Nantucket Atheneum Podcast

James talks about the Lyceum Movement that started with local speakers and then evolved into a speaking circuit that includes great orators including Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Notes and References:
Announcement for the Lyceum in the Nantucket Weekly Mirror on Saturday, April 17, 1852

This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum.

It was hosted and edited by Janet Forest. Special thanks to Reference Library Associate James Greider for his knowledge and research. Newspaper announcement voiced by Andrew Cromartie. 

If you have an idea for what we should talk about next, send us an email at [email protected]

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA. 

www.NantucketAtheneum.org

Facebook: @NantucketAtheneum

Instagram: @NantucketAtheneum 

James tells Janet about the family singing groups that dazzled the Atheneum audiences will their close harmonies and impressive musical talents. These 19th century "rock stars" toured the country sharing their music and their political messages. Find out what made them such an attraction and what were the values they were promoting through song.

References and Resources:

Videos of Harp Singing/Shape Singing

"Sacred Harp Singing," the musical background for American music

"The Old Granite State," anthem of the Hutchinsons

Photo of the Hutchinson Family Singers. c. 1845

Announcement for the Aeolians Performance, which appears in the Inquirer and Mirror on June 24, 1843

Billed as the “Cumbrian (Welsh) Infants,” an engraving from the September 18, 1841 edition of the Inquirer and Mirror shows the three younger siblings playing violin, concertina, and harp. Margaret and John Arthur are standing on tables, while their older brother David Edward stands in the center looking directly at the viewer.

Hutchinson Family founds Hutchinson, MN:

Judson, John, and Asa continued touring as a trio after their sister married, venturing into the midwestern states. In November 1855, the three brothers founded the town of Hutchinson, MN. It forbade liquor, bowling alleys, and gambling of all types, and granted that women “shall enjoy equal rights with men and shall have the privilege of voting in all matters not restricted by law.”

In 1942, muralist Elsa Jemne completed an egg tempera on plaster mural, The Hutchinson Singers, in the town's post office. Still there, post office murals were a thing and part of the New Deal. (That’s for another podcast…)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_post_office_murals

This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum.

It was hosted and edited by Janet Forest. Special thanks to Reference Library Associate James Greider for his knowledge and research. Newspaper announcement voiced by Andrew Cromartie. 

If you have an idea for what we should talk about next, send us an email at [email protected]

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA. 

www.NantucketAtheneum.org

Facebook: @NantucketAtheneum

Instagram: @NantucketAtheneum 

The stage of the Great Hall has been a treasured feature of the Nantucket Atheneum since its founding nearly 200 years ago.

In this season of the podcast, Reference Library Associate James Grieder introduces you to the lesser known performers, speakers and guests that took to the stage in "Atheneum Hall." Find out what drew them to the shores of Nantucket and how they were received by islanders.

In this Bonus Episode, Jim and Janet take closer look on the themes that run through the story of the Bonds and the Mitchells and dive a little deeper into topics that were just touched upon in the regular season, such as the history of solar noon and why longitude was such a tough nut to crack.

Credits:
This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri

If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

More about Eraosthenes
Two centuries after Aristotle, an Egyptian mathematician and astronomer, named Eraosthenes, (Aira-Tass-Ta-Knees), became head of the Library of Alexandra. This was a winning combination of skills: besides having access to the scientific works in the library, his training enabled him to identify key information as new material arrived. One day he received a letter from a colleague in Syene, a city directly to the south, and whose distance from Alexandria had been measured. The letter said that on a certain day of the year, at solar noon the sun not only on the east-west meridian, but also north-south meridian. It was directly overhead, and the shadows had no angle. (Mathematically the angle of the shadows was 0 degrees) 

On the same date the following year, at solar noon, Eraosthenes measured the angle of the shadows cast at Alexandra and, using trigonometry and the information from the letter, calculated the earth’s circumstance. Even though some of his information was inaccurate, the calculation was only off by 15 per cent.

With the size of the earth established, if you measured the angle of the sun at your location at solar noon, and you also knew the latitude where the sun was on the north-south meridian that day, you could determine your latitude even at sea. Experienced sailors had long done this to estimate their position on familiar routes, but now it could be precisely calculated in unfamiliar waters. 

