It is difficult to overestimate the historical significance of Clark refracting telescopes to the history of astronomy. Deborah Jean Warner of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has been researching the life and work of Alvan Clark for nearly 30 years. The product of her research is the book, Alvan Clark and Sons: Artists in Optics , Wilmann Bell, Inc., 1996. The 1968 edition of this book is available in the Government Documents section at the Bailey Howe Library at UVM. In the 1996 edition of this book, the UVM 9-inch Clark refractor is included in the catalog of known Clark telescopes. Other similar Clark refractors in New England include the 8-inch at Mt. Holyoke College, manufactured in 1880.(2)
Although no documentation has been found in the UVM archives which positively identifies the donor of a gift of a 9-inch Clark telescope to the university, there is strong evidence that this telescope was once housed in an observatory (click here for a newpaper article) on the St. Albans, Vermont estate of Edward Curtis Smith, who was Governor of the State of Vermont from 1898 until 1900.(3) Edward Curtis Smith died in 1934, and one possibility is that his wife survived him, and that she gave the telescope to UVM in 1939. No record of this gift was found in the UVM Trustees Minutes for the period 1935-41.
The Smithsonian Institution does not possess documents which tie the UVM 9-inch Clark telescope to Edward Curtis Smith, but Deborah Warner of the Smithsonian has found documents which show that Edward Curtis Smith purchased a 4-inch Clark telescope in 1903. Timothy D. Smith , a grandson of Edward Curtis Smith, remembers a portable telescope owned by his grandfather, which was kept at a Camp Madawaska, on Lake Victoria in Ontario, which was owned by the Smith family. A 4-inch Clark was small enough that it could have been mounted on a portable tripod, and it seems likely that this was the telescope remembered by Timothy Smith. Thus the probable scenario regarding the aquisition of Clark telescopes by Edward Curtis Smith is that he purchased a portable 4-inch Clark in 1903, and then bought the 9-inch Clark telescope, which required a permanent observatory mount, in 1905.(4)
The earliest known reference to the 9-inch Clark Refractor in the UVM archives is an article entitled Prof. Butterfield Visions Observatory , which appeared on p. 42 of the November 1939 issue of Vermont Alumnus . The article refers to a newly aquired 9-inch equatorial telescope which was the basis for an observatory envisioned by Prof. A. D. Butterfield, Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Geodesy. This article is in error, because it states that the telescope was once owned by Ex-Governor Gregory Smith of St. Albans. This is not possible because J. Gregory Smith, who was Vermont's governor from 1863 until 1865, died in 1890, and the telescope was manufactured in 1905. The confusion which led to this error is understandable because the owner of this telescope was probably Ex-Governor Edward Curtis Smith, the son of J. Gregory Smith. The confusion might also be associated with the fact that one of Edward Curtis Smith's three sons was named Gregory.
When the telescope arrived at UVM in 1939, Professor
Butterfield was 69 years old, so it seems likely that he would have retired
from teaching within a few years, and with his retirement, there may not
have been another professor sufficiently interested to continue to push
for the building of an observatory. Another obvious distraction would have
been the onset of World War II. The result was that the telescope ended
up in storage in the basement of the UVM Land Records Office for about
30 years. The probable reason for the choice of the Land Records Office
as the telescope storage location was the Prof. Butterfield founded the
UVM Land Records Office, and he continued to be involved with the work
of this office after he retired from teaching. Prof. Butterfield died in
1955, and the telescope was all but forgotten.(5)
In a memorandum dated May 6, 1971, from A. D. Crowell to UVM President E. C. Andrews, Prof. Crowell refers to the VAS proposal regarding a "9-inch refracting telescope...acquired many years ago from the Governor Smith estate in St.Albans". He further states, "I have been aware of this instrument for some time, although I have never seen it, nor to my knowledge has it ever been used by the university". In this memo to President Andrews, Prof. Crowell relates the fact that there had been an offer to buy this telescope some ten years earlier, but that he had recommended that the instrument should be kept until it could be determined whether or not it could be useful in developing a program in astronomy at UVM. In this regard, Prof. Crowell subsequently consulted two highly regarded astronomers, Frank Drake at Cornell University, and Bart Bok of the University of Arizona. Both Drake and Bok were of the opinion that the cost of housing, mounting, and adjusting the 9-inch Clark telescope would be more than it would be worth, and that it would be more economical to obtain a modern 12 or 14-inch reflecting telescope.
