M. Jane Stroup

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • October 31, 2022

In 2011, the MMA’s former librarian, M. Jane (Jane) Stroup passed away. At that time, I wrote a piece that you can read below. Jane was an integral part of my time at the MMA growing up. I was lucky enough to have her as a friend and as a guide. In fact, growing up at the MMA as I did, I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by an incredible group of women who served as mentors and friends and who showed me the paths that make up my life today. As I touch something or walk through a space at the MMA or along Vestal Street, I continue to feel their presence and love for this unique organization. It was their work and support that put us where we are today and where we continue to build upon what they did as they continued Maria Mitchell’s legacy. I still hear their voices and laughter (oh, the laughter!) and remember them as they guide me in my work. Recently, Jane’s estate was finalized and closed, and a gift was left by her for the MMA. This bequest is for our endowment and we hope that people will match her generous gift of $50,000.00. I have and hope you will too. 


On November 4th {2011}, the MMA lost a dear friend. M. Jane Stroup, Ph.D., known to all as Jane, was the MMA’s first year-round librarian, her tenure running from 1970 through the spring of 1994. Jane was known for her quick wit, her fantastic annual reports presented to the membership in verse, and for being the year-round presence of the MMA for so many years – the Library lights were the only ones on Vestal Street in the MMA complex of buildings. Jane was a lover of the natural world – from birds to wildflowers – capturing these in her sculpture and her poetry. She was a member of the Nantucket Artists Association. An English and Biology major in college, Jane went on to earn her Master’s Degree and then her Ph.D. at New York University. She moved to Nantucket in 1968 and would later also become well-known for the wonderful garden and greenhouse she shared on Candle House Lane with Joan Manley. She was a woman of many talents, gracing all with her humor, love, and incredible knowledge and intelligence. 


In 1987, Jane was thanked by the MMA’s president Jane Merrill for her long service to the MMA. In her public thank you, President Merrill said “Although many science libraries have bigger collections than the Maria Mitchell Science Center, none is more friendly, better organized, or better cared for . . .  The user is assured of a warm welcome . . . ” She kept the history of the MMA alive and enlivened the annual meetings where all awaited her annual report in verse.


In honor of her, we reprint here one of her much anticipated annual reports – this one is from 1978 – and we thank her for all the wonderful years she gave to the MMA. Those of us who knew her, those who were lucky to have been touched by her – and even appear in her annual report – will miss her.


Annual Meeting 1978

Listen, dear members, and you shall hear

Of a most exciting library year.

The Winter of seventy seven and eight,

Our doors were open early and late.

Folks came from far and near.

 

They wanted to know of the sun and stars,

Solar heat, black holes and life on Mars,

Lasers and quasars and quarks and charms

Kept the Librarian full of alarms!

How did the universe ever get going

Could be beyond a poor mortals knowing.

How it will end is full of conjecture

Suitable stuff for an M. M. lecture.

 

The snow was swept, and the birds were fed

The goldfish slept in their icy bed.

Nice Mr. Lucas took our picture,

So now we’ve become a permanent fixture.

The birders were busy as they could be

Spotting the birds on land and sea

Indeed one study, it is said,

Even counted those birds long dead!

 

Spring brought the tourists who like to come early

But finding things closed are apt to become surly

It was Library Week across the nation

So we cheered them up with a celebration

Real live authors and cookies and punch

Made for a lively bunch.

Then snowdrops and crocuses started blooming

And Library business started booming!

 

What is that tree that grows so tall?

What is that bird that looks so small?

What is that flower that grows by the road?

How do you tell a frog from a toad?

Why does the tide go in and out?

What is ethology all about?

We searched the books, and we shared a laugh,

And prayed for return of the Hinchman staff!

 

The Library silence turns to noise

As Dorrit arrives with her girls and boys.

The Birthplace door is opened wide,

And Edith’s arranging flowers inside.

Eileen is tromping across the yard,

Bringing another lecture card.

Sure signs of Summer . . . the Librarian’s sneeze.

And the annual swarm of the Library bees.


