The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association to Mark the 205th Birthday of Maria Mitchell

July 17, 2023

Nantucket, MA – Join the Maria Mitchell Association as it hosts Maria Mitchell’s 205th birthday on August 1 on Vestal Street. Maria Mitchell’s birthday celebration is a free event with astronomy and natural science activities, live animal displays, research demonstrations, face painting, live music by Susan Berman and Ray Saunders, and free admission to the Maria Mitchell Association Vestal Street Museums! This afternoon of Maria Mitchell themed activities will be held Tuesday, August 1st from 1pm – 4pm on Vestal Street, with the lower portion of the street closed to traffic.



The Maria Mitchell Association is named after America’s first female astronomer, Maria Mitchell. She is known for discovering a comet over Nantucket in October 1847. She went on to become the first female professor at Vassar College, where she was an inspiration to her students. She believed in learning by doing and in the capacity of women to achieve what their male counterparts could. “Miss Mitchell” was beloved by her students whom she taught until her retirement, due to failing health, in 1888. She died in 1889 and was buried next to her parents in the family plot at Nantucket’s Prospect Hill Cemetery. 


The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. 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.


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For Immediate Release

July 17, 2023

Contact: Grace Baisley

marketinginterns@mariamitchell.org

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Sept. 24, 1881. . . . Mr. I. {van Ingen} thinks that not a person on the Board of Trustees would approve of the clause in Mr. Vassar’s will which objected to women as occupants of chairs. Just months before, Maria Mitchell had written a letter describing the controversy surrounding the bequest of Matthew Vassar to the college he founded. The large sum was separated out within his will, including the establishment of department chairs. The bequest for this action, however, did not allow for women professors to have a chair. Quite shocking for a women’s college but then, there were early trustees in the College’s founding who believed that women professors should not exist at Vassar! Maria would be the first professor Vassar hired – male OR female. JNLF

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