Curator And Five Men in a Basement (Cue Swooning)

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • March 7, 2016

All kidding aside, we did have a meeting of the minds recently in the MMA Library – soon to be the MMA Research Center – basement. My aim was to get everyone to meet – though they really all know one another (small island) – and talk about what they needed from one another and how we are going to orchestrate this dance of masonry, carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work once it gets underway.


We have a great team. Wayne Morris of Wayne Morris-Mason, Inc., Matt Anderson of Matthew Anderson Carpentry, Bob Butler of Marden Plumbing – the MMA’s plumbers since we had running water, Kevin Wiggin the HVAC fabricator and installer, and Jon Vollans of Vollans Electric all the way from ʼSconset. Additionally, other locals such as Jim Tyler of James Tyler Painting will be working on the interior – he painted the exterior of the building that looks so fabulous – Pen Austin has worked her magic with the lime plaster repairs in the Wing, and Greg Maskell of Maskell Landscaping will clean up the mess that is left behind. We will also be working with Toscana for the drainage and new sewer connection (the old one is broken). Mickey Rowland of Rowland Architects and Jim Badera of Badera Engineering are assisting us with further designs and code issues. And Structures-North has worked with us from the beginning on the structural repair designs. Throw in the work of Emack Surveying and Blackwell Associates who helped design the drainage and the list grows even longer.

This is not a small undertaking. We are keeping our costs as low as possible – I, in fact, have tried to take on as much as I can from permitting and code and HDC applications and physically moving things – with the help of my now muscle-bound colleagues – in order to save the MMA as much money as possible on this project. MMA does what it does – does ALL that it does – in as thrifty a manner as possible. Very Maria Mitchell, I might add. She would be proud.


We are still raising funds for this project – every penny counts. I myself am buying the eyewash for the sink which we should have just in case. While we don’t work with major chemicals, it’s a good thing to have around even if it’s for exploding glue containers or paint! So, if you are interested in making a donation, please contact us.


JNLF

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July 31, 1883. I had two or three rich days! On Friday last I went to Holderness, N.H.. to the Asquam House; I had been asked by Mrs. T to join her party. There was at this house Mr. Whittier, Mr., and Mrs. Cartland, Professor and Mrs. Johnson, of Yale . . . The house seemed full of fine, cultivate people. We stayed two days and a half. And first of the scenery. The road up to the house is a steep hill, and at the foot of the hill it winds and turns around two lakes. The panorama is complete one hundred and eighty degrees. Beyond the lakes lie the mountains.  The Asquam House sat atop Shepard Hill and was built in 1881. A hotel, it has space for fifty guests, it was located near Squam Lake and became part of a summer enclave that developed there in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, the area is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1948. Maria would have been familiar with these people seen here – and others I did not include – but particularly John Greenleaf Whittier who was something of a family friend. He was close to one of her younger brothers, William Forester. JNLF

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The Birth of the Maria Mitchell Observatory: Celebrating Over 100 Years of Discovery

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 30, 2025
As we are now complete with the conservation of the historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO), I thought it would be good to post a series of blogs concerning it history and activities, as well as some of the amazing people who have made it what it is over the last 100 plus years. Therefore, over the next few weeks, the focus will be on the MMO. And it is now open for tours – Monday through Saturday 11-1PM. Founded in 1902, the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) had its beginnings in the Mitchell House where Maria Mitchell was born. Over the first few years, the preservation of the Mitchell House, family artifacts, and the collection and display of Nantucket’s native flora and fauna, as well as a small library, were the key components of the MMA. Special “Moon Evenings” were held on the lawn and people observed Nantucket’s night skies using several small telescopes, including William and Maria Mitchell’s two-and-three-quarter-inch Dollond telescope. The popular evenings led to the inevitable – a desire and need to expand based on the demands of the visitors to, and members of, the MMA. In 1906, Lydia Hinchman, a founder of the MMA and a family member, purchased the house and lot adjacent to the Mitchell House. The house – once the home of William Mitchell’s father and mother – was taken down. The MMA began a dialogue with the Harvard College Observatory and its director, Edward Pickering, Ph.D. The connection to Harvard was to become essential to the success of the beginning years of the Maria Mitchell Observatory and continued a legacy of friendship and work – Maria Mitchell and her father worked with the Bonds who once ran the observatory at Harvard and the families were close friends. Besides his assistance, Pickering asked a member of his staff, Annie Jump Cannon, to assist the MMA. This “provided an indispensable collaboration for Nantucket astronomy,” with Cannon spending two weeks on the island in 1906 and 1907 lecturing and teaching. While back at Harvard, she continued to teach the students on Nantucket by mail. Cannon would go on to be recognized as the leading woman astronomer of her generation and as the founder of the MMA’s Astronomy Department. JNLF
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