Bethany’s Going to England
A Newburyport story will take its place on an international stage this fall when Bethany Groff Dorau, Executive Director of the Museum of Old Newbury, travels to The National Archives in Kew, England, to present at The Prize Papers of the American War of Independence, an international workshop on October 8 and 9, 2026.
In 2026, The National Archives in England announced the discovery of a rare July 1776 printing of the Declaration of Independence among records connected with the British captain who captured the Newburyport privateer. Only eleven copies of that printing are known to survive, and this is the only known copy outside the United States.
The Prize Papers Project
The aim of the German-UK Prize Papers Project is the complete digitization and sorting of the Prize Papers including the preservation of the collection’s material, cataloguing, the creation of research-oriented metadata, and an open-access research database.
Privateer Dalton and Newburyport
Bethany’s research has centered on the Newburyport privateer Dalton, departed from Newburyport on October 15, 1776 and captured by the British warship HMS Raisonable on Christmas Eve 1776. Boardman, a prominent Newburyport merchant and Revolutionary patriot, served as captain of marines aboard Dalton.
The vessel’s surviving records are preserved in the Prize Papers collection at The National Archives and place a familiar local figure within a much larger story of warfare, commerce, allegiance, and captivity in the Atlantic world.
What are the Prize Papers?The prize papers span 165 years (1652–1815) and came from 35,000 ships captured by England’s Navy. The collection is vast and the project will help researchers around the world by making their contents digitally accessible. Here are some key numbers:
4088 boxes
82 document types
160,000 undelivered letters
71 printed volumes
19 languages
5 continents
The ConferenceBethany is traveling to The National Archives in Kew, England, to present at The Prize Papers of the American War of Independence, an international workshop on October 8 and 9, 2026.
The two-day gathering brings together scholars, archivists, curators, and historians from the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe to explore one of the richest surviving archives of the Revolutionary era. Bethany will present “Taken by 64 Guns: A Case Study of Dalton Marine Captain Offin Boardman” during the session “Loyalty, Deception and Survival at Sea.”
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Bethany’s participation is the latest chapter in a growing international partnership, supported by strong local partnerships and a two-year MA250 grant from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. In March 2026, Dr. Amanda Bevan, head of The National Archives Prize Papers Project, joined the Museum’s Revolutionary Privateers at Sea Symposium in Newburyport. This October, the exchange travels in the other direction, carrying Newburyport’s maritime history to London and placing the people of Old Newbury within an international reconsideration of the American Revolution.
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The conference is organized by the Prize Papers Project, The National Archives, the University of Oldenburg, the German Maritime Museum, and the German Historical Institute London. Historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal will deliver the keynote address, “Empires of Privateering: 1780 Around the Globe.”
On October 8, the Prize Papers Project will also release an initial group of records from approximately 150 captured vessels through its open-access digital portal, opening a major new body of Revolutionary War evidence to researchers around the world.
The workshop accompanies Revolution 250: America’s Independence Story 1763–1783, The National Archives exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence and drawing in part on the Prize Papers.
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The October 8 sessions will be available online, giving Newburyport audiences an opportunity to watch Bethany’s presentation from home. Register for the online stream.