Work Beyond Mount Holyoke – Cornelia and concrete

As a student and teacher at Mount Holyoke, Cornelia Clapp had studied William Smellie’s Philosophy of Natural History, but her summer at the Anderson School of Natural History on the island of Penikese in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts was the first time she really learned to study nature itself. Decades later, she described the experience as “an opening of doors,” the moment when she entered the biological world.

Sketch of a map in pen. There are a few buildings, and roads leading towards them. Drawn on blue lined paper. — ^{_{Sketch of Penikese from a letter home, July 9th 1874}}

In her first letter home that summer, Clapp included this “rough sketch” along with her enthusiastic account of her experience so far. She marked her work table in the laboratory, the lecture room where the “real, genuine old German drawing teacher” gave her an impromptu lesson on scientific illustration, and the rocky shore where she went to watch the glow of the jellyfish that she had only read about before.

Clapp “became a fish woman” on her first summer tramp with David Starr Jordan, an ichthyologist she knew from Penikese, and his party in 1878. She had spent a few summers collecting specimens when Jordan decided he would take a party of students and friends on a collecting trip on foot across the American South.

Flyer titled "IN THE NORTH WOODS. A Month in the Adirondacks. (INDIANA UNIVERSITY SUMMER TRAMP FOR 1884.) Text reads "The party will meet at Fort Ticonderoga, June 28th. Spending the Sabbath there, they will proceed on foot to Crown Point, Bulwagga Mountain, Moriah, Crowfoot Pond, Deadwater, Euba Mills, Bouquet River, Hunter's Pass, Chapel Pond, Roaring Brook, Noonmark Mountain, Keene Flats, Au Sable Ponds, Mount Marcy, Avalanche Lake, Calamity Pond, the Deserted Village, Indian Pass, Clear Pond, North Elba, John Brown's Grave, Lake Placid, Old White Face, Au Sable Chasm, Port Kent and across Lake Champlain to Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump; leaving the Mountains July 28th. The total distance traversed on foot will be about 300 miles, the itinerary depending somewhat on the desires of the party and on the condition of the weather. The number of members of the party will be limited to about fifteen. The total expenses (from Fort Ticonderoga) will not vary far from $65. This includes a director's fee of $15. This tour is designed especially for those who enjoy walking and find pleasure in woods and rocks, and who are willing in some degree to "rough it" for the sake of being brought close to Nature. Those who prefer hotel parlors to mossy logs should not join us. DIRECTOR: DAVID S. JORDAN, BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA, (Professor of Biology, Indiana University.) ASSISTANT: CORNELIA M. CLAPP, SOUTH HADLEY, MASS. (Teacher of Zoology, Mount Holyoke Seminary.)" — ^{_{Flyer for 1884 summer tramp through the Adirondacks}}

For most of the next decade, Clapp spent her summers in this party of “tramps,” traveling on foot across different regions of the U.S. and Europe to observe and collect animal specimens. While she helped Jordan coordinate most of these tramps, this was one of the few trips where she was formally listed as an assistant.

A younger Cornelia M. Clapp against a gray circular background. Her skin is fair, with her brown hair pulled back. She wears a collared dress. Text on the bottom reads "Knowlton Bros. Northampton, Mass." — ^{_{When Clapp was a young teacher, she wore her hair and skirts short to keep them out of the way during dissections and collecting trips. Cornelia Clapp, circa 1870s-1880s.}}

Clapp was ready for the Marine Biology Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, before the lab was ready for her: when she arrived, it was still under construction! Soon after, though, the tables were all built and the work of the first summer could begin.

A group of men and women pose together in three rows, with the first row seated and the last two standing. They're outside on grass, posed in front of a white shutter building with large windows. — ^{_{Woods Hole investigators, 1893}}

Clapp, now nearly 15 years into her whole-hearted embrace of zoological inquiry, received the very first research problem assigned at Woods Hole: she was going to study the toadfish and try to understand its lateral line. When this photograph was taken in 1893, she was still working steadily on the toadfish and its senses.

What is a lateral line? Clapp and her contemporaries weren’t sure. By 1888, when Clapp started her research, most scientists agreed that the lateral lines of fish sensed something, but most of them assumed that they helped the main sense organs detect either sound or touch.

Tan cover that reads "The University of Chicago. Founded by John. D. Rockefeller. THE LATERAL LINE SYSTEM OF BATRACHUS TAU. A DISSERTATION. Submitted to the Faculties of the Graduate School of Arts, Literature, and Science, in candidacy for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Department of Zoology) May, 1896. BY CORNELIA MARIA CLAPP. BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. The Antenaeum Press. 1899." — ^{_{Ph.D. dissertation reprint, 1899 (originally 1896)}}

From her close observations, however, Clapp disagreed, suggesting that the lateral line was actually its own specialized sensory system – and she was correct! In the mid-20th century, scientists confirmed that fish have a specific “lateral line sense” for movement and pressure that is distinct from the other senses.

Clapp earned her second Ph.D. in 1896, making her the first American woman to hold two doctorates in the same subject area, and the only woman to do so in the 19th century.

Cornelia M. Clapp posing in PhD robes with a collared dress underneath, while holding a book. She looks towards the camera with a slight smile. The background is a plain light grey. Text at the bottom of the photograph reads "Root. CHICAGO." — ^{_{Clapp in University of Chicago robes, 1896}}

She earned her first Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1889. She did so based on an examination and the work of her first summer at Woods Hole. Likely wanting a more dedicated research degree, she elected to take a leave from Mount Holyoke to study the toadfish full-time for a Ph.D at the University of Chicago from 1893 to 1896.