Eraosthenes is also credited with inventing a coordinate system – forerunner of the today’s latitude and longitude – to create a map of the known world, again using the Library’s resources, that was said to show the location of over 400 cities. 

Over the centuries his techniques and coordinate systems were refined by many others, slowly increasing their precision. Latitude coordinates were eventually fixed, with the equator set to zero degrees, reaching to ninety degrees at the North and South poles. 

Mathematicians and astronomers computed table of the sun’s latitude for every day of the year. Similar tables were computed for other celestial bodies. After completing the necessary angular observations, mariners used these tables to determine their latitude (knowledge of geometry and trig was also very helpful).

In this final episode of Season 4, we conclude our story with Maria Mitchell and Sarah Bond and how they navigated and overcame the expectations of their time. 

Jascin and Jim talk about the lasting impact their careers had and contemplate what has changed and what has not.

Credits:
This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri and Historian and Deputy Director of the Maria Mitchell Association Jascin Leonardo Finger for their research and insights.

If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

 

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA.

You can visit us online at www.nantucketatheneum.org

Following the furious writing campaign, Maria Mitchell is finally awarded the Gold Medal from the King of Denmark for discovering a comet. Now with the help of President Edward Everett of Harvard College and Alexander Dallas Bache of the US Coast Survey, the whole world is about to learn Maria’s name. 

In this episode, Jascin and Jim discuss what doors the comet discovery opens for Maria and the people she would meet along the way. 

Credits:
This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri and Historian and Deputy Director of the Maria Mitchell Association Jascin Leonardo Finger for their research and insights.

Resources and additional information:

If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

• Maria Mitchell traveled to Europe twice. First in 1857 and again in 1873. She remained in contact through letters with the people she met even if she never saw them in person again.

• When the Nautical Almanac was proposed, Alexander Dallas Bache, Charles Henry Davis, and their colleagues wanted to use an American Prime Meridian in the calculations, but once again ran into resistance against a “National Observatory”.  The issue was escalated to Congress, and the House Committee on Naval Affairs, and the “compromise” was that Washington D.C. would be used as the Prime Meridian for astronomy and geography, while Greenwich (The Royal Observatory) was used as the Prime Meridian for navigation. 

• To learn more about the Marvelous Miss Harriet Martineau (the original influencer!), check out Season 2, Episode 6. 

• Find more about Harriet Hosmer and her work here:

https://nmwa.org/art/artists/harriet-goodhue-hosmer/

https://americanart.si.edu/artist/harriet-hosmer-2314

• More about Maria Mitchell's admiration of Mary Somerville from the December, 26, 2022 edition of DayBreak from True Island Digital:
"The preeminent British polymath and science writer Mary Fairfax Somerville was born on this date in 1780. Among her many publications was the first, Mechanism of the Heavens (1831), and her groundbreaking The Connection of the Physical Sciences (1834). The latter “was even more ambitious in summarizing astronomy, physics, geography, and meteorology,” explains Britannica.com. Both inspired many European astronomers.
Mary Fairfax Somerville portrait, public domain • Vassar Encylopedia |  | Among Somerville’s most avid American admirers was Nantucket-born astronomer Maria Mitchell. In 1858, while touring Europe, Mitchell met with the aging Somerville for multiple visits— chronicled by Vassar College, where Mitchell became 

This week we revisit Season 2, Episode 7 featuring  Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri and Historian and Librarian Betsy Tyler, where they discuss the amazing feat of creating the 1900 card catalogue with a cutting edge device called a typewriter and the newly publish method called the Dewey Decimal System. They also discuss Maria Mitchell's and Sarah Bond's involvement in the library's collection.

References and more information:

If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING


Check out Betsy's book The Nantucket Atheneum: A History,  and her latest book A Thousand Leagues of Blue.

Credits
The Shelves of Yore is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It was written, narrated, and edited by Janet Forest and researched by Jim Borzilleri. Voice of Clara Parker by Sammy Aguiar.

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Visit us online at www.nantucketatheneum.org

The Mitchells and the Bonds are following a parallel track of discovery and success, but in the late 1850s, their fortunes diverge. As the Mitchells experience success and longevity, the Bonds face one upset after another. 

