Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium Hosts a Virtual Release Day

Kelly Bernatzky • September 21, 2021

Join the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) for a special edition of its popular Release Day event on September 25 at 12PM via Zoom. This event will be entirely FREE and include a live Q&A with the MMA Aquarium Director, Jack Dubinsky.

 

Each summer, the Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium’s Director, Jack Dubinsky, and his team of dedicated college interns and volunteers, explore the shores of Nantucket and collect an assortment of marine life to feature at the popular Washington Street Aquarium. They snorkel, seine, and beachcomb, and find over 100 different marine animals to care for throughout the season, representing roughly 70 different species. Local fishermen also greatly contribute to the collection. When the Aquarium closes at the end of the summer, the MMA typically hosts over 200 people at the annual Release Day event to say goodbye to our marine friends, and safely return them to the ocean.

 

This year, with thanks to The Osceola Foundation, the MMA has partnered with Nantucket Community Television (NCTV) to provide this event virtually! Celebrate Climate Change Awareness Month by learning about the importance of biodiversity and Nantucket's unique marine ecosystems through a short film, and enjoy a live Q&A with Jack Dubinsky at the conclusion of the event.


Register for this event using the link below or visit our website:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vEBdJXWBRJ6u7ahyI8hVtg 

 

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

September 21, 2021

Contact: Kelly Bernatzky, Development Associate

kbernatzky@mariamitchell.org

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Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

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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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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 27, 2026
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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By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 13, 2026
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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