box for 8-inch rear combination doublet for f/16.5 Boyden photographic telescope
Date: 1887
Inventory Number: 1996-1-0473c
Classification: Box
Subject:
Maker: Alvan Clark and Sons (1846 - 1958)
User: Solon I. Bailey (1854 - 1931)
User: William Henry Pickering (1858 - 1938)
User: Boyden Station, Arequipa (1891 - 1927)
User: Boyden Station, Bloemfontein (founded 1927)
User: Harvard College Observatory (founded 1839)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
City of Use:
Dimensions:
9.3 × 27.2 × 28.6 cm (3 11/16 × 10 11/16 × 11 1/4 in.)
Description:
The wood box is painted black and has a fancy brass handle. The "lid" is on a short side. It is secured with screws. There is part of a red shipping label on the underside.
In Collection(s)
Signedunsigned
Inscribedin white paint on top of box: No. 24
in black crayon on top of box: 10" [sic] Rear / Combination / Boyden / Doublet
printed on red label glued to underside of box: [illegible] A [illegible]XPRESS / [illegible] PANY. / [illegible] M
in black crayon on top of box: 10" [sic] Rear / Combination / Boyden / Doublet
printed on red label glued to underside of box: [illegible] A [illegible]XPRESS / [illegible] PANY. / [illegible] M
Historical AttributesThis is box for the rear doublet lens for an 8-inch photographic refractor paid for by the Boyden Fund. The lens is one of a pair of doublet lenses in the telescope, the other being the objective. In the nomenclature of the Harvard College Observatory, the 8-inch photographic telescope was known as the "8-inch Boyden Doublet" because it had two lenses. (In modern nomenclature, we might say that the telescope had a camera lens consisting of two doublet lenses.)
The Boyden Fund was given to Harvard College Observatory in 1887. This instrument was made by Alvan Clark & Sons. The 8-inch Boyden telescope was held on the same mount as the 13-inch Boyden refractor also made by the Clarks. The 8-inch Boyden had a focal length of 11 feet.
The 8-inch Boyden photographic telescope was used to observe the total solar eclipse of 1 January 1889 in Willows, California. In 1890 they were shipped to Peru, where they were set up in Harvard's high-altitude observatory in Arequipa. This site was known as the Boyden Station. When the Boyden Station was relocated from Peru to South Africa in 1927, the 8-inch Boyden telescope may have accompanied the 13-inch Boyden refractor there. By 1929, it was listed as no longer in active use by Solon Bailey in his history of the Observatory.
After work in the field, the instrument was stored at the Agassiz Station. It was retrieved from there on May 20, 1969.
The Boyden Fund was given to Harvard College Observatory in 1887. This instrument was made by Alvan Clark & Sons. The 8-inch Boyden telescope was held on the same mount as the 13-inch Boyden refractor also made by the Clarks. The 8-inch Boyden had a focal length of 11 feet.
The 8-inch Boyden photographic telescope was used to observe the total solar eclipse of 1 January 1889 in Willows, California. In 1890 they were shipped to Peru, where they were set up in Harvard's high-altitude observatory in Arequipa. This site was known as the Boyden Station. When the Boyden Station was relocated from Peru to South Africa in 1927, the 8-inch Boyden telescope may have accompanied the 13-inch Boyden refractor there. By 1929, it was listed as no longer in active use by Solon Bailey in his history of the Observatory.
After work in the field, the instrument was stored at the Agassiz Station. It was retrieved from there on May 20, 1969.
ProvenanceHarvard College Observatory, purchased 1887; gift to CHSI in 1969.
Published ReferencesDeborah Jean Warner and Robert B. Ariail, "Alvan Clark & Sons: Artists in Optics, 2nd ed. (Richmond: Willmann-Bell, 1995), 108, 204.
Bessie Zaban Jones and Lyle Gifford Boyd, The Harvard College Observatory (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1971).
