[1] Instruments surviving from 18th-century America are almost
exclusively of European origin, products of the numerous and famous
shops which sprang up, particularly in England and France, to meet the
demand occasioned by the popularity of the telescope among amateurs and
dilettanti.
[2] U.S. National Museum catalog nos. 152078 and 152079.
[3] W. I. Milham, _Early American Observatories_, Williamstown, Mass.,
Williams College, 1938.
[4] _Mechanics Magazine_, 1830, vol. 13, pp. 114-115 and frontispiece.
[5] See p. 184 for a list of Holcomb’s instruments in the U.S. National
Museum.
[6] H. C. King, _The History of the Telescope_, London, Charles Griffin,
1955, pp. 246-248. Milham _op. cit._ (footnote 3), p. 10.
[7] As reported in the _Journal of the Franklin Institute_ for July 1834,
new ser. vol 14 (whole no. 18), pp. 169-172; July 1835, new ser. vol.
16 (whole no. 20), pp. 11-13; and August 1836, new ser. vol. 18 (whole
no. 22), p. 110. The first two of these are given in the appendix, pp.
181-184.
[8] Reported by “R. K. M.” in _Sky and Telescope_, March 1942, vol. 1,
p. 21. The “Catalog of Objectives Made by Henry Fitz,” the time span of
which is unspecified, lists 428 objectives up to 13 inches and only 6
mirrors. It is not clear, however, that these represent finished units.
[9] Langley’s work at the Allegheny Observatory, particularly his
invention of the bolometer, brought him international reknown as a
scientist. In January 1887 he was appointed assistant secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution, and later in that year became its third
Secretary, serving from 1887-1906.
[10] The giant mirrors of Herschel (1789) and Rosse (1842) were made
of an alloy of 71% copper and 29% tin, and 68½% copper and 31½% tin,
respectively. This alloy was known as “speculum metal.” The silvered
glass mirror was pioneered by Steinhill and Foucault in 1856. In England
Dr. A. A. Common made considerable use in the 1870’s of silvered glass
mirrors made by George Calver. About 1892-97 Common himself made, but
never finished, a 60-inch mirror. It was later refigured and is still in
use.
On these matters see King, _op. cit._ (footnote 6).
[11] For a list of these, see appendix, p. 184.
[12] Words crossed out in manuscript. See figure 1.
[13] For a list of Fitz material in the U.S. National Museum, see
appendix, p. 184.
[14] F. W. Preston, “The first big American telescope mirror, John Peate,
his lens,” _Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society_, 1936, vol. 15, pp.
129-152. Hereafter cited as Preston.
[15] The circumstances of Peate’s life and ministerial career are from
Preston, supplemented by Dr. Peate’s service record, provided by the
Erie Conference of the Methodist Church. Dr. Preston’s prime sources
are: J. N. Fradenburgh, _History of the Erie Conference_, Oil City, Pa.,
1907, vol. 2, pp. 204-211; obituary notice by R. N. Stubbs in _Minutes
of the Erie Conference_, pl. publ. 1903, p. 90. Other data were obtained
by Preston through interviews and letters, all cited in detail in the
article.
[16] From information provided by Robert Barr, acting secretary of
Oberlin College, February 15, 1960. The college records show a John
Peate from Buffalo enrolled in the preparatory department in 1842-43
and 1844-45. The _Encyclopedia Americana_ (1924 ed., vol. 21, p. 460)
states that Peate attended Oberlin about this time. The Doctorate was an
honorary one conferred by Allegheny College.
[17] Fradenburgh, _op. cit._ (footnote 2), p. 204.
[18] Preston, p. 130, n. 10; p. 131, n. 19; p. 148.
[19] “On the Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, Fifteen and
a Half Inches in Aperture, and its Use in Celestial Photography,”
_Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_, vol. 14, art. 3, iv+55 pp.,
1865 (reprinted in vol. 34 as art. 2, 1904).
[20] Preston, p. 148. From an article in the Greenville, Pa., _Record
Argus_, December 17, 1903.
[21] Preston, p. 148. In 1960 it was further learned that an “American
Temperance” college or university once existed at Harriman.
[22] _Scientific American_, October 24, 1891, vol. 65, p. 260.
[23] Communication from Thiel College, Preston, p. 131, n. 17.
[24] _Popular Astronomy_, July 1898, vol. 6, p. 310.
[25] Preston, p. 129, notes 2 & 3. Based on recollections of George
Lambert (1895) and John Morrison (1903). That the decision to make the
mirror 62 inches in diameter may have had another origin is suggested
by the fact that Common, in England, had made two mirrors of 60 and 61
inches in 1886-91.
[26] Minutes of the Erie Conference, 1893, p. 29. Preston, p. 130, n. 4.
[27] Preston has reconstructed the story of the making of the 62-inch
mirror from contemporary journals, which will be cited below, and from
personal communications with some of the participants, notably George
Howard and George Lambert. Detailed citation of these communications are
given in Preston. He has also used a brief manuscript account by Peate
himself (Preston, p. 142, n. 62).
[28] Communication with Frank A’Hearn and John Hodge. Preston, p. 135.
[29] Peate’s workshop and apparatus is described in detail by Preston,
pp. 135-138.
[30] Preston, p. 139.
[31] _Advance Argus_, Greenville, Pa., May 9, 1895. Preston, p. 139.
[32] Clipping of uncertain date from the _Pittsburgh Leader_, quoting the
_National Glass Budget_. Preston, p. 139 and n. 55.
[33] Preston, p. 140.
[34] Preston, p. 139.
[35] Preston, p. 140.
[36] Preston, p. 142.
[37] The Brashear Instrument Company, after the death of its founder John
Brashear, became the J. W. Fecker Company, Inc. This concern is now a
division of the American Optical Company.
[38] Preston, pp. 142-143.
[39] The mirror is no longer silvered. The silver surface was apparently
removed during the inspection by the Bureau of Standards in the 1920’s.
[40] Preston, p. 144. Various notices were published in the _American
University Courier_ in 1898.
[41] Preston, pp. 145-146.
[42] Preston, p. 146.