Let a hundred flowers blossom - 2019

Other MDMs in 2019

Edited 6/26/19 - Dates for Rosenbach MDM added.
 
For those who may be hesitant to venture to New Bedford in January, here are a few alternatives to note.

April 26-28: The fourth annual Moby-Dick Marathon Reading at the Provincetown public library. This reading is spread over three days, so you can enjoy a bit of springtime in P'town. (Apologies for the late notice.)

June 7-9: Canio's Books in Sag Harbor returns with a multi-day MDM. A raft of events leads up to the marathon, including a talk by Mary K. Bercaw-Edwards on May 4.

July 31-August 1: The 34th(!) annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the Mystic Seaport Museum. This reading takes place aboard the whaleship Charles W. Morgan. Attendance is limited; call to reserve space if staying overnight. August 1 is Melville's 200th birthday—expect a special MDM at Mystic.

August 1-4 ?: The third annual Moby-Dick reading at Arrowhead Farm. This reading is spread over several days, and includes a hike up Monument Mountain. Details haven't been posted yet.

October ?: At the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, promises a "uniquely San Franciscan" MDM. Last done here in 2018. Details not yet posted; see sfmobydickmarathon.org. Commemorates Melville's brief visit to San Fran in 1860.

November 9-10: The Rosenbach Museum repeats its annual (since 2017) MDM at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. Watch the Rosenbach calendar for details. [Hat-tip to Prof.]

The November New York City MDM was bi-annual for a while, but appears to be in hibernation.

Missed the MDM at the Newberry Library, Jan. 19-20. This does not appear to be an annual event.

Missed the M-D Marathon Read of Virginia, March 21-22. Their Facebook page has links to an archived video stream. This does not appear to be an annual event.

The Nantucket Historical Association had an MDM in 2014. This past February they offered a two-hour Multi-lingual Moby-Dick Reading Event. A full MDM might return some year.

The New Bedford Homecoming of the Charles W. Morgan

Here's a quick rundown on (some of) today's events surrounding the return of whaleship Charles W. Morgan, newly restored, to New Bedford. The Morgan is "the only surviving wooden whaling ship from the 19th century American fleet." Built in New Bedford, and launched on July 21, 1841, she has been in Mystic Seaport since 1941. A multi-year restoration made the Morgan once again sea-worthy. She sailed into New Bedford harbor to be the centerpiece of a week of activities. Get down there and check it out! (Leave your backpack in the car. They're not permitted.)

Today was a chance to hear presentations from some of the Melville scholars we normally see only at the MDM. As always, these folks make me realize I have a lot of reading to do. Still, when Tim Marr opened his talk asking the audience, "How many of you couldn't finish Moby-Dick the first time you read it?", the scholars were the first to raise their hands!

I took pages of notes at these presentations, but what sticks in my mind is Dr. Marr quoting Stephen Colbert who asked, "Is Moby-Dick a metaphor for the struggle of trying to read Moby-Dick?" (Who was it said, "When one of a work's themes is the work itself, another of its themes is art."?)

The week's displays and events are the combined efforts of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Mystic Seaport, the Nantucket Historical Association, and the Melville Society. That's some major fire-power, and they've done it up royally.

Like a trade show, there are lots of booths to visit inside the hall.

An area is curtained-off for the scholar presentations.

Outside, you can visit the schooner Ernestina. I've only ever seen her covered with snow, on my way to the MDM.

You can crew a whaleboat and row out for a waterline view of the Morgan. Our boatsteerer was a member of a local rowing club, well able to instruct the green crew.

Back on land, it is worth waiting in line for a chance to snake through the restored Charles W. Morgan.

According to Wikipedia, these flags spell "J B P N." What am I missing?

The dark brown areas in the diagrams show original, 1841-vintage bits of the Morgan.

Apparently, "How much is original?" is asked often.

At 4:30, it's time to deflate the whale.

The city is much more inviting on these warm summer evenings than in the January wind and ice of an MDM.

After dinner, Robert K. Wallace opened The Art of Seeing Whales exhibition at the Whaling Museum. Take your time here—the juxtapositions are deliberate.

Was anyone else put off by all the humorless, armed police stalking the area? [no photo here]

Today in History

From The New York Times, on this day in 1884:

...A whale was sporting in the waters off the south side of the island [Nantucket]... But alas! there was scarcely a vestige of whaling gear upon the island, so no effort could be made to capture his whaleship...

"I like the Nantucketers"

In her 1859 novel The Minister's Wooing, Harriet Beecher Stowe depicts the religious, social, and romantic concerns of the good citizens of Newport, Rhode Island, in the 1790s.  In Chapter XXX ("The Quilting"), she presents a sewing bee, during which some of the young single women discuss marriage.  The topic of a husband's occupation comes up:

Cerinthy Ann contrived to produce an agreeable electric shock by declaring, that, for her part, she never could see into it, how any girl could marry a minister,-- that she should as soon think of setting up housekeeping in a meeting-house.

"Oh, Cerinthy Ann!" exclaimed her mother, "how can you go on so?"

"It's a fact," said the adventurous damsel; "now other men let you have some peace,-- but a minister's always round under your feet."

"So you think, the less you see of a husband, the better?" said one of the ladies.

"Just my views," said Cerinthy, giving a decided snip to her thread with her scissors; "I like the Nantucketers, that go off on four-years' voyages, and leave their wives a clear field.  If ever I get married, I'm going to have one of those fellows."

Mary Folger's grandson's birthday

Born in Boston, 305 years ago today -- Benjamin Franklin.

No good blood in their veins? They have something better than royal blood there. The grandmother of Benjamin Franklin was Mary Morrel; afterwards, by marriage, Mary Folger, one of the old settlers of Nantucket, and the ancestress to a long line of Folgers and harpooners -- all kith and kin to noble Benjamin -- this day darting the barbed iron from one side of the world to the other.

Ben's mom, Abiah Folger, was also born in Nantucket. Somewhere on the moors of Nantucket, near the windmill, there's a monument marking her birthplace. She was the second wife of Ben's dad, and bore 10 children. Benjamin himself was Boston-born.