Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium Postponed

Kelly Bernatzky • August 24, 2021

The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association has decided to postpone the Maria Mitchell Women of Science Symposium (MMWSS) slated for September 23-25, 2021. Given the rise in COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts, as well as the U.S., the MMA felt this was the best thing to do since its panelists, speakers, and attendees are coming from all over the country for this important and unique three-day meeting. While the MMA is sad after all of the hard work in preparing, it knows this is the right decision.

 

The MMA will be hosting the MMWSS in the fall of 2022 and is very grateful to its sponsors, panelists, and speakers for remaining with the MMA – this has been a process and the MMWSS was originally slated for October 2020. They have all been incredibly supportive and enthusiastic as everyone navigates these unusual times.

 

As Maria Mitchell once said,

 

There will come with the greater love of science greater love to one another. Living more nearly to Nature is living farther from the world and its follies, but nearer to the world’s people; it is to be of them, and for them, and especially for their improvement.

 

The MMWSS is for the improvement of all of but especially in helping to support and make sure that women have a place at the STEM table. All voices are important as each person adds something to the conversation. Without every voice, we fail.

 

Please stay tuned and watch the MMWSS website for updates and to register for Fall 2022!

 

The event is organized by the Maria Mitchell Association, a private non-profit organization. Founded in 1902, the MMA works to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.

For Immediate Release

August 24 2021

Contact: Jascin Finger, MMA Deputy Director & Curator of the Mitchell House, Archives and Special Collections

jfinger@mariamitchell.org

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May 6, 1878 Between the clouds, Miss Spalding obtained 7 photographs of Mercury on the Sun. It is comfort to me to be able to plan and do a new kind of work. The large telescope worked better than usual, Clark having just been to the Observatory. Clark, as in Alvan Clark, a man who would become the premier telescope maker in America and who built Maria Mitchell’s 5-inch Alvan Clark refractor that she purchased from him (after working with him to build it per her specifications) with money gifted to her from “The Women of America” led by Elizabeth Peabody. More than likely, it is this telescope she is referring to as she did use it in the Vassar College Observatory with her students – and it is also taking center stage in photographs, along with her (first her father’s) Dolland telescope.  Maria had decided she would photograph the Sun on every clear day, and this was one of those results. She would use these images, with her students, to study sun spots and their changes. With her students, Maria would photograph the transit of Mercury as noted above. She would also photograph the transit of Venus a few years later with her students. JNLF
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And with it, some of the heirloom daffodils I purchased for the Mitchell House last fall. A place was recommended to me by two longtime friends of the MMA and gardeners extraordinaire. It is called Old House Gardens. I ordered a small amount as we now have a plethora of voles on Vestal Street – I believe I complained about them here last year. They won’t eat daffodils so I got a few of “Butter and Eggs” (1777) and “Conspicuus” (1869) as either of these could have appeared in William Mitchell’s gardens. They were not listed in a letter from John Quincy Adams that I have mentioned before. But, Adams was not here visiting the Mitchell family when the daffodils would have been in bloom. The one pictured here is “Butter and Eggs” not completely unfurled. JNLF
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April 1878. The conference of Woman’s Congress officers met in Washington. Because we had one member in Washington we were invited to meet in that place. I went on at a great expense of time, money and strength . . . . We were in session at least nine hours. I think that more than half of that was used by Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Sayles. The only motion which I carried through was to pay the Secretary $200 . . . In 1878, that was a long train(s) ride to Washington, DC from Poughkeepsie, NY and Vassar College. If Maria seems perturbed, I am sure she was. As president of the Association for the Advancement of Women, and thus the Congress, she had to be at the meeting. But it appears she did not get much say in the nine hour meeting. This was also a long trip to take when she had another, even longer trip coming up in July of 1878. In that month, she would travel with students and her sister, Phebe, out west to Colorado to view the eclipse and that train and wagon ride I am sure was weighing on her mind – not just the physical trip but making her way for an important eclipse viewing event. JNLF
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