Patronage of Harvard College Observatory,1839–1851

Quoted in Zaban Bessie Jones Gifford Lyle Boyd , The Harvard College Observatory: The first four directorships, 1839–1919 (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), 49.

The patrons and their donations are listed in Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College , i, part 1 (1856), pp. lxiii–lxvi.

See, for example, Simon Baatz , “Philadelphia patronage: The institutional structure of natural history in the new Republic, 1800–1833”, Journal of the early Republic , viii (1988), 113–38.

Jones Boyd , Harvard College Observatory , 475. Harvard's success at raising funds from the Boston community has led one historian to view the situation there as “atypical”, Ann Mary James , Elites in conflict: The antebellum clash over the Dudley Observatory (New Brunswick, 1987), 13.

For the use of prosopography in the history of science, see Lewis Pyenson , “‘Who the guys were’: Prosopography in the history of science”, History of science , xv (1977), 155–88; also, Steven Shapin Arnold Thackray , “Prosopography as a research tool in history of science: The British scientific community 1700–1900”, History of science , xii (1974), 1–28.

Miller Howard S. , Dollars for research: Science and its patrons in nineteenth-century America (Seattle, 1970), 36.

A donor was considered a member of the ‘elite’ if he (they were all male) appeared in either the Dictionary of American biography or Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American biography of the nineteenth century (Chicago, 1905) or was included on the list of the forty wealthiest taxpayers of Boston in 1837 (taken from Edward Pessen , “Did fortunes rise and fall mercurially in antebellum America? The tale of two cities: Boston and New York”, Journal of social history , iv (1971), 339–57, p. 348). For a discussion of the literature regarding the concept of elites, see James , Elites in conflict , 244.

I am borrowing many of the conclusions of this paragraph from James , Elites in conflict. .

Elias Loomis , The recent progress of astronomy; especially in the United States (New York, 1850), 158–201.

William Paley , Natural theology: Or Evidences of the existence and attributes of the Deity, collected from the appearances of nature (London, 1822), 2.

Paley's methodology quickly filtered down to the American Sunday School. See [ Ichabod Nichols ], A catechism of natural theology (Portland, Maine, 1829).

See, e.g., (Philadelphia) Public ledger , 5 April 1836. Arguments that the study of astronomy was a morally elevating pursuit were made by some of the leading theological figures in the United States. See, e.g., Ward Henry Beecher , Star papers; or Experiences of art and nature (New Yori, 1855), 295–7.

Alexis Caswell , “Address of Professor Alexis Caswell, President of the American Association for the Year 1858, on retiring from the duties of President”, Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science , xiii (1859), 1–26, p. 9.

Alexis Caswell , “Lectures on astronomy”, Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution … 1858, 85–137, p. 86.

Mitchel O. M. , The planetary and stellar worlds: A popular exposition of the great discoveries and theories of modern astronomy, in a series of ten lectures (New York, 1849), p. xi. One historian has claimed that Mitchel's lectures “played a large part in the establishment of the Harvard and U.S. Naval Observatories”: Weddle Kevin J. , “Old stars: Ormsby Mitchel”, Sky & telescope , lxxi (1986), 14–16, p. 14.

Mitchel , op. cit. (ref. 15), 323.

Ibid. , 323–6.

Charlotte Abbe to Cleveland Abbe , 23 February 1859, Cleveland Abbe papers, Library of Congress.

Mitchel O. M. , The astronomy of the Bible (New York, 1863), 281.

Jones Boyd , Harvard College Observatory , 49–50.

Byerly W. E. , “Reminiscences”, in Archibald R. C. (ed.), Benjamin Peirce, 1809–1880 (Oberlin, 1925), 5–7, pp. 5–6.

Marriott R. A. , “Clark, Dawes, and the birth of Temple Observatory”, Sky & telescope , lxix (1985), 450–2.

For the motivations of these donors, see Miller , op. cit. (ref. 6), 98–101, 106–8. A recent study of the founding of the Lick Observatory concludes that Lick's specific motivations are uncertain, but admits that the need for a monument was very strong. Helen Wright , James Lick's monument: The saga of Captain Richard Floyd and the building of the Lick Observatory (New York, 1987), 6–11.