day as another couple who then joined them on their honeymoon. They had no children. For many years the Hennessys lived at 134 Centre St., Bath. He had a fishing hut lower down on the Kennebec where he used to go to think and write - and fish.

The Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers reveal a man who enjoyed people. Wherever he went he had his "ancient and honorable" Speed Graphic camera with him. People commented on the "brightness of his artist's eye." He was described by Ralph L. Snow, former Director of MMM, as a "fixture of downtown Bath" and a "picturesque character" (see Appendix C). Fellow newspaper men affectionately called him "Marcus Aurelius" Hennessy and "Three Star" Hennessy. Apparently he was a popular speaker. He also enjoyed humor, and we have noted examples in Box 1/8. This camaraderie and banter are obvious in his correspondence with people like "Red" Cousins of Brunswick. The correspondence also makes it clear that he was highly regarded as an authority and resource on the maritime history of Bath he had a scholar's respect for facts. The quality of his mind and his spirit are evident in his work, as is the feeling that he did his job well and lovingly. There are still people in Bath and the surrounding area who remember Mark Hennessy with respect and warmth.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions: There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Rights: The material described herein is the physical property of the Maine Maritime Museum Library. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors of the various items, or to their legal representatives, or to Maine Maritime Museum. For further information, consult the library staff.

Acquisition Note: Source: Museum purchase from Flora I. Hennessy, Nov. 1965. G72.106..
The Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers came to the Marine Research Society of Bath (now MMM) through an agreement made in September, 1964, between Hennessy and the Society in which Hennessy was to write a maritime history of Bath. Unfortunately he died in 1965 without completing the work. That fall the Society purchased his papers from his widow, Flora I. Hennessy, and then turned them over to William A. Baker, who had been hired to complete the maritime history. Baker made extensive use of Hennessy's notes and drafts. Sometimes he even added his own notes onto Hennessy's, as did his wife and research assistant, Ruth Baker. Numerous notations and outlines made by Mr. and Mrs. Baker appear as block letters or script in blue ink on Hennessy's notes. There are some Hennessy Papers still left in Baker's research notes (MS-57) which could not easily be moved back because of the extent of the Bakers' notes. The Hennessy papers are fairly easy to identify because they are either written in pencil in Hennessy's large hand or they were typed on his 12 pt. machine. (Baker's typewriter was 10 pt.) Baker returned the papers to the Museum ca. 1972, after the publication of his book, The Maritime History of Bath, Maine and the Kennebec Region. In addition to the papers in MS-53, Hennessy, and later his widow, gave books, framed photographs, about 1,300 unframed photos, the Mark W. Hennessy Collection (MS-18), and some artifacts.

Related Materials:

Mark W. Hennessy Collection (MS-18), available at

repository.

Preferred Citation: Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers, MS-53, Research Library, Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine

Collection Material Type: Papers

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Scope and Contents:

Physical Description

The Mark W. Hennessy Research Papers were stored primarily in notebook binders (see Appendix A), with the remainder housed in folders in a four-drawer file cabinet. With the exception of the typed Sewall letters (Boxes 31/5-52/9), the bulk of the material is in draft form, including notes and lists. These notes, handwritten and typed, appear on newsprint, small notebook pages, 3 x 5 cards, and scraps of paper. The condition of most of the paper is reasonable, given that it was inexpensive to start with. Most notes are in pencil. Nothing was wasted, and the researcher may find writing on both sides of a single sheet. Some of the notes came from the Bakers (see Acquisition and Provenance), and others came from an unknown source the latter are recognizable by differences in handwriting (other than the Bakers') and the use of ink instead of pencil. Almost none are dated they could have been written at any time between 1925 and 1965.

Because whatever original order Hennessy devised for managing his research notes is not essentially clear, a result of the Bakers' use of the material, Staff have created an order which they hope will make the research notes more accessible to users. This is particularly true for Series III. A., The Maritime History of Bath. Staff found multiple variations of Hennessy's proposed outlines for the book, each slightly different (see Box 6/5). One outline (Box 6/3) was chosen and followed for the arrangement of these "divisionals" or chapters as it appeared to be the most clearly defined. Thus the arrangement closely follows the outline in Box 6/3 but does not necessarily follow the outlines in Box 6/5. The variant outlines can be studied with the one selected for arrangement, and the user will notice overlaps and differences.

Series Description

Series I. A. contains biographical information about Hennessy. Sub-series B contains his correspondence from 1928-1965, arranged chronologically. Some correspondence has been foldered by the name of the correspondent if the person wrote many letters to Hennessy or was well-known. These latter are arranged alphabetically.

