Nantucket lost a true legend--Mimi Beman--this week and she will truly be missed.
The artwork below by talented Nantucket artist Susan Boardman and the biography are from a digital exhibition by the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA). The actual exhibition--"Notable Nine Nantucket Women"--was displayed June-September 2006 in the Whitney Gallery of the NHA Research Library at 7 Fair Street.
Mary "Mimi" Havemeyer Beman (b. 1948)Mimi spends every winter (and early mornings year round) reading the upcoming books, and then offers booklovers her expert opinion and personal recommendations in a vast range of tastes and subject matter. Mimi has been active in the Nantucket community, bringing her knowledge of books and bookselling and her literary preferences to numerous boards and committees.
Her other passion is all things Italian - especially the language and literature, in which she holds an advanced degree, with a concentration in the works of Dante. In addition, she taught the Italian language for eight years at universities in Colorado and Indiana.
The embroidered narrative shows the position of the stars on the night Maria Mitchell discovered her comet (October 1, 1847); a selection of Mimi's favorite books; a map of Nantucket (referring to a collection of island maps inherited from the Mitchell side of the family); and a quotation from Dante's Paradiso, Canto 33, v. 145: "Love that moves the sun and the other stars."
