Exhibition Checklist

Upper Cases

Case 1

Sunspots, observed by Whitney[*] & Canfield,
9 October 1885, 12h 10m.

Sunspots, observed by Whitney and Mace,
8 June 1885, ≈12h.

Case 3

Sunspots, observed by Arnold & Stow,
10 November 1873 , 12h 17m.

Sunspots, observed by Hodge and Raymond,
7 February 1881, 12h 20m.

Case 5

Sunspots, observers unknown, circa 1874. Sunspots,
observed by Hodge & Whitney, 15 March 1881, 12h 20m.

Case 7

Sunspots, observed by Whitney & Davis,
18 April 1885, 12h 30m.

Sunspots, observed by Whitney & Southworth,
24 April 1885, 11h 58m.

Case 9

Transit of Mercury, observed by Spalding and Hazard,
6 May 1878, 10h 40m.

Transit of Mercury, observed by Spalding and Hazard,
6 May 1878, 13h 26m.

Case 11

Solar Eclipse, observed by Whitney & Witkowsky,
16 March 1885.

Case 13

Solar Eclipse, observed by Whitney & Witkowsky,
16 March 1885.

Case 15

Sunspots, observed by Whitney & Southworth,
30 April 1885, 11h 58m.

Sunspots, observed by Whitney & Gardner,
28 October 1882 , 12h.

Case 17

Transit of Venus, observers unknown,
6 December 1882, 1h 42m.

Transit of Venus, observers unknown,
6 December 1882, ≈11h 7m.

Case 19

Transit of Venus, observers unknown,
6 December 1882, 11h 49m 37s.

Transit of Venus, observed by
Frederick R. Chromey, 2012.

LOWER CASES

Case 2

Herschel wedge / Sun diagonal, ca. 1850
— loaned by Debra E. Elmagreen.

“Maculae et faculae ex variis observandi modis stabiliuntur”, illustration from Christoph Scheiner’s Rosa Ursa, Bracciani: Apud Andream Phaeum typographum Ducalem, 1630
— original at Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Story, Alfred T. The Story of Photography.
New York: McClure Phillips, 1974
(reprint of the 1904 edition).

Case 4

“Observations with the twelve inch equatorial by Professor Mitchell,
1866 April 13 - 1877 June 17”,
Mitchell notebook — Mitchell Papers.

Photograph of Maria Mitchell and Mary W. Whitney with Vassar’s twelve inch equatorial telescope, 1889
— Vassar College Archives Files.

Photograph of the equatorial in its current home at the National Museum of American History
— “DC pics 084” by How I See Life, via Flickr, CC BY-ND.

Case 6

Refracting telescope, circa 1900
— loaned by Debra E. Elmagreen.

Glass plates and sleeves, ca. 1875-1885
— Mitchell Papers.

Illustration from Arabella B. Buckley’s Through Magic Glasses, and Other Lectures...
London: E. Stanford, 1890.

Case 8

Student notebook, Mary Scott, VC 1876
— Student Materials Collection.

Photograph of the Senior Astronomy Class in Classroom, 1878
— Vassar College Archives Files.

Mitchell, Maria. The Collegiate Education of Girls.
Boston: New England Publishing, 1881.

Case 10

Whitall, Henry. A Moveable Planisphere of the Heavens at Every Minute.
New York, 1862

Chauvenet, William. A Manual of Spherical and Practical Astronomy.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1874.

Case 12

Mitchell’s notes on the 1885 eclipse
— Mitchell Papers.

Case 14

“Report of Miss Mitchell” in Observations of Solar Eclipse of August 7, 1869, at Burlington, Iowa.

Mitchell, Maria. “The Total Eclipse of 1869”, Hours at Home, October 1869.

Photograph taken by W. G. Chamberlain: Mitchell and her students at the 1878 eclipse, Denver, Colorado
— Vassar College Archives Files.

Case 16

Champney, Elizabeth. In the Sky Garden.
Boston: Lockwood & Brooks, 1877.

Mitchell, Maria. “The Astronomical Science of Milton: As Shown in ‘Paradise Lost’.”
Poet Lore, vol. 6, 1894.

Case 18

Instructions for Observing the Transit of Venus.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882
— Mitchell Papers.

“Venus. Transit, Dec 6, 1882”, Mitchell notebook
— Mitchell Papers.

Photograph of the Transit of Venus, Dec. 1882
— Mitchell Papers.

Case 20

Gauss, Carl Friedrich. Theoria Motvs Corporvm Coelestivm in Sectionibvs Conicis Solem Ambientivm, Hambvrgi, Svmtibvs
F. Perthes et I.H. Besser, 1809. This copy inscribed from Maria Mitchell to Mary W. Whitney (1868), and from Whitney to Caroline E. Furness (1921).

* Mary W. Whitney was a member of the Class of 1868, worked as an assistant to Maria Mitchell, and became chair of the Astronomy Department and Director of the Observatory when Mitchell retired. Frederick R. Chromey, Jr. has been a professor of astronomy at Vassar since 1981. Other observers are listed alphabetically below:

Helen M. Arnold, VC 1874
Nellie H. Canfield, VC 1887
Lucy Davis, VC 1885
Ella Gardner, VC 1887
Bertha Hazard, VC 1879
E. Carol Hodge, VC 1881
[Hannah Mace, VC 1890]
[Cornelia M. Raymond, 1883]
Frances Southworth, VC 1887
[Annie T. Spalding, VC ex 1884]
L. A. Stow, VC 1874
Esther Witkowski, VC 1886