On that basis, Prof. Crowell recommended that the telescope be loaned to the Vermont Astronomical Society. The loan was subsequently approved, and an observatory was built on a site located on Poker Hill Road about three miles above Underhill, Vermont, on property owned by Robert F. Patterson. The installation of the 9-inch Clark in this observatory was completed July 20, 1974. In 1980, the lease expired at the Underhill observatory site, and VAS was forced to build a new observatory at a site on West Oak Hill Road in Williston, Vermont. The 9-inch Clark telescope was installed in the Williston observatory in July 1983.
As fate would have it, in the summer of 1989,
VAS was forced to abandon the Williston observatory. By this time, the
level of disappointment within the VAS membership must have been very high,
since they had invested a large amount of time and money in the construction
of two observatories to house the 9-inch Clark telescope, only to lose
their lease on each of these observatory sites. A search for a more permanent
home for the telescope was unsuccessful, and the telescope base, the equatorial
mount, and the telescope tube, were crated and returned to the UVM Physics
Department in 1989. For safe-keeping, the objective lens cell was put into
storage in a bank vault in Middlebury. This lens cell was turned over to
the UVM Physics Department in 1995.(7)
2. The largest refracting telescope in the world was manufactured by Alvan Clark and Sons in 1897. This is the 40-inch refractor at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The telescope tube of the Yerkes refractor is 60 feet long !
3. Edward Curtis Smith was the son of J. Gregory Smith, who was Governor of Vermont from 1863 until 1865. J. Gregory Smith graduated from UVM in 1838, and received a law degree from Yale in 1841. Edward Curtis Smith owned the Vermont Central Railroad, and he founded the People's Trust Company in St.Albans, and the Sherman National Bank in New York City. (2/19/96 phone conversation with Wilma Cowie.)
Two of the grandsons of Edward Curtis Smith, Timothy D. Smith and William G. Smith, remember the observatory on their grandfather's St. Albans estate, which was known as Seven Acres. In addition, Timothy remembers the telescope to be "a 9-inch", and that the telescope was given to UVM, but he did not remember when it was given or by whom. He was told by his father, Gregory Smith, that his grandfather's interest in astronomy was primarily philosophical in nature. (2/4/96 phone convesations with Timothy Smith and William Smith.)
Wilma Cowie of Underhill remembers when her girl scout troop was invited for dinner at Seven Acres in about 1933. After dinner, the girl scouts all had a chance to look through the telescope. Wilma remembers that she sat on the top step of a ladder as she looked at Mars through a telescope. Edward C. Smith was present for this observing session, but the telescope was operated by "a man from Montreal". (2/4/96 phone conversation with Wilma Cowie.)
Ralph Paquette of St. Albans served as caretaker at Seven Acres for 40 years starting in 1942, and he had been familiar with the estate prior to 1942, because his father also seved as caretaker for this property. Mr. Paquette remembered seeing the telescope, and he confirmed that the dimensions of the telescope were consistent with those of the UVM 9-inch Clark telescope. He stated that the telescope had been removed from the observatory building prior to 1942. Mr. Paquette estimated the observatory to be about 24'x24', with a dome about 18' in diameter. During the years that he worked at Seven Acres, the observatory building was used for storage. (2/19/96 phone conversation with Ralph Paquette.)
4. Camp Madawaska was sold soon after WWII to Garfield Weston of the Weston Store chain in Canada, and Timothy Smith thinks the 4-inch telescope went as part of the sale. Weston has since died and left the camp to the Salvation Army, and the camp is currently used as a recreational camp for youngsters from British and Canadian slums. It is thus possible that this 4-inch telescope is still in use at Camp Madawaska. (Letter from Timothy Smith, dated 2/14/96.)
5. Information regarding Prof. A. D. Butterfield was obtained from Mary Gauthier at the UVM Land Records Office.
6. The history of the 9-inch Clark telescope from 1974 until 1989 was taken from the web-page of the Vermont Astronomical Society. This information was gathered by Jack St.Louis, who had been a member of VAS since 1968.
7. Documents regarding the loan of the UVM 9-inch
Clark telescope to the Vermont Astronomical Society were gathered
by Mary Gauthier at the UVM Land Records Office.
