Barnard Observatory

Last updated
Barnard Observatory
Barnard Observatory University of Mississippi 2018 3.tif
Front of the observatory
Location University of Mississippi campus, Oxford, Mississippi
Coordinates 34°21′58″N89°32′4″W / 34.36611°N 89.53444°W / 34.36611; -89.53444
Established1857 (1857)
Telescopes
Unnamed telescope
Barnard Observatory
Arealess than one acre
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 78001607 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 8, 1978
USA Mississippi relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Barnard Observatory
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Barnard Observatory (the United States)
  Commons-logo.svg Related media on Commons

Barnard Observatory is an academic building at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Completed as an observatory in 1859, it was part of the astronomy focus that chancellor Frederick A.P. Barnard had for the school. [2] Due to the outbreak of the Civil War, though, the purchase of the observatory's telescopes were put on hold. Today the observatory houses the Center for the Study of Southern Culture while the university's astronomers use Kennon Observatory. [3]

Contents

The observatory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The observatory's side Barnard Observatory University of Mississippi 2018 2.jpg
The observatory's side

The observatory is a Greek Revival design and modeled after the observatory in Pulkovo, Russia. [4] Chancellor Barnard commissioned a northern company to build the telescope. [4] The telescope was designed to be larger than the observatories in Pulokovo and Harvard. [4] However, due to the Civil War, the observatory ended up going to Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University. [4]

Chancellor Barnard, who was fond of astronomy, designed the observatory to house the world's largest refracting telescope. He also stocked the observatory with other scientific equipment, such as a state of the art barometer. However, due to the outbreak of the Civil War, the telescope was never delivered. [5] The observatory also housed the chancellor's family quarters, into which Barnard moved in 1860. [6] With the outbreak of the Civil War, the University of Mississippi closed in 1861 and Barnard left. [7]

Professor Alexander Quinche and Burton Harrison, entrusted by the board of trustees to safekeep the university, lived in the observatory's quarters. [8]

Due to Oxford's proximity to much of the war, many buildings in town and on campus were used by armed forces, including the observatory which served as a hospital. [4] However, it was the former chancellor's relationship with General William Tecumseh Sherman that spared both the observatory and the university from Union troops burning it down. Writing to Chancellor Barnard, General Sherman explained his reasoning for sparing the observatory.

"I assure you that last November, when I rode through the grounds of the College and Oxford, I thought of you and.... thought I saw the traces of your life in the Observatory, of which I remember you spoke...."

General William Tecumseh Sherman, [9]

In addition to the observatory's use as a hospital, it has also been home to the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the early 1900s, [10] the Department of Naval Sciences, and the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. [4] The chancellor's residence was relocated from the observatory in 1971. [11] Barnard Observatory currently houses the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, [11] and the observatory is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [12] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Tecumseh Sherman</span> United States Army general (1820–1891)

William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), who earned recognition for his command of military strategy but criticism for the harshness of his scorched earth policies, which he implemented in his military campaign against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the most original genius of the American Civil War" and "the first modern general".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Mississippi</span> Public university near Oxford, Mississippi, US

The University of Mississippi is a public research university in University, Mississippi, with a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and is the state's second largest by enrollment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford, Mississippi</span> City in Mississippi, United States

Oxford is the 14th most populous city in Mississippi, and the county seat of Lafayette County, 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Memphis. A college town, the University of Mississippi or "Ole Miss" is adjacent to the city. Founded in 1837, it is named for Oxford, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick A. P. Barnard</span> American educator and academic

Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard was an American academic and educator who served as the 10th President of Columbia University. Born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale University in 1828 and served in a succession of academic appointments, including as Chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1856 to 1861. He assumed office as President of Columbia University in 1864, where he presided over a series of improvements to the university until his death in 1889. He was also known as an author of academic texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladd Observatory</span> Observatory

Ladd Observatory is an astronomical observatory at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1891, it was primarily designed for student instruction and research. The facility operated a regional timekeeping service. It was responsible for the care and calibration of clocks on campus including one at Carrie Tower and another that rang the class bell at University Hall. Meteorological observations were made there from the time the building opened using recording weather instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vassar College Observatory</span> United States historic place

The Vassar College Observatory is an astronomical observatory of the private Vassar College, located near the eastern edge of the Poughkeepsie, New York college's campus. Finished in 1865, it was the first building on the college's campus, older even than the Main Building, with which it shares the status of National Historic Landmark. The observatory's significance is due to its association with Maria Mitchell, the first widely known female astronomer in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dyer Observatory</span> Vanderbilt University observatory in Brentwood, Tennessee

The Dyer Observatory, also known as the Arthur J. Dyer Observatory, is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Vanderbilt University. Built in 1953, it is located in Nashville, Tennessee, and is the only university facility not located on the main campus in Nashville. The observatory is named after Arthur J. Dyer, who paid for the observatory's 24-foot (7.3 m)-wide dome, and houses a 24-inch (610 mm) reflecting telescope named for astronomer Carl Seyfert. Today, the observatory primarily serves as a teaching tool; its mission is to interest the public in the fields of astronomy, science and engineering. The observatory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 6, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvan Clark & Sons</span> American maker of optics

