Renowned as the creators of New England's great fishing schooners, the shipbuilders of Essex, Massachusetts, have a 300-year history that is, as the subtitle of this impressive book attests, a chronicle of Yankee endeavor. This book documents in text, appendices, photos and other illustrations the rise of the trade from 1634 to its glory days in the final decades of the nineteenth century, and its decline in the first four decades of this century. Dana Story, author of Growing Up in a Shipyard, has a well-deserved reputation for thorough historical research and for the ease and wit of his writing. Here he brings these qualities to a book that is in large part his own family's history. His forebears settled in Essex in 1637 and began building vessels in 1813.

Shipbuilding and shipping have always been key elements in the life of Essex. Since the seventeenth century, the men and women of the lower Connecticut River Valley sustained maritime traditions that spanned the globe in splendid wooden sailing vessels. Their accomplishments include building the first warship of the Connecticut navy and the world's first submarine. They also served as packet ship captains, navigators and skilled crew members who crossed the Atlantic. The Essex area was also home to dedicated craftsmen who produced some of the finest yachts ever built. Noted historians Wick Griswold and Ruth Major detail one village's important role in American maritime history.

This work aims to facilitate the study of the shipbuilding industry by making available information on the present location of shipbuilding archives. The brief histories of about 200 businesses are offered.

Profiles of artists and performers from around the world form the basis of this innovative volume that explores the many ways individuals engage with, carry on, revive, and create tradition. Leading scholars in folklore studies consider how the field has addressed the connections between performer and tradition and examine theoretical issues involved in fieldwork and the analysis and dissemination of scholarship in the context of relationships with the performers. Honoring Henry Glassie and his remarkable contributions to the field of folklore, these vivid case studies exemplify the best of performer-centered ethnography.