Same Equals Comfort

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 22, 2020

Sometimes the same routine, the same thing is a comfort. Especially now.


This was my view the other day. While we are in troubled times on so many levels, sometimes “the same” is a comfort. Routine is a comfort; a safe place. Sitting in the 1825 Kitchen, in my “sit-able on-able chair” as I like to call it, I could hear an American Robin who has a nest nearby and the Carolina Wren. It was just after lunchtime and I wondered if Lydia Coleman Mitchell could take a brief break after feeding her family, would she have heard similar things. Likely not the Carolina Wren – they seem to have become more of a staple up here then they once were due to climate change. But as I have noted before, the sunlight coming through the windows is mainly the same.


You might ask, if we are limited in what we may be able to do when we re-open, why have I “woken up” the Mitchell House. For a few reasons. Most importantly for the artifacts. They’ve been boxed or covered or placed away. They need to not be in that situation all year long and I need to be able to assess their conditions over the course of the months to come. I need to conduct various possible small conservation projects, to clean them. And, if I want to try and share some of them with you virtually, then I need easier access to them. I hope, too that we will be able to welcome people in at some point this season albeit in a very different way.

But personally, and as curator of the Mitchell House, it’s nice to see everything set back in its place. The same. Routine. It may only be me seeing it at this point but I drink it all in. It calms me. It makes me forget the rest of the world outside the door for a few moments. I wish that for everyone – a place you can have to yourself for a moment – even if its standing in stark quiet in your kitchen – where you can breathe in the quiet and exhale the calm and push your thoughts to everyone as we sit amidst this unknown and unsettled time. Hopefully, soon, we can be together again and the Mitchell House door will open out onto the street to welcome you again. Know that I am inside working and awaiting your return – as does Maria and the Mitchells. They are here too – as always.


JNLF

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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 21, 2026
Sept. 24, 1881. . . . Mr. I. {van Ingen} thinks that not a person on the Board of Trustees would approve of the clause in Mr. Vassar’s will which objected to women as occupants of chairs. Just months before, Maria Mitchell had written a letter describing the controversy surrounding the bequest of Matthew Vassar to the college he founded. The large sum was separated out within his will, including the establishment of department chairs. The bequest for this action, however, did not allow for women professors to have a chair. Quite shocking for a women’s college but then, there were early trustees in the College’s founding who believed that women professors should not exist at Vassar! Maria would be the first professor Vassar hired – male OR female. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Announces Scalloping Field Trip Programs and Special Scalloping Experiences in October and November

September 18, 2026
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Hoop Rolling

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 14, 2026
Do you know what these Mitchell House Junior Historians are doing? It is a good old-fashioned round of hoop rolling. And, they had a lot of fun learning how to use them down at the Coffin School one day. Hoop rolling or hoop trundling were popular from very early on and well into the twentieth century. By early on I mean Ancient Greece even. It’s on ancient pottery and was not limited to children! Native Americans, ancient Rome, 16 th century England – it’s been known by different names, taken various formats, played by various ages, and played through various ages. In the nineteenth century, both boys and girls did hoop rolling – and it was likely seen as a more “ladylike” active game that girls could play. I’m assuming that is likely the reason why several women’s colleges still have I tradition of rolling hoops. We use these sometimes in the summer during our weeklong Mitchell House children’s program – Junior Historians. Do not be too surprised if you see me out on the lawn on Vestal Street practicing on warm days this fall, winter, and spring! Got to get up to speed! JNLF
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