The term “Black Swan” refers to an event which was unexpected, previously unimaginable, and had lasting consequences. The Bonds would face three black swans inside a decade on top of a series of tragedies that were just a matter of life in the 1800s. The greatness of the challenge is matched and surpassed by their resilience and focus. This is a dark episode but stick around until the end to find out how it all turns out. 

Credits:
This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri for his research and insights.

Resources and additional information:
If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

•Two letters from George Bond to Richard and Sarah indicating Sarah’s mechanical and mathematical abilities.

George to Richard – October 14, 1864

George to Sarah (Sally) – October 30, 1864


• The unabridged letter Sarah Bond sent to the Third Women’s Conference in 1875, which was presided over by Maria Mitchell.

"Potential Employments Open to Women" by S. A. C. Bond

• Listen to Episode 7 of Season 2 "How Dewey Catalogue These Books" to learn more about what it took for Sarah Bond to re-catalogue the collection according to the new Dewey Decimal System.

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA.

You can visit us online at www.nantucketatheneum.org

If you do a Google image search for Maria Mitchell, one of the top results will be a portrait of her elegantly dressed, seated, and looking though a telescope. This image romanticizes and perpetuates the story of Maria as a lone astronomer on a distant island discovering a comet and being the first woman awarded the gold medal from the King of Denmark. But like most success stories, it’s not nearly that simple.

Credits:
This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri and Historian and Deputy Director of the Maria Mitchell Association Jascin Leonardo Finger for their research and insights.

Voice of Alexander Dallas Bache performed by Andrew Cromartie.

Resources and additional information:
If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

•Click HERE for an image of the Bonds' American Method Device.
Source: Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University

• More on the fraying of the relationship between the Bonds and the US Coast Survey (USCS)

The 1851 Exhibition marked a turning point in Bache's relationship with the Bonds. Bache had previously considered the Bonds as overly compliant towards Airy and the Liverpool Observatory during their longitude work for the USCS, and now he quietly began looking for an alternative to the Harvard College Observatory (HCO).  

The situation worsened when George Bond got into a scientific fight with several of Bache's allies around 1854; a few had Harvard and USCS/Nautical Almanac connections, and almost all were part of the "Lazzaroni" group headed by Prof. Agassiz at Harvard.  When the Lazzaroni pushed the creation of the National Academy of Sciences in early 1863, George Bond was conspicuously excluded.

That said, most of Bache's attempts to cut out the Bonds ended in failure. HCO and Bond & Sons kept innovating and improving their products, and the HCO continued to be a significant "default" latitude point for North America.   

It was only ten years later, with the start of the Civil War, that Bache finally succeeded. Matthew Maury, the head of the US Naval Observatory joined the Confederacy, and a Bache ally took over the USNO. The Nautical Almanac moved to Washington, and coastal survey work ended, leaving the HCO isolated and underfunded. Most of the HCO's assistants enlisted for the Union, and George Bond, now widowed and working almost alone, gave up coffee and newspapers to help cut costs. The HCO was still doing important work and was critical to the success of Bond & Sons, but the center of gravity had shifted to the latter, now run by Richard Bond and John Clinch. 

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA.

You can visit us online at www.nantucketatheneum.org

William Mitchell and William Bond were both part of a network of scientific minds, where they shared discoveries and innovation. For both men, this was a family endeavor. Both were teaching and training their children and bringing them into their astronomical and mechanical pursuits. In this episode, we hear about their remarkable children coming into their own on the world stage. 

Credits:

This has been a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. 

Written, edited and narrated by Janet Forest 

Special thanks to the Atheneum’s Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri and Historian and Deputy Director of the Maria Mitchell Association Jascin Leonardo Finger for their research and insights.

Resources and additional information:
If you want to know more about this topic, check our this very thorough list of resources that Jim has compiled: FURTHER READING

• The US Coast Survey was first established in 1807 at direction of President Thomas Jefferson, but it would find its stride under the leadership of Superintendent Alexander Dallas Bache.

 https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/about/history-of-coast-survey.html

The Nantucket Atheneum is located at 1 India Street in Nantucket, MA.

You can visit us online at www.nantucketatheneum.org