Series II, Completed Works, is divided into four sub-series. The first contains articles with his byline. The second includes notes and papers from which we believe Hennessy gave talks. Third is a section of histories of four Bath businesses. This includes a series of advertisements for the Hyde Windlass Company, each of which shows a photograph or illustration of a sailing vessel outfitted with Hyde equipment and accompanied by a paragraph of historical text written by Hennessy. In addition to his research notes and mock-ups, there are copies of 53 of the known set of 76 ads. There are also histories of Bath National Bank, the Knox & Lincoln Railroad, and Bath Iron Works. Although the Museum does not have a copy of the history of the Bath National Bank, there is a draft copy in this sub-series. It is not certain whether these were published. The fourth and final sub-series of Series II contains some notes for Sewall Ships of Steel, published in 1937, but no draft copy material was found.

Series III contains the material Hennessy had gathered for several proposed books, including The Maritime History of Bath (Sub-series A). One comprehensive outline

(Box 6/3) for this book was chosen by Staff from among several possibilities (Box 6/5) to serve as a guide for the arrangement of the notes and "divisional" material intended for the history. However, not all outline entries had folders of notes. Material from the notebooks (see Appendix A) has been worked in to the outline so that it falls where it should in the "divisionals."

Sub-series III. B. is the largest section within the collection and contains material on the Sewalls of Bath, a prominent 19th century Bath shipbuilding and shipping family. It had its genesis in Hennessy's long relationship with the Sewall family and his exclusive access to the family's corporate archive. Very obviously Hennessy intended to write at least four more books on the Sewalls (the "Big Four," the schooners, the Sewall yard, and the family itself). From 1960 until his death he was in contact with various members of the family who had established a small research account for him. He even converted two rooms in his basement for the storage of part of the Sewall papers (the Sewall Ship Rooms). This material is arranged into six sections: Sewall Ship Records Sewall family Sewall companies Sewall masters vessels and transcripts of letters selected by Hennessy from MS-22 to aid in his research on the Sewalls and their activities. They are arranged chronologically. Beginning with Box 50 the arrangement is based on the family member involved.

Sub-series III. C. contains material intended for a history of Bath, including draft copies from his notebooks, and material arranged by subject and by individual.

Sub-series III. D. consists of miscellaneous material that Hennessy had apparently written for a series of short stories and reflects his penchant for dialogue and humor in a nautical context. His ideas for illustrations and for other proposed works are also included in this section.

Series IV contains research notes and reference materials arranged by general topics: subject, place, and miscellaneous notes.

Processing Notes

--In general Hennessy's folder titles or "divisionals" have been transferred directly to the new folders to help the researcher understand how his mind worked. This is occasionally confusing, as MWH sometimes had more than one folder or notebook with the same title. We have left these as separate folders but have placed them together in sequence.

--Hennessy kept many of his notes in ring binders (e.g., HN 1). In all cases the notes have been removed from the ring binder, the binders destroyed, and the title of the binder transferred directly to the new folder(s) [s. Appendix A].

--Most metal fasteners and rubber bands have been removed.

--The collection contained original material from the Sewall Family Papers which was returned to MS-22.

--Additional notes on vessels by years can be found in William A. Baker's note-

book, MS-57.

--Outgoing and incoming correspondence have been integrated because Hennessy's

replies to requests for information were often drafted on the incoming letters.

--Hennessy rarely dated any of his notes or drafts. It is almost impossible to date

them within the forty year span during which he was involved with Bath's maritime

history.

--Frequently a finished article has been placed in the folder containing notes for the article, rather than in the folder of completed articles. Thus to study the body of his published work, it is necessary to look in most of the folders.

--Many newspaper articles do not carry his by-line but appear to be written in his style. The articles often say "By Bath correspondent," assumed to have been MWH.

--There are often several drafts of the same material in the same folder, all

undated. Some look very rough, while others look ready for publication.

--If some topics are repetitive and some sections seem disorganized, it is because the processors tried to follow Hennessy's outlines, especially for Sub-series III. A. In all cases we left material foldered as he had stored it himself.

--Some of the papers in Sub-series III. C. were tri-folded into envelopes (Box 60/6), just as the newspaper morgue stores them.

--Hennessy appears to have kept some of his published articles pasted onto scrapbook pages [s. Box 3/17, removed to Over Size drawer].

--Frequently there are sketches and doodles on his notes.

--The "Big Schooners" (Box 10/5) appears to be almost a separate book in and of itself.

--In Boxes 32 and 33 the sequence of typed letters from various Sewall companies appears to be out of order this is because the typed letters were removed from the binders Hennessy had put them in and were transferred intact as he had them arranged, despite the seeming overlap of titles.

--Material on specific vessels and captains is scattered throughout the collection, in enough places that it was impossible to list all the references to each in App. E, Added Entries and Partial Index. Instead Staff have listed in App. D (pp. 32-34) all the places where this information can be found.