Recent Acquisitions
Check here for regular updates on the Custom House’s collection.
The collections at the Custom House consists of objects, archives, photographs, and a small library. The earliest items date back to around 12,000 BCE through to the 21st century. Hover each image for more information.
For information on donating to the collection, click here.
For research inquiries, click here.
Portrait of Jonathan Lowell
Portrait of Jonathan Lowell
Oil on canvas by Charles Delin (Holland, 1756 – 1818).
c. 1805
Jonathan Lowell (1787-1815) was the only son of Amesbury boat builder David Lowell (1757-1854). Following a brief maritime career (ca. 1802-1807), young Lowell partnered with his father in the latter’s boat building business, “David Lowell & Son.”
In 1814 Jonathan, recently married but still childless, volunteered for service on the privateer Mars out of Portsmouth, NH. The ship set sail in January 1815 and was never heard from again. The portrait remained with David Lowell until he died at age 97.
This portrait is especially remarkable because it retains the original shipping case. Often, Delin and other “port painters” would paint the captains as they came into port. However, they typically did not have time to let the paint dry completely. Portraits would be placed in a wooden box behind glass to protect in on the journey home and then removed from the case to be hung.
Gift of Timothy Kendall
Portrait of Capt. William Graves, Sr
Portrait of Capt. William Graves, Sr
Oil on canvas by Charles Delin (Holland, 1756 – 1818).
c. 1811
William was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts in 1785. He was a captain who commanded at least 18 vessels, including the brig Henry which he took command of at the age of 18.
He married Mary Anne Pike in 1809. After her death in 1817, William married her sister Susannah and they had three children. William moved his family to Newburyport in the mid 1820s, and died on May 27th 1851.
Gift of Timothy Kendall
Painting of the Pazhou Pagoda at Whampoa Island on the Pearl River leading to Canton
Painting of the Pazhou Pagoda
Attributed to Chinese artist Namcheong.
c. early 19th C
This painting was brought back from Canton by Capt. William Graves, Jr. aboard the Salem bark Cynthia in 1836-1837 or the Salem ship Thomas Perkins between 1838 and 1845.
Gift of Timothy Kendall
Tall Clock
ca. 1815
Tall Clock
David Wood, Newburyport clockmaker
ca. 1815
David Wood was born in Newburyport on July 5, 1766. It is generally believed that he may have been apprenticed to either Daniel Balch Sr. or to one of the members of the Mulliken family (also accomplished clockmakers).
On June 13, 1792, Wood advertised that he had set up a shop in Market Square, near Reverend Andrews’ Meeting House. In 1818, Wood and Abel Moulton, a local silversmith) moved into a shop formerly occupied by Thomas H. Balch. In 1824, Wood advertised that he had moved to the west side of Market Square opposite the Market House.
"View of Newburyport from Salisbury” by Fitz Henry Lane
“View of Newburyport from Salisbury”
Fitz Henry Lane
c. 1846
Color lithograph
This lithograph shows Newburyport as it looked in 1846 from across the Merrimack River in Salisbury, with an extraordinary level of detail. The artist, Fitz Henry Lane, was known for his detailed treatment of port city skylines.
Gift of Timothy Kendall
The Ship Huguenot, Capt. Alexander Graves, struck by lightning at sea: June 12, 1846
Oil on canvas. Attributed to Samuel Walters.
On June 12, 1846, Newburyport Captain Alexander Graves was in the mid-Atlantic on his way to Liverpool, commanding the Huguenot. He had been promoted to ship master only two weeks before. The mainmast was struck by lightning, igniting a fire in the ship’s hold, which was tightly packed with cotton bales.
Graves quickly turned the ship back to the nearest port – Savannah, Georgia – which was four days away. The crew successfully fought the blaze and arrived in Savannah. Huguenot was repaired, more cotton was loaded, and Captain Graves completed his journey to Liverpool.
Captain Graves returned to Newburyport in October to marry Mary Newton Lunt. As a wedding present, Mary’s brother, Captain William Lunt, who was also in Liverpool that summer, commissioned this painting of the Huguenot being struck by lightning
Samuel Walters was one of Liverpool’s most distinguished marine painters.
Gift of Timothy Kendall
Portrait of Capt. William Graves, Jr.
Portrait of Capt. William Graves, Jr.
Unknown artist
Oil on canvas
1848
Later President of the Newburyport Marine Society and Mayor of Newburyport (1866).
Gift of Douglas Frazier and Timothy Kendall.
Portrait of Mary Pike
Unknown artist
Oil on canvas
1848
Mary Pike was the wife of William Graves, Jr. She was the daughter Capt. Edmund N. Pike, a sister of Capt. Edmund J. Pike, and the sister-in-law of Capts. Alexander Graves and Edward Graves.
Gift of Timothy Kendall,
in memory of his grandmother Ellen T. Brown (1881-1964)
“Indian of Manila” & “Indian Woman of Manila”
Attributed to Carl Johann Karuth (Germany)
ca. 1840s
Color lithographs
Karuth was a German traveler who visited the Philippines in the 1840s. These two lithographs were brought back from Manila circa 1841 aboard the Salem ship Thomas Perkins by Capt. William Graves, Jr.
Gift of Timothy Kendall in memory of his mother Rosamond Brown Howe (1918-2004)
Small painted trunk
Chinese
a. 1820-1840
Painted leather over camphor wood, trimmed with brass and brass tacks
This would have been the smallest of a nested set of three. The trunks were made to fit inside one another so as to take up the smallest space aboard a ship when being brought back from China.
Letter and silver spoon. Letter written from San Francisco on April 27, 1859 by Elizabeth “Lizzie” Wheeler Pike, wife of Capt. Edward “Neddy” Graves, to her sister-in-law Ellen “Nellie” Graves (later Mrs. Albert C. Titcomb), back in Newburyport. When she wrote this letter, Lizzie was traveling around the world with her husband, who was then master of the Newburyport ship Josiah L. Hale. The silver spoon is engraved “To Nellie from Lizzie.” It was made by Moulton Silversmiths in Newburyport. Lizzie gave the spoon to Nellie before leaving on the Josiah L. Hale with her husband.
The envelope was marked “Overland – via Los Angeles.” The stamp was removed by one of the young stamp collectors in the family.
On the back of the envelope, Annie Pike Graves (Mrs. Leander Brown of 290 High Street and the donor’s great grandmother), who was the niece of both Capt. Edward Graves and Ellen Graves, had written:
“Letter from the wife of Edward Graves (Captain) brother of William Graves (father). She was from Augusta Maine & died in Rangoon India. Her name was Elizabeth W. Pike Graves.” (The information was for the benefit of her daughter, my grandmother, Ellen (“Nell”) Brown, who inherited it – and whom she feared would forget who these people were.
To save weight (and expense), the single page of paper was fully written, then turned 90° and overwritten (front and half of the second page only).
Plan Your Visit
Plan Your Visit
- Museum Hours
Thursday - Saturday: 10 am - 5 pm
Sunday: 12 pm - 5 pm
Closed Monday - Wednesday
- Tickets
$5 admission
Free for NBPT residents, kids under 12, and museum members
Cost of admission includes access to the Discovery Center.
- Parking
City parking is available adjacent to the museum. View parking lot directions.