Alvan Clark & Sons was an American maker of optics that became famous for crafting lenses for some of the largest refracting telescopes of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded in 1846 in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, by Alvan Clark, and his sons George Bassett Clark (1827–1891) and Alvan Graham Clark (1832–1897). Five times, the firm built the largest refracting telescopes in the world. The Clark firm gained "worldwide fame and distribution", wrote one author on astronomy in 1899.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astronomical Observatory (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)</span> United States historic place

The University of Illinois Astronomical Observatory, located at 901 S. Mathews Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, was built in 1896, and was designed by Charles A. Gunn. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 6, 1986, and on December 20, 1989, was designated a National Historic Landmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuertes Observatory</span> Observatory

Fuertes Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the North Campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The observatory was designed by L.P. Burnham, Cornell Professor of Architecture and completed in fall of 1917. It was originally used by the Civil Engineering Department as an instructional field office for navigation and surveying. Today, the observatory is primarily used for public outreach, welcoming over two thousand visitors per year with open houses on clear Friday nights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. Eicher</span> American editor

David John Eicher is an American editor, writer, and popularizer of astronomy and space. He has been editor-in-chief of Astronomy magazine since 2002. He is author, coauthor, or editor of 23 books on science and American history and is known for having founded a magazine on astronomical observing, Deep Sky Monthly, when he was a 15-year-old high school student.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dearborn Observatory</span> Astronomical observatory in Evanston, Illinois

The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888, through an agreement between the university and the Chicago Astronomical Society. In the summer of 1939, Dearborn Observatory had to be moved to make way for the construction of the Technological Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Naval Observatory</span> United States historic place

The Old Naval Observatory is a historic site at 23rd and E Street in Northwest, Washington, D.C. It is where the United States Naval Observatory was located from 1844 to 1893, when it moved to its present grounds. The original observatory building, built 1839-40, still stands, and is a designated National Historic Landmark as of 1965. The Washington meridian of 1850 passes through the Observatory.

Lancaster Historic District is a historic district in Lancaster, Ohio. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument</span>

The General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument is an equestrian statue of American Civil War Major General William Tecumseh Sherman located in Sherman Plaza, which is part of President's Park in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The selection of an artist in 1896 to design the monument was highly controversial. During the monument's design phase, artist Carl Rohl-Smith died, and his memorial was finished by a number of other sculptors. The Sherman statue was unveiled in 1903. It is a contributing property to the Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. and to the President's Park South, both of which are historic sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Oxford, Mississippi)</span> Historic church in Mississippi, United States

St. Peter's Episcopal Church is a parish of the Episcopal Church in Oxford, Mississippi. It is noted for its historic Gothic Revival church building at 113 S. 9th Street, which once served as the pro-cathedral for what is now the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel S. Schanck Observatory</span> Historical astronomical observatory in New Brunswick, New Jersey

The Daniel S. Schanck Observatory is an historical astronomical observatory on the Queens Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, and is tied for the seventh oldest observatory in the US alongside the Vassar College Observatory. It is located on George Street near the corner with Hamilton Street, opposite the parking lot adjacent to Kirkpatrick Chapel, and to the northeast of Old Queens and Geology Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyceum (Mississippi)</span> United States historic place

The Lyceum is an academic building at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Designed by English architect William Nichols, it was named after Aristotle's Lyceum. It purportedly contains the oldest academic bell in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherman Quarters</span> California Historical Landmark in Monterey County

Sherman Quarters, also known as Sherman Rose House is a historic adobe stone building located at 510 Calle Principal in Monterey, California. It was built by Thomas O. Larkin in 1834. It was the quarters for Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman in 1847. This building played a role in the U.S. military occupation of California after its seizure from Mexico during the Mexican–American War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. O. Granger</span> American industrialist and soldier

Arthur Otis Granger was an American industrialist and soldier. He manufactured and installed gasworks in Philadelphia and served as general manager of the United Gas Improvement Company, before serving as president of multiple fuel and gas light companies in the United States and Canada. He was later a mining engineer and railroad executive, and was reported to be a millionaire as of 1889. He established the Etowah Iron Company in Bartow County, had mining interests in South America, and was a business partner to Joseph M. Gazzam.

References

Citations and references

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "The Barnard Observatory". University of Mississippi. Archived from the original on 2006-09-10. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
  3. "Barnard Observatory Homepage". Barnard Observatory. Archived from the original on November 14, 2005. Retrieved December 14, 2005.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 National Register of Historic Places, Barnard Observatory, Oxford, Lafayette, Mississippi, National Register #78001607
  5. Sansing (1999), p. 91.
  6. Sansing (1999), p. 100.
  7. Cohodas (1997), p. 9.
  8. Sansing (1999), p. 104.
  9. Sansing (1999), p. 112.
  10. Sansing (1999), p. 199.
  11. 1 2 3 Sansing (1999), p. 315.
  12. Federal Register. Vol. 43. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1978. p. 48587. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.

Works cited