Diagram of the Cross Section of a Toad Fish. A sketch of half the skull of the fish, with proper parts labels. — ^{_{“Cross section of Toad Fish” in student zoology notebook c. 1909, Ethel Breitenstein (Robinson), class of 1911}}

“There is,” Clapp’s doctoral thesis began, “something singularly grotesque in the appearance of the toadfish.” Despite her harsh assessment of its appearance, it’s hard to imagine anyone appreciating the toadfish more than Clapp. In countless minds, she was forever tied to the creature she studied. For decades, Opsanus tau was known at Woods Hole as “Dr. Clapp’s fish,” and it was best known at Mount Holyoke for its starring role under the microscope in her histology class.

Glass rectangles with repeated dark dots. A white square label is to the left. — ^{_{Slides of toadfish cross-sections, 1900, Margaret Ball, class of 1900}}

Clapp always referred to her fish as either “the toadfish” or Batrachus tau, but there are close to a hundred different species of toadfish, and Batrachus tau is no longer considered a valid species name. Luckily, her descriptions clearly indicate that the species she studied was the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau, which is common near Woods Hole.

“During the summer of ’91,” Clapp explained at a talk in 1893, “the fascinations of embryology held me captive.” Then later she began studying how the lateral line developed in relation to the rest of the individual toadfish embryo, and she quickly learned that her subject was especially well suited to this line of study: its eggs were large, transparent, and fixed in place, which made observing each embryo’s development easier.

Personal notes that read "The following observations were made during the summer of 1891, while studying under the direction of Dr. C. O. Whitman, at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. The Blastopore. In examining the young embryos of Batrachus tau, my attention was attracted to the appearance of the blastoderm, as seem in Fig. I, c. The egg was placed in weak asmic acid for a few moments, when..." — ^{_{Handwritten draft of “Some Points in the Development of the Toad-Fish,” circa 1891}}

This paper, which was printed in the Journal of Morphology later that year, was the first of her two scientific publications, both discussing the toadfish.

By the 1910s, Clapp was one of the only figures at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) who had attended since that first summer in 1888. She was a continuous presence for nearly 50 years, and she carried the spirit of the “Old Guard” at the MBL with her commitment to collaboration, education, and genuine wonder for generations of Woods Hole scientists.

A group photo of men in suits, with one woman in the front. They are standing on stone steps, in front of a brick building with arched windows. — ^{_{Photo of Marine Biological Laboratory trustees, 1934}}

After 23 years as a pillar of the MBL, Clapp was elected to the Board of Trustees. She was the only woman to be granted this level of recognition and influence at Woods Hole from her appointment in 1910 until well after her death in 1934, and she used her unique position to ensure that the laboratory remained open to women when many scientific institutions did not.

A drawn map with penciled in roads and houses, and blue colored bodies of water. The water is labeled "EEL POND" and "BUZZARDS BAY", and the map is titled "MT HOLYOKE AT WOODS HOLE. 1909." — ^{_{Map of Mt Holyoke at Woods Hole, 1909}}

Clapp initiated an ongoing connection between Woods Hole and Mount Holyoke. Every name on this map refers to an MHC student, faculty member, or alumna who went to Woods Hole either to teach, to take classes, or to conduct research.

A living room with wooden walls, a stone fireplace, and curtained windows. A wicker chair with a pillow sits in front of the fireplace, and a couch sits to the right. The fireplace's mantle is decorated. — ^{_{Pine Knots fireplace, complete with the ceramic toadfish in its mantle, was a housewarming gift from Clapp’s friends at Woods Hole. Photo of fireplace at Pine Knot, circa 1920.}}

A side view of a wooden cabin in the woods. Trees and rocks surround the cabin. There is a small staircase on the side of the cabin, and many windows. — ^{_{Pine Knot exterior, n.d.}}

Three women pose in a backyard. They all wear white dresses, and two stand while one sits. There are trees and a shuttered house behind them. — ^{_{Sisters Harriet (left), Cornelia (center), and Mary (left) Clapp outside of Pine Knot, 1928}}

In 1917, the year after she retired from Mount Holyoke, Clapp built herself a permanent home in Woods Hole, which she named Pine Knot. Every summer until she passed, she stayed there, invited guests, and hosted whoever she could for gatherings and stays ranging from a weekend to a month.

A woman and a man stand in a road. The man holds a bike. There are trees, a house, and power lines in the background. — ^{_{Cornelia Clapp and her nephew Roger Clapp, with Pine Knot in the background, August 1918}}

In an obituary, Clapp’s friend Louise Baird Wallace wrote of her, “one needed an overcoat less in passing her house;” her cottage among the trees was a source of warmth for anyone who came by, and Clapp made sure that many people did.

Three women stand together on the porch of a house. The house is white with a covered porch, and stairs leading up. Trees are in the background. — ^{_{Cornelia, Mary, and Harriet Clapp at home in Mount Dora, Florida, n.d.}}

Two women pose outside next to a tree. One women is reaching up, grabbing fruit from the tree. — ^{_{Cornelia Clapp and Charlotte Fitch in an orange grove in Mount Dora, Florida, January 1919}}

After she retired, Clapp lived with her sisters Harriet, x-class of 1876, and Mary, x-class of 1880, in Mount Dora, Florida for most of the year, delighting in the much milder winters than they were used to in New England.

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