Ada Augusta Brewster

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • Aug 30, 2021

At some point last March, before we officially closed for COVID-19 precautions, I was “rummaging” about in the MMA institutional archives and came across these images. Since then I did a tiny bit of digging to find out more about these very sweet watercolors of the MMA.  I found them in the scrapbook of Lydia Hinchman, one of our founders and a daughter of Maria Mitchell’s uncle, Peleg Mitchell Jr. They actually remind me of another watercolorist who worked for some time on Nantucket – J. B. Reid and I may have blogged about her long ago – she is a favorite of mine.


In any case, A. A. Brewster – or Ada August Brewster – was born in Kingston Massachusetts May 25, 1842 in a house called “Woodside.” That already sounds very pleasing. I have not found a lot about her but she did study with several well-known painters, particularly out West in California. As a child she showed promise as an artist. Her mother, Elizabeth Bates Brewster was something of artist as well. It seems before that however, she served as a nurse during the Civil War at Portsmouth Grove/Lovell General Hospital in Rhode Island. She would later work at the US Mint in Nevada. She studied art at the Lowell Institute in Boston under Samuel Rouse and at the California School for Design (now San Francisco Art Institute). It seems she was in California starting about 1879 and at the Design School she studied under Raymond Yelland and Virgil Williams. She traveled quite a bit and lived in Florida, California, New York and  Georgia – coming to rest in New York around the turn of the century. In, 1898 she was Curator of the Ladies Art Association, 107 West 125th Street, NYC. She was also a frequent visitor to Cape Cod and Nantucket. Thus, these images. In 1919, she would move back to Kingston and “Woodside” where she died in 1929. 


She did open her own studio in San Francisco and was known for being a portraitist and illustrator, as well as a painter of china and a teacher. She would follow with studios in St. Petersburg, FL and finally in New York. She was known as an artist, naturalist, historian, author, collector. Sort of sounds like Lydia Hinchman and her sisters – and Maria and her sisters – multi-talented.


JNLF

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Shards

By Jascin N. Leonardo FInger • 06 May, 2024
I have written of my love for sea glass and pottery shards in the past and the recent replacement of the sewer and water lines on Vestal Street created a small shard collection over the last month. Since the work required the asphalt to be completely removed (all twelve inches of it!) and the road to be dug up multiple times as they worked to remove pipe, relay new pipe, hook up the water meters, and install drainage and manhole covers, this resulted in the earth in the street being tossed about quite a bit. And, with that, came the shards! Some of these likely came from the sewer line (yes, yuck) but others came from being simply in the dirt of the road – which was not paved until 1946/1948. Pieces were likely tossed out at times, made to act as filler in holes, or simply tossed. So I found all sorts of pieces I will keep here at the Mitchell House. They included: a lovely piece with a red floral, many pieces of plates, glass, the top of a late nineteenth or early twentieth century (medicine) bottle, glass shards, a flattened spoon, a brass knob (found by a neighbor) some nails, a spike, pieces of a larger container or two based on the size and curve and coloring of the shards, and possibly a Wampanoag stone tool. One person’s trash is another one’s treasures! JNLF

Is That A Wrap?

22 Apr, 2024
Yes. Well, almost. After about a month of working – and some living (staff and or neighbors) – on Vestal Street with all the sewer and water replacement work, the paving happened today (April 17, 2024). This is the first “layer” – a three-inch binder coat. In the fall, once time has passed, they will return for the final one inch of the finish layer. Some of the other things along Vestal Street will also be repaired and updated between now and the final coat – and a bit after that. But we are very happy, after all these years to have a modern system of piping – and all new drainage we never had before! While the curator in me loved the old clay pipes, they were riddled with roots from the trees, holes, and in some places, collapsed, and the twelve inches of asphalt had to go. Vestal Street was only paved in about 1946/1948 – and has not been paved in maybe twenty years so that is a lot of asphalt in about fifty years! And with climate change and the increase in how much rain we get in these heavy rain events, all that water rushed down Vestal Street with nowhere to go – except our cellars. I am sure the neighbors are happy too! A thank you to the Town of Nantucket’s Sewer Department, especially David Gray (who may regret giving me his cellphone number forever), N&M Excavating and Utilities (Dean, we appreciate you being so nice when we had too many questions), Victor-Brandon Corp for paving, and numerous others. We are looking forward to great flushing, powerful hose lines, and rainwater being whisked away via the new, never-before-had storm drains! JNLF And to all the N&M workers who wondered why I was constantly looking down as I walked along Vestal Street, you should see the trove of porcelain shards, glass, old nails, a bottle neck, 19 th century spoon, and even possibly a Wampanoag stone tool I found!
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