for the ARTS record

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent file Greater Light

DAVIDWOOD MAKES HISTORIC DONATION Nantucket native and avid collector David H. Wood (b. 1923) has donated a significant collection of Nantucket artifacts and manuscripts to the Nantucket Historical Association.

The gifts include Nantucket documents, silver, scrimshaw, souvenir china, artwork, lightship baskets, and other historical items. David Wood has been an avid collector of Nantucket material from the time he was a boy. His collection will be preserved in perpetuity in the NHA collection and will be known as the David H. Wood Collection. David Wood has served variously as NHA trustee, advisor, first vice president, acting executive director for one year, and editorial advisor from 1993 to the present. His lifelong love of history, manifesting itself in his deep knowledge of and devotion to all things Nantucket past and present, is vividly expressed in this gift.

NANTUCKET RESTAURANTWEEK Nantucket Restaurant Week offers sample tasting menus of over two dozen of the island's exquisite restaurants. The restaurants will offer a three course meal at the fixed price of $20 for lunch and $45 for dinner.

The Opening Gala, Sunday October 14, will benefit the Nantucket Culinary Arts Foundation Scholarship Fund and includes tastings from participating restaurants, as well as Champagne from Veuve Clicquot. Tickets are $100; call 228-1515 to reserve.

The weekend begins with the Nantucket Chowder Contest, sponsored by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce and featuring restaurants and chefs vying for the honors of "Best Chowder on Nantucket, Saturday, October 13, 2 to 3:30 p.m. For more information call the Chamber at 228-1700.

Restaurant Week is sponsored by N Magazine, Boston Magazine and Nantucket Catering Company.

For more information visit: www.nantucketrestaurantweek. com.

PUMPKINS, CORN BREAD AND TRADITIONAL CRAFTS The Nantucket Historical Association's seventh annual Harvest Fair is Saturday, Oct. 13, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (weather permitting) at the Old Mill, 50 Prospect Street.

The focus of the annual fair is on fall activities, traditional crafts and lively Native American and colonial games. The mill will be open for tours, and visitors will also have the opportunity to decorate pumpkins, bob for apples and make beeswax candles, as well as traditional cornhusk dolls.

"The Harvest Fair is a wonderful opportunity for families to celebrate and learn about Nantucket's agricultural heritage in an entertaining, hands-on way," said NHA manager of interpretation and education Kim McCray. "There will also be a buttermaking activity, and fresh corn bread will be served."

Museum interpreters will be on hand to answer questions about the 1746 Old Mill and, weather permitting, the mill will be grinding corn.

There is a $5 suggested donation per family. For further information call 228-1894, ext. 0.

WORLD WIDE VOICES AT ATHENEUM The Nantucket Atheneum launches its fall/winter book discussion group on October 24 and has selected six titles featuring international writers or books that highlight other countries and their cultures.

The selections are a combination of fiction and nonfiction books written by both male and female writers.

Called World Wide Voices Book Discussion Group, discussions will be held monthly, are free of charge and open to all. This is the third year the library has hosted an internationally-themed book discussion group. The discussions are facilitated by Library Director, Molly Anderson, and Atheneum volunteer and columnist, Maureen Beck.

The first meeting of the 2007-2008 sessions will be held Wednesday, October 24 at 5 pm in the Kynett Room, located in the basement of the library, and will be on the book The Inheritance of Loss. Subsequent book discussion dates will be determined at that meeting.

The six titles are: • "The Inheritance of Loss," by Kiran Desai. (Fiction) • "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortenson. (Nonfiction) • "What Came Before He Shot Her," by Elizabeth George (Fiction). • "The Perfect Summer," by Juliet Nicholson (nonfiction). • "My Name is Red," by Orhan Pamuk (fiction) • "What Is The What?," by Dave Eggers (fiction).

GREATER LIGHT GAM Nantucket Historical Association Executive Director Bill Tramposch will host a "Greater Light Gam" at the Food for Thought Series at noon on Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Whaling Museum. Admission is free, and bring your lunch.

Greater Light is the name of one of 22 properties owned by the NHA, and is an old livestock barn on Howard Street that was remodeled by the Monaghan sisters after they purchased the property in 1929. Bequeathed to the NHA, it is poised for a major restoration over the next several years. This gam, led by Tramposch, will include insights from author Betsy Tyler, who has written a history of the property, and a dramatic reading by island actress Susan Beaumont from the book "Greater Light on Nantucket," written by Hanna Monaghan.

Anyone who knew the Monaghan sisters is invited to attend and share their thoughts and recollections of these two early leaders of the Nantucket Art Colony.

On October 11, the Food for Thought Series will continue with "Star Light, Star Bright: The Astronomical Island" hosted by Dr. Vladimir Strelnitski, in conjunction with the Maria Mitchell Association. Each talk begins at noon and is free to the public.

For additional information about the Brown Bag Luncheon Series, please call 228-1894, ext. 0, or visit www.nha.org to view the full schedule.

WALDEN AT THE WHALING MUSEM The Walden Chamber Players will perform in concert ths Friday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m.. There will be a second concert with NCMC Nantucket School of Music student Nick Davies, on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 1 p.m. Both concerts will be held in the Whaling Museum, 13 Broad Street.

Founded in 1997, the Walden Chamber Players present educational curricula and concerts designed to showcase rarely heard works by composers of the past as well as music by contemporary composers. Comprising twelve dynamic artists in various combinations of string, piano and wind ensembles, the Walden Chamber Players "highlight the belief that music is the human experience translated into sound." Based in New England, the musical ensemble has recently performed in New York, New Hampshire, and throughout Massachusetts.

The Friday concert will include pieces by: Debussy, Sonate for Flute, Viola, and Harp; Jongen, Concert à cinq for Harp, Flute, Violin, Viola, and Cello; Saint-Saens, Fantaisie for Violin and Harp, op. 124; Mozart, Two Preludes and Fugues, KV 404, for String Trio and Bach, Elegiac Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp.

The Saturday afternoon concert will feature cellist Nick Davies, a 13-year-old student at the NCMC Nantucket School of Music, who will join the Walden Chamber Players in performing the Mozart Flute Quartet in A Major.

Both concerts are made possible by an anonymous sponsor. Admission for the Friday evening concert is $5 for NHA members and $15 for nonmembers. Saturday's concert is free for NHA members and $5 for nonmembers. For more information about

these concerts, please call 228-1894, ext. 0. I