Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory
Well, now that you know that the large portion of the exterior has largely been conserved, I wanted to share an image of the historic interior of the MMO’s Astronomical Study. This was added in 1922 and was named by the MMA’s Board of Managers in memory of Eliza R. Mitchell. Mitchell served as the treasurer of the MMA from 1905-1918. The tall sum of $5,000 was given by the Hinchman family (Peleg Mitchell Jr’s descendants) and $1,500 more was raised by the MMA.
The Astronomical Study as it was, and still is referred to, was added to provide a warm working space and storage for the glass plates, which Margaret Harwood, was creating of the night skies. The MMO – the dome part – was unheated and Miss Harwood’s growing collection of plates needed a warmer climate for storage. And thus, the Study was built.
In the image, you can see not much has changed as far as the look of the space. The original woodwork workspaces still exist and there were multiple places for people to work on a myriad of projects. We still have those glass plate wood cases – they’re beautiful – and even the image of the Moon (with Maria Mitchell’s crater), the globe, the larger desk, even the light on the desk and the glass plate holder you see in the right foreground – a wood frame attached on the desk for looking at glass plates with a light behind it!
We will soon be applying for grants to remove the carpets and tile and reveal the original wood floor beneath, conserve the cases, desks and woodwork with its lovely 100+ year old varnish, and more. So stay tuned!
JNLF
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