In the 1970s and 80s a Gloucester man named Matthew Cooney researched and wrote a most unusual history of the Gloucester waterfront. Cooney had grown up working on the waterfront, but his interest in literature steered him into academia. In the latter years of his life, he was an English professor at Salem State. His waterfront history was quite unique. It wasn’t about schooners or weathered fishermen, it was about lumpers – the guys who unload cargo from ships in Gloucester Harbor.
 
Cargo has been coming into this port forever, and lumpers have always been around to do the dirty work of descending into foul holds and bringing up the goods. Over the years they evolved into a coherent society of specialists, with their own standards of behavior.

Matt Cooney celebrates these workers and their culture in a way that provides a unique look at Gloucester’s waterfront and its maritime history. His draft manuscript was finished sometime in the 1980s. He hired a designer, had it typeset, but before it could be completed, he passed away.
 
During his research for the publication, Matthew had assembled hundreds of interviews, photos, clippings, and about 100 pages of his narrative prose, along with a PDF of the typeset version, all of which are present in this collection.

This collection of material was given to one of Cooney’s colleagues upon his passing. Later, that individual gave it to Greg Gibson who had it in his possession for almost 20 years before donating it to the Cape Ann Museum in 2021.

Draft manuscript and research materials pertaining to unpublished text on the Gloucester waterfront workers with a focus on the lumpers.

Includes typed text, photos, copies of photos, 35mm slides and 35mm negative film strips, correspondence, notes, financial records, handwritten manuscripts, Kodak film envelopes, and manila envelopes.

The context for this collection is the 84-page typed draft of the history of the Gloucester waterfront workers organized by the author Matthew Cooney according to his outline below:

Part I Prologue

Part II Introduction, From Fort Port to Smith’s Cove

Part III A Brief History of the Ocean Perch Fishery

Part IV The Freighters

Part V The Epilogue

Part VI The Glossary

Box 1
Series 1

Folder 1: - 84-page typed draft of unpublished history of the Gloucester waterfront and its workers with a focus on the lumpers.

Folder 2: – 47-page handwritten “Glossary and Mini-Biographies” that accompanies the manuscript.

Folder 3: – 12-page typed draft “A Brief History of the Ocean Perch Fishery.”

Folder 4: – 3-page handwritten Matthew Cooney autobiography “The Autobiography of Matthew Cooney”, 1920.

Folder 5: – 2 spiral notebooks containing handwritten notes.

Folder 6: – printouts of waterfront history and longshoremen stories from the Internet. Labelled “Waterfront, Longshoremen Stories from the Internet.”

Folder 7: – Contains photo printouts from various sources.

Folder 8: – Financial records of The Overthehill Account, Rockport National Bank. Includes account statements, Discharge Rates for Draggers, November 1997, numerous handwritten notes of deposits to the Overthehill Account, 1998 and 1999.

Folder 9: – Handwritten and typed text called “The Freighters”, handwritten pages about Rudyard Kipling, stories about Matthew Cooney’s boyhood, notes about photo placement.

Folder 10: – May 24, 2001, issue of the “Gloucester Daily Times.”

Folder 11 – 11-35 mm negative film strips, 65 35 mm numbered slides, 5 35-mm non-numbered slides.

Box 2
Series 2

Folder 1 – 3:  3-ring binders containing accompanying table of contents and guide to inserting photographic prints and slides throughout the text; Notebook 1, Notebook 2, Notebook 3.

Box 3
Series 3

Folder 1 – 3:  3-ring binders containing accompanying table of contents and guide to inserting photographic prints and slides throughout the text; Notebook 4, Notebook 5, Notebook 6.

Folder 2: – 3-ring binder labeled “Borodin Photos” containing two photo prints; three invoices from Borodin Historic Photos; manila envelope with notes; a list from Borodin Photos.

Box 4
Series 4

Folder 1: – Legal-sized lined pad labeled “My photograph IDs by the number” with handwritten notes detailing the photographs.

Folder 2: – 24 Kodak film envelopes with extensive notes on each pertaining to specific subjects and photos that were within. One envelope contains photographic prints.

Folder 3: - 28 manila folders with extensive notes extensive notes on each pertaining to specific subjects and photos that were within.