Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 9, 2016

May 16, 1870
  President Raymond,
  We desire to call your attention to the fact, that, after nearly five years of what we believe to be faithful working for the good of the College, our pay is still far below that which has been offered at entrance, to the other professors, even when they have been wholly inexperienced. We respectfully ask that our salaries may be made equal to those of other professors.
  Maria Mitchell Professor of Astronomy
  Alida C. Avery Professor of Physiology and Hygiene


As I have noted in several posts before, Maria Mitchell was grossly underpaid for her work, as was Alida Avery though she would later be paid a bit more. The Trustees of Vassar College used Maria Mitchell’s housing situation to claim her smaller pay – she lived in the Observatory with her father (thus having “two homes”) while everyone else lived in Main Building. They claimed she had a private residence – with all her students studying and observing on top of her she had no privacy in her “own” home – and her building also used a lot of coal! This was a constant battle for Maria. When they did increase the salaries of Alida Avery and Maria, the Trustees raised the room and board fee on the two women! Equal pay for equal work was frankly never settled for these women. Today, it still isn’t as we have been seeing it screaming in headlines as women athletes are stepping up – such as women soccer players. Ever noticed how professional women basketball players need to have jobs outside of basketball? The men don’t! In 1878, under a new president, Maria presented a summary of the salary disputes to a Vassar trustee and in this summary it was revealed that both Maria and Alida Avery were so upset by the discrepancy they thought about resigning from the College. Vassar would have been a very different place without these two women.


JNLF

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Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 19, 2025
May 27. {1857} There is this great difference between Niagara and other wonders of the world, that is you get no idea from descriptions or even from paintings. Of the Mammoth Cave you have a conception from what you are told, of the Natural Bridge you get really a truthful impression from a picture. But Cave and Bridge are in still life, Niagara is all activity and change. No picture gives you the varying form of the water of the change of color; no description conveys to your mind the ceaseless roar. So too the ocean must be unrepresentable to those who have not looked upon it. Maria Mitchell would tour the Mammoth Cave and the Natural Bridge during her trip to the southern United States as Prudence Swift’s chaperone – I have written of these travels and Prudence before. Niagara Falls is a place she likely saw on her way to visit her younger sister Phebe Mitchell Kendall, who once lived with her husband in Pennsylvania. I was a bit surprised that she feels the way she does about the Cave and Bridge being well-represented by images but I do kind of se her point. But Niagara, the ocean, any moving body of water – she is right. You don’t fully comprehend it until you hear it, touch and taste it, see its colors, and feel it splash, sprinkle, or mist across your face. Niagara certainly mists across your face – sort of like a breezy day at the beach and the salt mist that slowly builds across your face and coats the beach grass so that it shimmers in the sunlight. JNLF

Lily of the Valley

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 12, 2025
I have been watching it. Waiting. Today, I was rewarded with the scent as they have now started to open. From late fall, all through the winter and early spring, there is a very large patch of dirt with traces of roots and purple-like portions of some sort of plant. Then, they slowly start to send their shoots forth – up from that dusty pile of dirt come little greenish pips that become the leaves. Then, you start to see the stems tightened against the leaves and then lovely chartreuse buds are visible that then turn to white and slowly open from top to bottom. As soon as they star to open, I wait. Knowing that one morning I will walk by soon and then I will get a delicious waft of Lily of the Valley. I have written about this patch at the Mitchell House before. I have always been fascinated by the fact that these grow in full sun – they have no shade whatsoever. And this patch is old. I’m not sure how old – I do not think late nineteenth century but possibly – or maybe very early twentieth century. We have one or two images in the collection from the early 1900s but one does not show the ground, and the other not so much either. I also think this is one of the earliest flowering patches of Lily of the Valley on island – let me know if you’ve seen others this early. And in FULL sun to boot! But in any case, today was the day – May 5, 2025 – that I got the first waft. Saturday when I was here, they were not ready yet. But now, they are! And when I smell it, I know why it was my mother-in-law’s favorite flower. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Welcomes Richard Sotell, CFP as Featured Guest for May Science Speaker Series

May 6, 2025
NANTUCKET, MA—The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces that it will host Richard Sotell, Certified Financial Planner (CFP) as its May featured Science Speaker Series presenter. His presentation “The Science of Money: The History of Tariffs and Taxation” will take place on Wednesday, May 21 from 7 – 8pm EST. The presentation will take place on Zoom and pre-registration is required. This event is free to all. Join the MMA and financial expert and top 401(k) advisor, Rich Sotell, for a discussion on the history of tariffs and taxation. Taxes and tariffs have played a major role in shaping nations. In America, British taxes and tariffs on goods like tea and paper helped spark the American Revolution. Later, U.S. tariffs were used to protect young industries from European competition. Today, taxes fund public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, while tariffs are still used strategically—sometimes to encourage domestic production, other times as tools in international negotiations. Rich Sotell will discuss in detail how taxes and tariffs began and their relationship to our global economy. Sotell has been involved in the financial industry since 1975 and is a founder of the Kraematon Group and is responsible for the operations of the 401(k) division. He has developed marketing programs for both banks and mutual fund companies in the areas of IRA and 401(k). Sotell is a tax law expert concerning distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRA’s. He has lectured on these subjects to insurance company executives, on radio, and at several professional education programs. Sotell is currently a contributing member to several high level 401(k) advisory boards in the mutual fund and payroll industries. He was named by the Financial Times as a 2015 and 2016 “Top 401 Retirement Advisor,” a list of 401 elite professionals specializing in U.S. defined contribution plans. Sotell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University in 1975. His professional designations include Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Investment Company/Variable Contracts – Series 6 Registration, and a Uniform Security Agent – Series 63 Registration. The Kraematon Group is a leading 401(k) consulting firm headquartered in Wellesley, MA. In addition to providing 401(k) consulting services to Allied American Insurance Agency and its former parent Arbella Insurance, Kraematon consults with over 3% of all Massachusetts based public companies regarding their 401(k) plans. Pre-registration is required. To register for this event, please follow the link below: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Bnb-sSBXSoqzss6aiArh9w#/registration About the Maria Mitchell Association: The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages. ###
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