Paper, Please!!

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 7, 2014

I think I have said this before, perhaps many times before, so I apologize but I think it needs to be repeated every so often (though this is a completely different piece of writing). I fear for the historians, curators, archivists, researchers, and other who come after us. Our devotion to email, the Internet, and text messaging is leaving a vacuum of documents. There is no paper. There is no paper trail. There is no information found in a file, a letter, or a journal for those in the future to learn about us and what we do, choices made, our thoughts. We still have books – though people do not treasure or respect them as they should. But very few still write letters or keep journals.

I rely on paper for my research into the Mitchell family, Nantucket history, Nantucket women . . . I rely on paper – letters, receipts, bills, 1933 specifications for the MMA’s Science Library. This particular information has allowed me to determine how the building was built, even the original color of the stucco as we move through the conservation process of the exterior of our Library building as it becomes an ecology lab/classroom and natural science collections storage space. To me, it’s not just fascinating “Stuff” to read, it is paper I learn from, words that inform me, words that help me learn, information that I pass onto others so that we may all learn, learn from mistakes, learn from discoveries made but forgotten but that are more relevant today than ever before. From paper, I have learned how the concrete roof frame of the Library Wing is attached to the walls – something the structural engineer needs for the conservation work. From paper, I see notes in the margins; see notes written on envelopes; see ephemera stuck between pages of books; and a small bloom from a rare plant found at Quidnet in 1922 that was pressed between the pages of a plant book, noting where on island it was found, when it bloomed, and how it had never been found anywhere else on island before. This information can be used by scientists – not just MMA’s but others from on and off-island.

If so much of our conversation is by text or email, what will those of the future know of us? Will they consider us to have gone backwards? Will they know why you made a decision if it was only in an email, never printed, and their future computers cannot read any computer data from 200 years before? CDs don’t last forever – and technology changes rapidly no matter the “safeguards” technology seems to think it puts in place so that we can access old computer data.

So this here is a plea for more paper – try and keep a journal, record the weather, write some letters. Because if it wasn’t for paper, I wouldn’t know what Maria thought of her travels through Europe with Nathaniel Hawthorne and neither would you and William Mitchell’s important weather data would not be available for climatologists to use for predicting hurricanes and other storms

JNLF

Recent Posts

Heat and Humidity

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 20, 2026
Being Nantucket, we tend to stay cooler than the mainland in the summer though the humidity is often over the top. It often makes me think about people in the nineteenth century and earlier – heck, even well into the mid 1900s, and how they handled the weather. With climate change, we have warmed and our weather is more severe and volatile at times. Instead of a nice gentle rain, we get a deluge and the ground has trouble absorbing that sort of onslaught. But they did did still have heat and humidity – and think of a fire in the hearth all day and the bake oven – if it was a baking day. And now, think of the women standing in front of the firebox and bake oven, or even a cook stove later on. I am sure if the confines of their home, alone, les could be worn but for the most part, those women still had a lot of layers on. I am sure that a cloth dipped into or run under the mouth of the pump and wrung out gently – to keep as much as the cool, moisture as possible – was tied around a neck or stuffed down a dress front (or even in addition to the wet neckerchief).  At the Mitchell House, we get a little of the feeling for this. We have no HVAC in the House so we rely on doors being open – with screens to keep the bugs out – and the roofwalk opened (also with a screen) so that air circulates throughout the House. Air can move nicely through – the heat rises, the air moves up and out of the roofwalk hatch very much as it might have in Maria Mitchell’s day. While we do not have the added (somewhat) drying benefit of the heat of the fire in the kitchen, we do have all of the original horsehair plaster, so the House does remain somewhat cooler and drier overall. But some days, the relative humidity does get up into the 90s in the House – that’s when I say, “Get out your umbrellas!” JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Nantucket Harbor Water-Quality Monitoring Buoy Joins Regional Coastal Observing Network

July 17, 2026
NANTUCKET, MA— The Maria Mitchell Association’s (MMA’s) Nantucket Harbor water-quality monitoring buoy is now part of the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, known as NERACOOS. NERACOOS is one of eleven regional associations that make up the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, or IOOS, NOAA’s national ocean-observing network for gathering and sharing ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes data. This connection means that real-time data from Nantucket Harbor are no longer held only within a local monitoring program. They are now available through the NERACOOS Mariners Dashboard, where scientists, resource managers, educators, mariners, and the public can view Nantucket Harbor conditions alongside other coastal observing sites from Long Island Sound through the Gulf of Maine. The monitoring buoy carries a suite of sensors that track changing conditions such as temperature, oxygen, acidity, nutrients, and underwater light. These measurements show what eelgrass, bay scallops, and other marine organisms are actually experiencing over time. “This is an important step because Nantucket Harbor is now part of a larger coastal observing system,” said Dr. Betsy Sherman, the Maria Mitchell Association’s Senior Marine Science Advisor. “Our data can be compared with data from other sites, used in regional analyses, and placed in a broader environmental context. We are not just looking at Nantucket Harbor in isolation.” The Nantucket Harbor buoy project has been supported by the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation, whose early investment helped make continuous water-quality monitoring in Nantucket Harbor possible. Additional support has been provided by the Remain Nantucket Fund at the Community Foundation for Nantucket, the Osceola Foundation, the Sociable Weaver Foundation, and through collaboration with the Town of Nantucket Harbormaster. The timing is especially relevant for coastal communities because NERACOOS is also leading the newly funded NSF Seafood Engine in New England, a regional effort focused on strengthening fisheries, aquaculture, seafood technology, and coastal economies. For an island community facing changes in water quality, habitat, fisheries, and climate, joining this regional network strengthens the scientific foundation for understanding and protecting Nantucket Harbor. 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.  ####

Walk Accompli!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 13, 2026
Finished. Finis. Completed. Done. Accomplished. The Mitchell House roofwalk is now done. Back to looking a bit more normal up on the ridgeline. But as I may have noted in the other post about the roofwalk, the one that was removed due to its condition and how it sat on the roof’s ridge was far from the original – or even a nineteenth century one. I am including an image from about 1908 or so in order for you to see the Mitchell House without a walk – even then. Now, an interesting fact is that I am able to date the undated photo because in the west image – where you see the open year – you can actually see the shadow of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory – at the backside of the 1825 Kitchen. And given that shadow you also know its late afternoon since that side of the House, as noted, faces West. Another interesting feature is the long downspout – more like a side spout – that takes water from the front gutter, along the upper West façade of the House and across a window and then over the 1825 Kitchen roof where it terminated in a cistern – still in existence under the ground today. JNLF
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