Maria Mitchell In Denmark

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 13, 2015

Not exactly so, but 167 years after she spotted the comet that helped to bring her worldwide fame and her receipt of a medal from the King of Denmark for her discovery, Maria’s medal is still noteworthy. There is an organization in Denmark that celebrates these medals and a recent journal article featured Maria’s gold medal. It turns out that her medal is the only one that has the awardees’ name engraved on the edge! My first thought was, “Is that because she was the first woman to receive the medal?” but of course we don’t know exactly but it is a nice thought and maybe it actually is the case.


In any case, they asked for permission to use images of the medal and Maria Mitchell on the publication for which the MMA Archives and Special Collections receives a free and a copy of the publication for the Archives. This one is all in Dutch but I am happy to say that Maria made the cover – as you can see.


JNLF

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Lynn, Ap. 25 1869  My dear President, I am not sure I told you how long I must be away from the College. If I took only the Sunday’s rest, it would be possible for me to reach the Obs. By Tuesday, but I feel the need of more than one day of quiet, before I enter upon the new and incomprehensible life before me . . . William Mitchell died on April 19, 1869 and for the first time, Maria Mitchell was alone. Save for her trip to the southern United States and Europe in 1857 and 1858, her father was always by her side. She did not know much of a day in her life without him nearby and she knows that. It was difficult for her – and her siblings worried about her and this new world she was now in. She had been – expect for that trip – the caregiver for both of her parents. Her mother, Lydia Coleman Mitchell, died in 1861 on Nantucket and Maria had cared for her as well. She was the child who became the caregiver of the family – both in her youth as her siblings sought her out for care, humor, love, and adventures while their mother was busy with younger children and household duties – and then her parents as the only child who did not marry and remained by their sides. JNLF
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