Open. Open. Completed!

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 4, 2018

Eileen McGrath and Nat Philbrick cut the ribbon.

Interior of Research Center.

There has been a lot going on!


OPEN: On May 25th , we had our opening reception to thank donors and contractors who worked on converting our Science Library into our new Research Center – a multi-year project that I have documented on this blog.


A big thank you to our donors and all the women and men who completed the work on the building.  I have listed them several times before but our thanks are so very deep.  We could have not have done it without all of them!


We will be having special workshops and open collection events throughout the summer – and some of our lectures will be held in the Research Center as well.  So check out our calendar online.  We hope to see you at one – or multiples!


OPEN:   Mitchell House is open for the season!  Come take a look and have a tour.  If you have not been in in some time, or never (tsk tsk), now is the time with Maria’s 200th Birthday this year!  Don’t just walk through the home she lived in – walk through the home she was born in 200 years ago!


COMPLETED: After another multi-year process, I am happy to report that the wrought iron fence at the Mitchell Family lot at Prospect Hill Cemetery (see below) has been completed and installed!  This was a community Preservation Act funded project.  The stone bases for the fence were realigned by Neil Patterson and his crew several years ago and DeAngelis Ironwork of Boston restored the fence using a historic photograph from our collection.  It is not an exact reproduction as such a thing was completely cost prohibitive unfortunately but it speaks to the fence that was once there – just a bit simpler – using exiting patterns/molds.

Oh and wait!  Did I mention we have new signs? See below!


Whew!

JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 19, 2026
October 1. {1857} No place that I have yet seen in Europe has interested me like Abbotsford; no palace has held such royalty. I sat down in the chair which Sir Walter Scott had occupied, and I almost felt his presence; his power I had known nearly all my life . . . . It was rather a sad visit as all such visits must be . . . I had half a mind to sit down and cry, perhaps because the “wizard” was dead, perhaps because I was a little homesick. This date marked the anniversary of Maria Mitchell’s comet discovery on October 1, 1847. At least one of Scott’s books exists in Maria’s personal library today – and I am sure there were more – handed about among family members, as well as available at the Nantucket Atheneum. This was truly an experience and education for Maria – touring through Europe. It was also the first time she had even been away from home for any length of time. She was entering into her third month away from her family and Nantucket – it must not have been easy. Keep in mind – no easy communication – letters only, do not forget. At least a voice at the other end of a phone line can help a bit when one is homesick. (Yeah, no, I’m not a Facetime/Skype kind of girl. I do “live” in the 19 th century!) JNLF
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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 1, 2026
10mo 1, 1847. {October 1, 1847} This evening at half past ten Maria discovered a telescopic comet five degrees above Polaris. Persuaded that no nebulae could occupy that position unnoticed it scarcely needed the evidence of motion to give it the character of a comet. From the journals of William Mitchell, father of Maria. One hundred and seventy-nine years later! JNLF
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