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History of the Harvard College Observatory During the Period 1840-1890 cover

History of the Harvard College Observatory During the Period 1840-1890

Chapter 2: PREFACE.
By Daniel W. Baker
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About This Book

A series of popular newspaper essays assembled into a pamphlet recounts the institution's first fifty years, presenting previously unpublished facts and illustrations for a general audience. The account traces earlier astronomical efforts and planning that culminated in formal establishment, follows the organizational steps and patronage that made construction and equipping possible, and highlights the director whose mechanical design of the observatory dome proved influential. It describes practical collaborations tied to a national exploring expedition and chronicles the observatory's gradual maturation, its scientific activities, and administrative developments while generally avoiding technical detail.

PREFACE.

A careful study of the early history of the Harvard College Observatory has been made by Mr. Daniel W. Baker. Many facts were thus brought to light which had not appeared in print. A series of newspaper articles was accordingly prepared, which were published in the Boston “Evening Traveller” on six successive Saturdays, beginning August 2, 1890. Much of this material appearing to be of sufficient value for preservation in a more permanent form, it has been reprinted in the present pamphlet, with slight alterations, and with the addition of the illustrations given on page 25. The parts numbered IV. and V. originally appeared together as a single article. Reproductions have been made of some of the illustrations. The articles were originally addressed, not to professional astronomers, but to the general public, and are to be regarded as a popular description of the work accomplished at the Harvard College Observatory during the first fifty years of its existence.

EDWARD C. PICKERING.
Harvard College Observatory,
September 13, 1890.