Say, Lucy Sistare (1801–1885)
Say, Lucy Sistare (1801–1885)
American scientific illustrator . Born Lucy Sistare in New London, Connecticut, in 1801; died in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1885; daughter of Nancy Sistare and Joseph Sistare; married Thomas Say, in 1827 (died 1834).
Born in New London, Connecticut, in 1801, Lucy Sistare Say lived for a time at the New Harmony colony in Indiana, Robert Owen's model cooperative renowned in its time as a center of learning and culture. There, her responsibilities included spinning, knitting, and sewing, and she also involved herself with the free public school and free library at New Harmony—the first such institutions in the United States. In 1827, she married fellow New Harmony member Thomas Say, an entomologist and conchologist. Lucy, who illustrated many of her husband's scientific writings, became noted for her unusually fine drawings of invertebrates, and for other illustrations that she created to accompany his text.
Widowed in 1834, Say left New Harmony and lived with a sister in New York City. Eventually, she brought her late husband's specimen cabinet to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Say, who corresponded with other naturalists, was honored in 1841 as the first woman admitted to the academy.
sources:
Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey. Women in Science. Boston, MA: Cambridge Press, 1993.
Gloria Cooksey , freelance writer, Sacramento, California