The Ware Collection

With Nancy J. Farrier

Leopold, Caroline,
and Rudolf at home.
Wikemedia Commons

Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolf, became famous for their glass artistry, showcasing sea life and botanical plants. They had a family history of glassmaking behind them.

 

Leopold was born in 1822 in Bohemia. After an apprenticeship to a goldsmith and gem cutter, Leopold became part of the family business, producing glass ornaments and glass eyes. They incorporated a technique called “glass-spinning,” something that enabled them to make more detailed glassworks.

 

Cashew Twig, Harvard
Photo by alcinoe
Wikimedia Commons

Leopold’s first wife, Caroline, and son, Josef, died of cholera, and he lost his father a year later. He found comfort in the world around him, taking long walks and sketching plants in the nearby countryside. This may have been the start of his interest in detailed botanical glass works.

 

On route to the United States in 1853, Leopold’s ship was adrift for two weeks with no winds. During that time he was fascinated by the sea life at night. He wrote about the beauty of the creatures and their light which seemed to reflect the stars above.

 

In 1854, after his return to Dresden, Leopold married his second wife, also named Caroline. They had one son, Rudolf. He continued to work in the family business of ornaments and glass eyes, but in his free time he created glass models of plants he had sketched.

 

Jellyfish model, Photo by Lucarelli
Wikimedia Commons

These glass plants were a hobby but Prince Camille of Rohan, a natural sciences enthusiast, saw them and arranged to meet with Leopold. He commissioned 100 glass orchids to be made for his personal collection. When Prince Camille displayed his orchids, Professor Reichenbach, director of the Natural History Museum in Dresden saw them and convinced Leopold to create glass models of marine invertebrates. 

 

Leopold’s invertebrate models were superior to anything previously used because displaying these sea creatures was problematic. Even displayed in liquid, the invertebrates didn't last. Leopold's reputation grew and he urged his son, Rudolf, to refine his craft in glass work. They made some exquisite glass sea anemones along with other sea life.

 

Bouquet gifted to Wares
Bard Cadarn Photo
Wikimedia Commons

In 1886, the Blaschkas were commissioned to begin a series of botanical models for Harvard, which they would be used for teaching and put on display. Professor George Goodale believed this to be a worthy undertaking but needed more funds for the project. He approached a former student, Mary Lee Ware. Mary and her mother, Elizabeth, were already involved with supporting Harvard and they believed in the glass botanical project. Their support brought about the Ware Collection at the Harvard Museum.

 

The Blaschkas contracted to work for Harvard exclusively for ten years. They received 8,800 marks per year. They produced a range of plant specimens, flowers, leaves, fruits, and roots. They were detailed enough to look real and for classes to study them in great detail.

 

Sea Anemones, Photo by Lucarelli
Wikimedia Commons

There was opposition to the Blaschkas—complaints that they were using some strange method to produce their glass works. Leopold replied, “One cannot hurry glass. It will take its own time. If we try to hasten it beyond its limits, it resists and no longer obeys us.” Leopold also said of their artistry in glass, “Maybe people think that we have some secret apparatus by which we can squeeze glass suddenly into these forms, but it is not so. We have the touch.” He went on to say part of their expertise came from being passed down through a family who loved doing glass work.

 

Leopold passed away in 1895 and Rudolf was unable to keep up the pace they had set. Doing such detailed work couldn’t be hurried. He still continued to provide models for Harvard until he retired in 1938. He and his wife had no children, so he had no successor.

 

Marine Life Models, Photo by Federico Federighi
Wikimedia Commons

The Baschkas made about 4,400 glass botanical models for Harvard in their life time, 780 were life-sized models. Although the Ware collection is still on display in the Harvard Museum of Natural History, not all of the Blaschka’s work is on view. 

 

During their lifetime, the Blaschkas made approximately 10,000 glass marine invertebrate models, but the glass botanicals housed at Harvard are their most famous works. The University of Pisa has a small collection of the invertebrates. 

 

After studying the story and the work of the Blaschkas, I would love to see their glass work in person. Have you ever visited the Ware collection at Harvard? It is now on my list of places to visit.

Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning, best-selling author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats and dog, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.

Pickering's Harvard Computers and a Giveaway

With Nancy J. Farrier

Wikipedia Commons

Edward Charles Pickering didn’t like school as a young boy. He hated reading the classics, but devoured mathematics books in his free time. In 1865 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard. Two years later he became an assistant professor of physics at the newly established Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. He went on to revolutionize the teaching of physics.

In 1876, Pickering was appointed director of the Harvard Observatory. This is where his story interested me. Henry Draper, well known astrologist, had begun a project to map the stars. He died before he accomplished much in this herculean task. His widow donated money to the Harvard Observatory for Pickering to take up her husband’s project and complete the work.

Harvard Observatory
Wikimedia Commons

The story goes that Pickering had an assistant who was inept at cataloguing. Pickering told him he could hire his uneducated maid to do the same job and she would do it better. He followed through by bringing his maid, Williamina Fleming, to do the assistant’s work. She proved so adept at cataloging and doing the work that she continued to work at Harvard for thirty-four years.

For more than thirty years, Pickering employed women to assist with cataloguing the stars. Pickering’s Harem, as they were sometimes called, worked six days a week for low wages considering most of them were had a college education. They earned more than a factory worker, but less than a clerical worker. Still, they did ground-breaking work and made great strides in the field of astronomy.

1913 Pickering and Computers
Wikimedia Commons

Pickering’s Harem may have been a derogatory term, but in that time period many objected to women being educated. Women were thought to be better suited for breeding and maintaining a household. In 1873, Harvard Professor, Edward Clark, wrote a book, Sex in Education.He included this quote, “A woman’s body could only handle a limited number of developmental tasks at one time—that girls who spent to much energy developing their minds during puberty would end up with undeveloped or diseased reproductive systems.”

With all the opposition, Pickering still went on to photograph the stars. He had telescopic cameras in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The women he hired poured over the photographs, deciding the location and magnitude of the stars. Through this work, Pickering is credited as having discovered the first binary stars, or double stars. He made many more discoveries, many due to the tireless and detailed work of the women he employed. In 1903, Pickering was able to publish a Photographic Map of the Sky, a first of its kind.

Annie Jump Cannon
By Schlesinger Library

Among the most famous of the women referred to as the Harvard Computers, was Annie Jump Cannon. She came up with a system for classifying stars that is still in use today. Her coworker, Antonia Maury, also developed a classification system. In 1938, two years before she retired Cannon received the honor of being named William C. Bond Astronomer from Harvard.

Of the 80 women who worked for Pickering and were known as the Harvard Computers, only two or three are remembered by name. They did incredible work in a time when such efforts by women were strongly discouraged. And, it all started with an uneducated maid challenged to do a job and being exemplary in that position. 

Harvard Computers 1890
Wikimedia Commons

Have you ever heard of Pickering’s Harem or the Harvard Computers? I wanted to write so much more about them because their story is fascinating. I wonder if about their eyesight after spending days studying photographs and mappings stars. Such intense work. I will think of these women and the work they accomplished when I look at the night sky and the array of stars.

I am doing a giveaway of a print or eBook copy of Bandolero. Please leave a comment below and your email address to be entered in the drawing. Comments must be left before midnight PST. Let me know what you think of these women and their story. I love to hear from you.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.