Harvard College Observatory: The Henry Draper Memorial and the role of philanthropy

An astronomer by avocation if not profession, Henry Draper passed away in 1882 at the age of 45, mere days after a dinner party at which Edward Pickering was in attendance along with many members of the National Academy of Sciences. Draper had been a professor of physiology at New York University, but—on his own initiative and with his wife Anna—he also followed the path of his father, John William Draper, in applying photography to astronomical observation. Supported by family wealth, Henry and Anna had looked forward to making astronomy the focal point of their lives.

Importantly, it was not only photography of the stars and other astronomical objects that had inspired Henry Draper’s imagination, but also the much more specialized process of recording their spectra. Capturing the spectrum of a particular star was more technically difficult than an image of the object itself. The process of trial and error was heavily involved in this undertaking, but, by the time of his untimely death, Draper had taken more than 100 spectral photographs.

In early 1883, Pickering sent a letter of condolence to Anna Draper, in which he suggested that the Harvard College Observatory might, with her blessing, continue the spectroscopic work of her late husband. Although Pickering was aware that astronomical “firsts” were especially notable, he knew that if others achieved success in spectral astrophotography, the efforts of Henry Draper would become a mere footnote. Anna Draper was pleased to hear from Pickering, and, after some deliberation, she decided to fund his idea, which she perceived would be a suitable tribute to Henry. Originally, she had intended to establish an observatory in his name and to run it on her own, but that plan never came to fruition.

Thus, Anna Draper agreed with Pickering that February 14, 1886 would stand as the official date of the establishment of the great undertaking by the Harvard College Observatory, named the Henry Draper Memorial.¹ And, not only stars of the northern hemisphere were to be included in the spectroscopic survey, but also those of the southern sky.

Fortunately for Pickering, and the fate of the enterprise, the will of engineer Uriah Boyden was finally settled in 1887 following five years of legal deliberations, which resulted in a sum being left to Harvard for the sole purpose of establishing a high-altitude observatory. This funding helped to create the Boyden Station, the observatory’s site in the southern hemisphere in Arequipa, Peru.²

With a steady source of financial backing, thanks mainly to Anna Draper’s generosity, Pickering was able to provide both the northern and southern departments of the observatory with the equipment needed. Draper transferred her husband’s 11-inch-refractor to Pickering, on loan for however long it would take to complete the required work.

Another telescope was purchased in 1885 with money granted by Alexander Dallas Bache, a physicist and the former superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. The Bache fund was administered by the National Academy of Sciences. The 8-inch Bache telescope was eventually dismantled and sent from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Arequipa, Peru.

The Bache instrument had been very productive in Cambridge, so Draper ordered a new 8-inch telescope that would be used there instead of the Bache telescope.³ Several other instruments from the Drapers’ collection, along with other assorted apparatus, including lenses and prisms, were given over to the work of the Draper Memorial or purchased as needed.

In 1888, Pickering issued a further appeal for donations with the aim of implementing his astrophotographic agenda for the inventory and mapping of the heavens. This resulted in a gift, which, as Pickering had hoped, provided a larger telescope and lens for the project. Catherine Wolfe Bruce, a philanthropist who happened to be a devotee of astronomical science, had received a sizable inheritance from her father. She agreed to provide $50,000 toward building a 24-inch photographic telescope.

Bruce was so enthusiastic about funding astronomical endeavors, and Pickering was so persuasive in convincing her of the great need for support of astronomical institutions in general, that she agreed to participate in worthy efforts at observatories worldwide. The two accepted applications for funding and chose “five scientists in the United States to receive her support,” along with 10 other grants to astronomers working in England, Norway, Russia, India, and Africa.⁴

Following installation and testing in Cambridge beginning in 1893, the Bruce telescope was conveyed to Arequipa in 1896. Pickering himself donated $100,000 of his own money, anonymously, to further assist the project. Additional income was derived from the bequest of Robert Treat Paine, grandson of one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence, who was a lawyer and an amateur astronomer and left $250,000 to the observatory.

References

1. Bessie Z. Jones and Lyle G. Boyd, Harvard College Observatory. The First Four Directorships (Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 228, doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674418806.
2. Ibid., pp. 246–252.
3. Dorrit Hoffleit, “Evolution of the Draper Memorial,” Vistas in Astronomy, 34, 1991, 107–162, on p. 118, doi:10.1016/0083-6656(91)90022-K.
4. Dava Sobel, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars (Viking, 2016), p. 48.

Cite this resource

Bretislav Friedrich and Maria McEachern, “The Henry Draper Memorial and the role of philanthropy,” Harvard College Observatory history guide, American Institute of Physics, 2026, https://www.aip.org/history/harvard-observatory/draper-memorial-philanthropy.

Note that this material was originally developed in concert with the Williamina Fleming history guide as part of the Women in the History of Quantum Physics collection.