A Portrait of a Scientist

Evelyn Groesback Mitchell was born in East Orange, N.J. She is a graduate of the East Orange High School, where she distinguished herself for her originality in science and art. She entered Cornell in ’98 because she believed in co-education. Something in the atmosphere of Ithaca disagreed with Miss Mitchell and she spent her Sophomore year at Barnard, but returned to us in her Junior year. Evelyn is specializing with Dr. Wilder and delights in neurology, having caught the brain fever when a Freshman. We hope she will learn to cure it in her medical practice. Her amusements consist of fishing and stone breaking of which she is very fond.  

After graduating from Cornell University in 1902 and beginning a career in the sciences, Dr. Mitchell worked at the Smithsonian Institution as a scientific illustrator from 1904 to 1912. For the remainder of her career, Mitchell worked as a medical doctor and passionate public health expert.

Related Resources

• “Dr. Evelyn G. Mitchell,” by Elizabeth Harmon, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives