Building Shelter at Mt. Whitney, California

Close
Usage Conditions Apply
The Smithsonian Institution Archives welcomes personal and educational use of its collections unless otherwise noted. For commercial uses, please contact photos@si.edu.
Download IIIF ManifestRequest permissionsDownload image Print

Narrow Your Results

Reset

Refine Your Results

Filter Your Results

Expeditions Information

Close Browse records and papers documenting scientific and collecting expeditions either affiliated with the Smithsonian, or with which Smithsonian researchers participated. Pre-set filters help narrow searches by geographic regions predominantly represented in expedition records.
 

Summary

Donkeys carrying people and supplies are in front of the shelter being constructed at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Mount Whitney, California.

Subject

  • Abbot, C. G (Charles Greeley) b. 1872
  • Langley, S. P (Samuel Pierpont) 1834-1906
  • Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
  • Hodgkins Fund and Medal

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

This photograph is also part of neg. # 27205. In 1909, using a grant from the Thomas George Hodgkins Fund, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory erected a shelter atop Mount Whitney, California, for astrophysical researchers. Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906) had been at the site in 1881 and deemed it the best location in the country for meteorological and atmospheric observations. SAO Director (1906-1918) Charles Greeley Abbot, later 5th Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1928-1944, began observations at the site in 1909 and secured the construction of the stone building. Abbot worked with W. W. Campbell, director of the Lick Observatory, in completing the field station. Lick Observatory is part of the University of California Observatories of the University of California on Mt. Hamilton, CA.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7005, Box 187, Folder 3

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1909

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Mountains
  • Construction
  • Observatories
  • Landscapes
  • Animals
  • Astrophysics
  • Atmosphere
  • Mt. Whitney, California
  • Observing (field) stations
  • Astronomy
  • Meteorology
  • Donkeys
  • Mountains--California
  • Atmosphere--Research

Place

  • Whitney, Mount (Calif.)
  • California

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Landscape

ID Number

78-6565

Physical description

Color: Black and White; Size: 10w x 8h; Type of Image: Landscape; Medium: Photographic print

Full Record

View Full Record