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Dudley Observatory
Supporting research and education in astronomy, astrophysics, and the history of astronomy |
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Modern Archives The Archives of the Dudley Observatory are divided into two distinct groups of records -- those covering the early years of the observatory though the middle of the 20th century and those after 1950. These groups were processed and arranged separately at different times and by different people. The time spans of the series correspond roughly with changes in directors and in focus of the Observatory. From the founding of the Observatory in 1852 to the end of Benjamin Boss's tenure as director in 1956, the major focus of Dudley was on observational astronomy and the completion of various Star Catalogues that were published from 1878 to 1937. After the arrival of Curtis Hemenway as director, Dudley was no longer engaged in observational astronomy, but in space science pursuing government grants and contracts on several space-related fields. The major effort was directed toward the examination of microscopic particles gathered in the upper atmosphere to determine if they had a non-terrestrial origin. Both the new and the old records had been packed and moved several times before being processed and arranged. This activity caused any discernible original order to be lost in most cases. At the discretion of the archivists, the documents have been rearranged into coherent groupings. In the modern collection, folder contents have not been changed or rearranged and folder titles have been preserved. One modification is that some of the bulkier files have been divided. Two series retaining the original order are the Library and Photo Lab. The Dudley Archives Finding Aid The records found in the portion of the Dudley Observatory Archives (1956 to 1980) consist of paper documents, photographs, slides, 16 mm films and a few audio tapes. These records are divided into the eleven separate series listed below. For a brief summary of the contents of each series, click here. The modern collection begins with the retirement of Boss and a new joint directorship. On the retirement of Dr. Benjamin Boss in June of 1956, Dr. Curtis L. Hemenway became Resident Director and Dr. Robert Fleischer was appointed Director of Research. This division of power did not last long and two years later, in June 1958, Fleischer resigned and Hemenway became the sole director. During the period of Hemenway's directorship, the main work of the Observatory shifted from classical astronomy to space science. Research centered around the study of cosmic dust in the upper atmosphere and in space. The analysis of micrometeorites to determine their origin formed the bulk of the research performed over the next decades. During the 1970s, Dudley Observatory was finding it increasingly difficult to obtain funding for it continuing research. The bulk of its funding came from the federal government and that source was slowly drying up. By 1976 its financial standing had become so fragile that a report recommended that the Observatory contract "...to what is, essentially, a foundation status." In the late 1950s, Dudley had fairly extensive educational and cultural programs associated with the Observatory and in 1958 the Friends of the Observatory was founded to raise funds and interest in these community activities. This organization continued to support the Observatory into the 1980's. |
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Dudley Observatory |
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Copyright © 2007 Dudley Observatory. All Rights Reserved. |
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