Manuscripts

Postcards, photographs, and ephemera

Description: Six binders of Mount Wilson postcards, historical brochures, and other ephemera such as stickers, admission tickets, and flyers; related to the hotel and resort once located there as well as Mount Wilson Observatory. Photographs are also interspersed throughout the binders, primarily press photographs of the observatory telescopes, and astronomers including Edwin Hubble, James Jeans, Albert Michelson, Seth Nicholson, and John Strong.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1903-1970
Call number: mssThacher
Creator: Thacher, Michael(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Michael Thacher, September 2025, October 2025, and November 2025.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Michael Thacher collection on Mount Wilson

Manuscripts

Correspondence, photographs, and ephemera related to Mount Wilson and the observatory located there, collected by writer Michael Thacher. Correspondence includes letters from astronomer Harlow Shapley related to potential talks and appearances, book publication, and salary difficulties for scientists; and letters from a variety of astronomers involved with the Mount Wilson Observatory, either as administrators, visiting astronomers, or lecturers. The collection also includes a photograph album of black and white photographs taken by astronomer and photographer Ferdinand Ellerman; press photographs of Edwin Hubble, James Jeans, Albert Michelson, Seth Nicholson, and John Strong; postcards depicting Mount Wilson Observatory, trails, hotel, and views; and brochures and other ephemera.

mssThacher

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Correspondence

Manuscripts

Primarily correspondence, including a group of individual letters from astronomers associated with Mount Wilson Observatory about a variety of subjects. Authors include Olin Wilson, Halton Arp, Horace W. Babcock, William A. Baum, George Ellery Hale, Walter Adams, Ira Sprague Bowen, Armin Joseph Deutsch, Robert Kraft, Seth Barnes Nicholson, Robert Howard, and Allan Sandage. A press photograph of James Jeans and Edwin Hubble is also included with this group. There are also two photographs of Harlow Shapley, and 14 letters from Shapley to a variety of correspondents, related to potential talks, book publication, salary difficulties for scientists, possible TV series work, and other appearances.

mssThacher

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Photographs: Sun (1917). 4 items

Manuscripts

The papers consist of Francis Pease's research papers. It contains correspondence, manuscripts, Pease's notes (including his work notes, many of which contain various drawings and diagrams by him), reprints, photographs, etc. Topics covered in the collection are numerous and include the Mount Wilson Observatory, the Yerkes Observatory, astronomy and astronomers. The majority of it relates to Pease's research on the speed-of-light (highlighting his manuscript with Albert A. Michelson), Ether drift, his observations of the Moon, the Sun, Jupiter, star diameters, galaxies, nebulae, as well as his work on interferometers, and the design and construction of telescopes.

mssPease papers

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Photographs: Jupiter (1920). 2 items

Manuscripts

mssPease papers

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Photographs: Moon (1919). 5 items

Manuscripts

mssPease papers

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Photographs: Spectrums [undated]. 3 items

Manuscripts

mssPease papers

Postcards, photographs, and ephemera

Opening Hours

Admission Info and Tickets

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Michael Thacher collection on Mount Wilson

Correspondence

Photographs: Sun (1917). 4 items

Photographs: Jupiter (1920). 2 items

Photographs: Moon (1919). 5 items

Photographs: Spectrums [undated]. 3 items