Whales’ Teeth, Sea Cucumbers, and Castaways Topic of Next MBL Falmouth Forum, February 27

Contact: Gina Hebert 508-289-7725; ghebert@mbl.edu

WOODS HOLE, MA—Edward Melillo, Associate Professor of Global Environmental History at Amherst College, will present the next MBL Falmouth Forum, Friday, February 27 at 7:30 PM in the MBL’s Lillie Auditorium, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole. Melillo’s lecture, titled "Out of the Blue: Nantucket and the Pacific World," will chronicle the stories of David Whippy and William Cary, a pair of 19th-century Nantucket mariners who spent many years residing in Fiji. These two castaways were involved in the export of sea cucumbers from Fiji to China and the importation of whales' teeth to Fiji from various parts of the Pacific.

Sponsored by the MBL Associates, and generously supported this season by Sandy and David Bakalar, the event is free and open to the public.

The histories of Whippy, Cary and the commodities they traded offer testimonials about cultural and environmental changes during the nineteenth century. Their stories also reveal the deep interconnections between maritime communities in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific.

The son of Jerry and Lalise Melillo of Falmouth, Edward “Ted” Melillo, a graduate of Falmouth Academy, earned his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in history from Yale University. After a one-year position as the Kiriyama Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of San Francisco’s Center for the Pacific Rim, he taught for a year in the history department at Oberlin College and spent a year as a visiting assistant professor in the Earth and Environment Department at Franklin & Marshall College. Since 2009, Melillo has been a faculty member at Amherst College where he teaches courses on global environmental history, the history of the Pacific World, and commodities in world historical perspective.

Melillo is the author of the forthcoming book, Strangers on Familiar Soil: Rediscovering the Chile-California Connection, 1786-2008, which will be published in the fall of 2015. He is also the co-editor of Eco-Cultural Networks and the British Empire: New Views on Environmental History, published in December 2014.  His articles have appeared in numerous journals, and he has given nearly fifty lectures and presentations on topics ranging from the social history of the global nitrogen cycle to the role of insect-derived commodities in shaping world history.

An optional buffet dinner will precede Melillo’s lecture at 6:00 PM at the MBL’s Swope Center, 5 North Street, Woods Hole. Tickets are $30 (meal includes salad, pasta or potatoes, two entrees, wine, dessert, tax and gratuity) and must be purchased in advance at Eight Cousins Bookstore, Main Street, Falmouth, or at the MBL Communications Office, 127 Water Street, Woods Hole. Dinner tickets are available until they sell out or until 5:00 pm on Tuesday February 24. For more information, contact the MBL Communications Office at (508) 289-7423 or comm@mbl.edu.

The MBL Falmouth Forum of the 2014-2015 season will be held on March 13, 2015. Benjamin Jones, Faculty Director of the Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative at Northwestern University, will discuss “The Economic Costs of Climate Change.” Visit mbl.edu/falmouth-forum for details and updated information.

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery and improving the human condition through research and education in biology, biomedicine, and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.

The MBL Associates are a group of individuals and businesses that support the scientific mission of the MBL through their gifts to the Annual Fund. The Associates sponsor educational and research programs for the MBL and raise funds for special projects. In addition, they operate the MBL Gift Shop, located on Water Street in Woods Hole, the profits from which support scientific fellowships.