JNLF

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NANTUCKET, MA— The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces Kike Calvo, award-winning photographer, journalist, and author, as its featured presenter for its July Speaker Series. Calvo’s presentation, "The Power of Creativity: A Journey Through Storytelling, Exploration, and Hope," will take place on Wednesday, July 23 at 7pm at the Nantucket Atheneum’s Great Hall. This event is free. Join the MMA for an engaging evening with award-winning photographer, journalist, and author, Kike (Kee-Keh) Calvo. A Fellow of both the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, he has traveled to over 120 countries, photographing everything from belugas in the Arctic to traditional dances in Vanuatu. His work has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and more. In this engaging presentation, Calvo explores how creativity can be a catalyst for connection, storytelling, and meaningful change. From documenting remote villages to diving with great white sharks, from defying the odds as an author to inspiring thousands of children in the Amazon, Calvo shares the invaluable lessons he has learned along the way. As a National Geographic Certified Educator and Safina Center Fellow (2020-2023), Calvo combines his passion for photography with teaching, having lectured at prestigious institutions such as Yale University. A pioneer in drone photography for art and conservation, he founded the “Little Explorer, Big World” initiative, which brings education to remote communities and has donated over 35,000 bilingual books. Described by anthropologist Wade Davis as, "a fresh voice in visual anthropology," Calvo has a gift for capturing the intersections of human existence. Calvo’s new book, Luminous: A Field Guide for Visual Explorers and Storytellers, isn’t just a book—it’s an invitation to slow down, look deeper, and photograph with soul. It’s a roadmap where photography meets presence, anthropology meets art, and storytelling becomes a path to connection.  Discover how creativity can illuminate pressing global issues—such as plastic pollution—and empower each of us to make a difference. This presentation is free and open to the public, graciously hosted for the MMA by the Nantucket Atheneum in the Great Hall. No registration required. 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 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. ###

The Work Begins

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 14, 2025
As we are now complete with the conservation of the historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO), I thought it would be good to post a series of blogs concerning it history and activities, as well as some of the remarkable people who have made it what it is over the last 100 plus years. Therefore, over the next few weeks, the focus will be on the MMO. And it is now open for tours – Monday through Saturday 11-1PM. In 1906, the MMA was given Maria Mitchell’s five-inch Alvan Clark telescope which Mitchell purchased with money raised by the Women of America in 1859. With the telescope, a fireproof observatory was needed to house it and the activities surrounding its use. A campaign was developed to raise the funds for an observatory and in approximately four months, a small observatory was built at a cost of $4,800.00. Completed in 1908, the Maria Mitchell Observatory now was in need of a permanent astronomer. An Observatory Committee was developed and chaired by Annie Jump Cannon. From 1909 through 1911, the MMA was able to employ an astronomer to teach classes, observe, provide lectures, and open the observatory for public observing for approximately a month each summer. As the demand grew, the MMA realized that a more extensive program was needed and the Astronomical Fellowship Committee began to raise funds for an Astronomical Fellowship Fund. With the support of many generous donors and a matching gift from Andrew Carnegie, by 1911 the MMA had the funds it needed to support the fellowship and began its search for an astronomer who would conduct research, provide lectures and classes, and conduct open nights for the public from mid-June through mid-December. The fellow would spend the remainder four months in research and study – every fourth year a full year of study would be spent in an American or European observatory. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 7, 2025
July 31, 1883. I had two or three rich days! On Friday last I went to Holderness, N.H.. to the Asquam House; I had been asked by Mrs. T to join her party. There was at this house Mr. Whittier, Mr., and Mrs. Cartland, Professor and Mrs. Johnson, of Yale . . . The house seemed full of fine, cultivate people. We stayed two days and a half. And first of the scenery. The road up to the house is a steep hill, and at the foot of the hill it winds and turns around two lakes. The panorama is complete one hundred and eighty degrees. Beyond the lakes lie the mountains.  The Asquam House sat atop Shepard Hill and was built in 1881. A hotel, it has space for fifty guests, it was located near Squam Lake and became part of a summer enclave that developed there in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, the area is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1948. Maria would have been familiar with these people seen here – and others I did not include – but particularly John Greenleaf Whittier who was something of a family friend. He was close to one of her younger brothers, William Forester. JNLF
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