Skip to content

Manuscripts

Echo I satellite, Palomar Mountain Observatory, and other space initiatives


You might also be interested in

  • Image not available

    Roster of guests at Edgewood Tavern, dedication of Palomar Mountain Road from Crestline to the Two Hundred Inch Telescope site

    Manuscripts

    Guest book from the dedication ceremony of Palomar Mountain Road running from Crestline to the site of the Hale Telescope. Signed by a variety of prominent astronomers, including Walter Sydney Adams, John August Anderson, and Francis Gladheim Pease.

    mssHM 74167

  • Image not available

    Atoms for Peace and Atomic Energy Act

    Manuscripts

    Includes first day covers for the Atoms for Peace campaign signed by Edward Teller and Lewis L. Strauss (1896-1974) (Items 55-56, 1955). Also includes an Atomic Energy Commission postcard commemorating James O'Brien McMahon (1903-1952) and featuring stamps for the Atoms for Peace campaign and the Atomic Energy Act, signed by several people, including Glenn T. Seaborg and Robert R. Wilson (1914-2000) (Item 57, 1962); and first day covers for the Atomic Energy Act signed by J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), Glenn T. Seaborg, and Edward Teller (Items 58-60, 1962).

    mssBurndyAutographedDocuments

  • Image not available

    Series I. Autographed Documents

    Manuscripts

    Items include a typed statement written by British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) regarding the Israel Institute of Technology's decision to name buildings in his honor, dated 1954, November 20 (Item 3); a letter written by American-British entrepreneur, philanthropist, and director of the Atlantic Cable Company George Peabody (1795-1869) to Pliny Miles, Esquire, regarding a piece of Atlantic cable (Item 34); a photograph of American physicist William Shockley (1910-1989), signed beneath his sketch of a transistor (Item 40); and a legal agreement from Rensselaer County, New York, dated 1791, September 22, between Wouter Knickerbacker (1712-1797?) and Enoch Leonard (approximately 1755-1810), signed by Knickerbacker and by John Van Rensselaer (1708-1793?) (Item 49).

    mssBurndyAutographedDocuments

  • Image not available

    Dome of Palomar Observatory

    Visual Materials

    This collection contains photographs, negatives, and some ephemera chiefly collected by California conservationist and editor William H. Thrall (1873-1963) for use in Trails magazine. Thrall served as managing editor of the publication from 1934 to 1939, which was produced to encourage the use of mountain trails and outdoor recreation in Los Angeles County. The collection includes approximately 1200 prints (Boxes 1-4); 68 glass negatives (Boxes 7-8); approximately 2300 film negatives; 150 slides; and miscellaneous documents and ephemera, and a folding pocket camera. The photographs primarily date from the 1930s, but also include copy prints (and some originals) of late 19th and early 20th photographs. The images depict mountain and forested landscapes and outdoor recreational activities including hiking, skiing, and camping, chiefly in the San Gabriel Mountains and surrounding mountains of Southern California. Many of the photographs include individuals involved in recreational activities as well images of historical mountain pioneers. The photographs chiefly consist of 4.5 x 2.75 inch snapshots and 8 x 10 and 6 x 10 inch prints, by photographers including Dan P. Alexander, Carl H. Bauer, Harlow Dormer, C. C. Vernon, and Thrall. There is also a group of glass plate negatives and film negatives, including a group of unprinted film negatives that appear to be personal photographs with views of nature, groups of people, family scenes, buildings, boating, and trips, in the 1930s-1950s (Box 15). The film negatives have handwritten numbers presumably assigned by Thrall. Many of the prints appear in Trails magazine, which was published quarterly by the Mountain League of Southern California from Winter 1934 to Spring 1939 (Volume 6, No. 1). In Autumn 1941, the Southern California Outdoor Federation began publishing a new edition of Trails Magazine (without Thrall as editor), but only two issues were published (Volume 2, Nos. 1-2).

    photCL 481

  • Image not available

    Dibner Autographed Documents and First Day Covers collection

    Manuscripts

    This collection contains 74 items, chiefly documents including letters, postcards, typescripts, photographs, handwritten notes, and blank cards, autographed by leading figures in the sciences, including multiple Nobel Prize winners; several documents contain multiple signatures. The collection also includes autographed 20 first day covers, mostly stamps dedicated to science-related themes such as nuclear energy, communications, electronics, space exploration, and naval aviation; dates of these items range from 1948-1973. Signatures on various types of documents include those of British explorer John Franklin (1786-1847); Joseph Henry (1797-1878), first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; American medical physicist Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921-2011); American medical researcher Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993); polar explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922); and American president Herbert Hoover (1874-1964). Many of the autographed letters are addressed to R. Frederick Allen of Lewiston, Maine, often in response to birthday greetings or other communications from Allen, and several autographed items are accompanied by information about the signers in the form of clippings or typed or handwritten annotations. The first day covers commemorate developments and events including the Atoms for Peace campaign (initiated in 1953) and the Atomic Energy Act (1962); the launch of Echo I, the world's first communications satellite, in 1960; the dedication of the Palomar Mountain Observatory, Palomar Mountain, California, in 1948; and various other innovations and innovators. Signatures on first day covers include those of Edward Teller (1908-2003), on Atoms for Peace covers; Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), on a cover featuring Echo I (1960); J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), on a cover marking the Atomic Energy Act (1962); Jonas Salk (1914-1995), on a cover honoring those battling polio (1957); and Donald W. Douglas (1892-1981), on two covers celebrating the 50th anniversary of naval aviation (1961).

    mssBurndyAutographedDocuments

  • Image not available

    Container List

    Manuscripts

    This collection contains 74 items, chiefly documents including letters, postcards, typescripts, photographs, handwritten notes, and blank cards, autographed by leading figures in the sciences, including multiple Nobel Prize winners; several documents contain multiple signatures. The collection also includes autographed 20 first day covers, mostly stamps dedicated to science-related themes such as nuclear energy, communications, electronics, space exploration, and naval aviation; dates of these items range from 1948-1973. Signatures on various types of documents include those of British explorer John Franklin (1786-1847); Joseph Henry (1797-1878), first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; American medical physicist Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921-2011); American medical researcher Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993); polar explorer Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922); and American president Herbert Hoover (1874-1964). Many of the autographed letters are addressed to R. Frederick Allen of Lewiston, Maine, often in response to birthday greetings or other communications from Allen, and several autographed items are accompanied by information about the signers in the form of clippings or typed or handwritten annotations. The first day covers commemorate developments and events including the Atoms for Peace campaign (initiated in 1953) and the Atomic Energy Act (1962); the launch of Echo I, the world's first communications satellite, in 1960; the dedication of the Palomar Mountain Observatory, Palomar Mountain, California, in 1948; and various other innovations and innovators. Signatures on first day covers include those of Edward Teller (1908-2003), on Atoms for Peace covers; Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), on a cover featuring Echo I (1960); J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), on a cover marking the Atomic Energy Act (1962); Jonas Salk (1914-1995), on a cover honoring those battling polio (1957); and Donald W. Douglas (1892-1981), on two covers celebrating the 50th anniversary of naval aviation (1961).

    mssBurndyAutographedDocuments