The Legacy of Kirtley Mathers

Kirtley F. Mather conducted the very popular and well-attended Mather Class at FBCN from 1925-1955. He was recruited from Denison University to the Geology Dept at Harvard and later became head of the department. He and his wife, Marie and three daughters lived at 12 Channing Rd and later 122 Homer St in Newton Centre.

In 1925 he traveled to Tennessee to be part of the defense team representing John Scopes in what would become to be known as “The Monkey Trial”. His unique position as a Baptist and a scientist helped him coach Clarence Darrow on what Darrow could expect from prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. He was a strong advocate of adult education as shown in the Mather Class model and was convinced that democracy depended on a well-educated public. In 1944, he wrote Enough and to Spare arguing that “famine was wholly unnecessary in the modern world”. He was quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr in his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize lecture. Mather became an outspoken critic of McCarthyism in the 1950s.

For an in depth look at what made Mather such a master communicator and thinker, see “Rock Stars: A Scientist Concerned about Society: Kirtley F. Mather” (1888-1978) by Kenard R. Bork, Denison University. GSA Today July 1996.

The Mather Class

The Mather Class was begun at FBCN in 1925 by church Deacon and Harvard Professor of Geology, Kirtley F. Mather. The class met here and at the Newton Centre Public Library weekly, courtesy of the library trustees until 1948. Read below a moving and heartfelt description of the class in 1931 by the class secretary, Bessie Pickersgill.