#President John Raymond Vassar College

[mariasmemo]

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Observatory – Dec. 5, 1873

President Raymond,

            A plaster cast of the head of Mary Somerville by the sculptor Moe Donald, has been received as a donation to the Observatory.  It is not only a beautiful ornament in itself, but it has the additional value of being the gift of another remarkable woman Frances Power Cobbe of London.  I have supposed that some other notice should be taken of it, beside the unofficial letter which I shall write to Miss Cobbe.

            Maria Mitchell

Mary Somerville, as I have mentioned before, was one of Maria Mitchell’s heroes.  On her first trip to Europe in the 1850s, Maria met Somerville.  While she made comments regarding this in her journal, I can only image how she truly felt in her presence – something words on paper might not convey.  This plaster cast remained in a position of prominence in the observatory during the remainder of Maria’s time at Vassar.

She met Frances Power Cobbe, the donor of this bust, on her second trip to Europe in the summer of 1873.  Maria had a letter to deliver from Julia Ward Howe and also wished to leave Power Cobbe with a pamphlet regarding Vassar College – fundraising I am sure!  She was worried she would not be at home but she was and Power Cobbe knew who Maria was straight away – she had been told Maria was in London!  After some initial misinformation, Maria came to know that Power Cobbe was indeed a powerful force among the Suffragettes.

JNLF