Sam Wassink, Metadata Librarian
On July 29, 1878, a group of astronomers from around the country gathered at the S.W. Lomax Farm outside of Fort Worth to study and photograph a total solar eclipse. Reporters from the Fort Worth Daily Democrat wrote that citizens were encouraged to observe the eclipse using a piece of “lightly smoked” glass as a viewing protector and then report their findings. Their results were recorded in several publications.
Leonard B. Waldo of Harvard College (now University) Observatory coordinated the “Fort Worth Eclipse Party” and invited astronomers R. W. Willson, J. K. Rees, W. H. Pulsifer, and F. E. Seagrave to particpate. Waldo then published in 1879, Report of the Observations of the Total Solar Eclipse July 29, 1878, Made at Fort Worth, Texas. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) has in its holdings an original copy of the text, which includes a photograph of the five astronomers and their equipment in a plate at the front of the book.(According to the article, History Was Made in the Shade When “Scientists Scooped Old Sol in Pantherville,” also featured in the photo were Dallas photographer Alfred Freeman and vice president of City National Bank, Alfred M. Britton.) The Report contains detailed explanations of their aims in the introduction and reports from each astronomer as individual chapters. The publication concludes with a summary of observations from others who experienced the event and four more plates with images from the eclipse.
Many things have changed since 1878, but scientists are still drawn to the observation and study of eclipses for what they can teach us about the atmosphere and the nature of the sun. On October 14, 2023, Texas will be in the direct path of an annular solar eclipse with cities like Midland, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi in the path of total annularity. An annular eclipse is created when the moon is farther away from earth and does not fully cover the sun, creating a “ring of fire” around the moon.
To celebrate this annular eclipse the Government Publishing Office is distributing an “eclipse kit” which will be added to the U.S. Documents collection at TSLAC. This kit will contain English and Spanish fact sheets, safety flyers, a pinhole projector activity, eclipse map, and three colorful posters. The comparable kit received in preparation for the total eclipse in 2017 is pictured above, with the the pull-out map featuring the path of totality below.
TSLAC’s U.S. Documents collection includes similar information about past eclipses and may be identified with a search in the online library catalog. To access the materials housed at TSLAC, visit the reading rooms Monday through Friday from 9:00AM to 4:45PM and on Second Saturdays each month from 9:00AM to 4:00PM. Call reference staff at 512-463-5455 or email at ref@tsl.texas.gov to learn more.
Sources:
“History Was Made in the Shade When ‘Scientists Scooped Old Sol in Pantherville’,” posted on July 29, 2019 (https://hometownbyhandlebar.com/?p=26302: accessed October 9, 2023), Hometown by Handlebar (https://hometownbyhandlebar.com/).
Report of the Observations of the Total Solar Eclipse, July 29, 1878, Made at Fort Worth, Texas, edited by Leanord B. Waldo, Cambridge [Mass.] Press of J. Wilson and son, 1879. Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reportobservati00unkngoog/page/n6/mode/2up: accessed October 9, 2023).
“The Sun in Eclipse: How it will be observed here by astronomers.” Fort Worth Daily Democrat. (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 3, No. 16, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 21, 1878, newspaper, July 21, 1878; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1047286/: accessed October 6, 2023), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Fort Worth Public Library.
Total Eclipse, August 21, 2017 Rev 4/17,United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, compiler. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2017.