Celebrate Maria Mitchell’s 203rd Birthday with the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association

Kelly Bernatzky • July 25, 2021

August 1, 2021 marks the 203rd birthday of Maria Mitchell, America’s first woman astronomer. In 2020, the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) was unfortunately forced to cancel her birthday open house that the MMA has been hosting since we opened our doors to the public on 1903.

 

While there is a light at the end of the tunnel with restrictions being lifted, this year the MMA felt it was safest delay our large in-person open house celebration another year. Typically, Maria Mitchell’s Birthday Open House sees an average of 300 people at out sites on Vestal Street with music, birthday refreshments, free museum visits, and all sorts of activities and displays for children, families, and adults.

 

This year, to mark her birthday, the MMA has devised several activities (with prizes!) designed to allow Maria’s birthday festivities to go on while maintaining social distancing and other public safety measures: a historical family scavenger hunt, a photo contest, and a drawing contest!

 

The family scavenger hunt will bring participants on a tour of some of the places where Maria lived, worked, or made new discoveries. Beginning on Monday, July 26th, participants will be able to pick up a scavenger hunt from the brochure box on Vestal Street across from the Research Center, from one of our open properties, or download it directly from the website here:

 

Participants can drop off their completed scavenger hunt sheets in the box outside the Vestal Street Observatory between Monday, July 26th and noon on Saturday, August 14th. On Monday, August 16th, the MMA will randomly select a completed and correct form and the winner will receive a 2022 MMA Family Membership! Scavenger hunts are a great activity to bring your family together and allows all ages to take part. And, it’s something that was very popular in the nineteenth century though back then it was more along the line of letterboxing and orienteering and no 21st century technology!

 

Another way to celebrate Maria’s birthday this year is to participate in our photo contest! One of the MMA’s core missions is to create opportunities for all to develop a life-long passion for science through education, research, and first-hand exploration of the sky, land, and sea of Nantucket Island. In keeping with this mission, the theme of the photo contest is Natural Nantucket. Photos of anything and everything natural and/or native to Nantucket – natural resources, landscapes, flora, fauna, sky, land, sea – are welcome. Though most famous as an astronomer, Maria Mitchell was also a naturalist with profound interest in Nantucket’s flora and fauna. Through this photo contest, participants can reflect on what Maria Mitchell and the Maria Mitchell Association means to them.

 

This contest will have a division for teens (ages 13-18) and adults (ages 18+). One winner will be selected from each division. Winners will have their work featured on our social media and receive a 2022 MMA Family Membership along with one of our popular new MMA hats! Entries may be posted using the Google form found on our website from Monday, July 26, 2021, through Saturday, August 14, 2021. The winners of each division will be announced and prizes will be distributed on Monday, August 16, 2021. To learn more about the rules of the contest or make an entry, please visit our website:

https://www.mariamitchell.org/maria-mitchells-birthday

 

Lastly, for the youngest members of the family, the MMA will be hosting a drawing contest for children under 12. Similar to the photo contest, the theme of this contest is Natural Nantucket. The MMA invites participants to create hand-drawn or digital artwork inspired by the stars/the sky, any natural feature, landscape, flora, or fauna occurring on Nantucket, and submit their artwork using the Google form on our website.

 

This contest will have a division for children ages 7 and under, and children ages 8-12. Entries may be submitted Monday, July 26, 2021, through Saturday, August 14, 2021 and the winners of each division will be announced and prizes will be distributed on Monday, August 16, 2021. Winners will have their work featured on our social media and receive a Maria Mitchell Association gift bag, including a 2022 MMA Family Membership and items from our gift shop! For more information or to make an entry, please visit our website:

https://www.mariamitchell.org/maria-mitchells-birthday

 

The Maria Mitchell Association is 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

July 23 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • March 30, 2026
1882. Mch.13.3 p.m. I start for Faculty. As I sit, I feel as well as I ever did in my life; I go to Faculty and we probably shall elect what we called the “honor” girls. I dread the struggle that is pretty certain to come . . .The whole system is demoralizing and foolish. Girls study for “prizes” and not for learning when “honors” are at the end. The unscholarly motive is wearing. Maria Mitchell once said, “You cannot mark the human mind because there is no intellectual unit.” She did not like grades or prizes as you can see by her words above. I have to agree. Whether it be in academics or sports or some other activity, you should be rewarded in what you learn and how well you do – not to achieve a prize at the end. It’s the same idea with giving prizes to everyone so no one feels left out – just don’t do it. Learn how to lose gracefully.  JNLF

Women’s History Month

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • March 23, 2026
March is Women’s History Month – though all months should be women’s history month! Maria Mitchell was one of the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW), was its president for a term (1875), and founded its Science Committee which she chaired for the remainder of her life. When the fourth Congress of the AAW met in Philadelphia in October 1876, Julia Ward Howe (also a friend of Maria’s) was serving with Maria on the executive committee. Maria presented a paper, “The Need for Women in Science.” In it she stated, Does anyone suppose that any woman in all the ages has had a fair chance to show what she could do in science? . . . The laws of nature are not discovered by accidents; theories do not come by chance, even to the greatest minds; they are not born of the hurry and worry of daily toil; they are diligently sought, they are patiently waited for, they are received with cautious reserve, they are accepted with reverence and awe. And until able women have given their lives to investigation, it is idle to discuss the question of their capacity for original work. She is not saying that women cannot be scientists – she is saying they need to be given the opportunities. Maria was incredibly busy with the AAW – it took up a great deal of her time – and at the next meeting in November of that year some aspects of the meeting were wonderful according to her account –“excellent” papers, “newspapers treated us very well. The institutions opened their doors to us, the Centennial gave us a reception. But – we didn’t have a good time!” It appears there was discord among the women. A few opposed the subject of “Woman Suffrage,” but Lucy Stone was able to present her paper on the subject despite this. And, some women felt that the West was not well represented and was overshadowed by New England, thus women representing the western states protested the nomination and election of Julia Ward Howe as president of the AAW. But she won. Whew! It was not always easy and controversies constantly abounded with many schisms over time within the women’s rights movement. I often wonder what Maria might think of the place of women today – how far things have come from her time or would she be surprised that there still is inequality? What would she think? In honor of Women’s History Month, visit the National Women’s History Alliance, the National Women’s History Museum, and the National Collaborative of Women’s History Sites. These places will also point you in the directions of women’s history sites across the country and how to find out more information about all these women who paved the way for us!  JNLF

Women’s History Month – On the Road with the NHA

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • March 17, 2026
For several years now, we have been teaming up with the Nantucket Historical Association in March for Women’s History Month. We visit each senior living or meeting site on island – five in all over the course of the month. We work to unique history of the place of women in our community then and through today – an incredible legacy that in the nineteenth century and earlier was quite unusual. We highlight women from all walks of island life, their accomplishments, and how they helped and influenced others. You see, Maria Mitchell was not the only incredible woman that Nantucket produced. For example, Eliza Codd was the island's first woman architect - and the leading architect on island when she practiced. Nantucket women shared their knowledge, path, support, and guidance with others both here and away and became major influences in the rights of women, women’s education, and the general place of women in society. Pretty incredible for such a small island! JNLF
Show More