Sky and Telescope - November 2016 - 24

S &T Beginnings

DEEP SKY HISTORY The Telescope got its start at Perkins Observatory (left) on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University just before the completion of the observatory's 69-inch reﬂector in the early 1930s. Walter Scott Houston (right) was a 20th-century amateur astronomy icon and one of
S&T's many longtime contributors. He penned the Deep-Sky Wonders column for 47 years prior to his death in 1993.

costing $25,000. We wonder if you and Helen would like
to take it over. You can have an oﬃce in the planetarium
basement." It's unknown how the museum ﬁgured its
annual cost at $25,000, but somehow Charlie and Helen
felt they could keep the magazine alive without the
museum's ﬁnancial support other than free oﬃce space.
The couple formed Sky Publishing Corporation in
late 1939 and oﬃcially took over ownership and management of The Sky with the January 1940 issue. Charlie
became the editor and Helen the managing editor.
"We shall try to make the magazine meet the needs of
amateur astronomy," they told readers, "so that amateur
astronomers will come to regard it as essential to their
pursuit, and professionals to consider it a worthwhile
medium in which to bring their work before the public."
While these events were unfolding in New York, 500
miles to the west in Delaware, Ohio, The Telescope was
getting its start at Perkins Observatory on the campus of
Ohio Wesleyan University. In the 1920s the university's
trustees committed to the construction of a 60-inch
reﬂector and associated observatory. An oversized glass
blank for the primary mirror was cast in 1927, and it was
deemed of suﬃcient quality to make a mirror 69 inches
in diameter, which would gather 32% more light than a
60-inch. It would also rank the Perkins reﬂector as the
third-largest operating telescope in the world.
As the mirror neared completion, observatory director Harlan T. Stetson started a small-format publication
called The Telescope to keep the public up to date with
the happenings at the observatory and to help popularize
astronomy. The ﬁrst 12-page issue appeared in March
1931. It continued quarterly until summer 1933, when the
format was slightly enlarged. A 6-month gap followed
the October printing before an 8-page issue came out in
April 1934. This one, however, included an upbeat note
saying that The Telescope, like Stetson, was moving east
to Cambridge, where future issues would be produced
24

November 2016 sky & telescope

bimonthly "under sponsorship of the Bond Astronomical
Club aﬃ liated with the Harvard Observatory." The next
issues appeared on schedule, with Harvard Observatory's executive secretary Loring B. Andrews acting as
their skillful editor. An annual subscription cost $1.00.
The Telescope was strong on articles about scientiﬁc
ﬁndings written for a popular audience, but it had only
superﬁcial coverage of current celestial events, typically limited to a monthly all-sky chart and a mention of
which constellations held the naked-eye planets.
During the spring of 1937 Andrews left Harvard to do
research in England, and Harlow Shapley, the observatory's director, assigned editorship of The Telescope to
astronomer Donald Menzel. Although highly qualiﬁed
for the job, Menzel was never enthusiastic about his
added responsibilities, writing later in an unpublished
autobiography, "Frankly, it was a pain in the neck."
Nevertheless, he improved the look and content of the
magazine, occasionally including articles for observers.

The Merger
On April 1, 1939, the New York World's Fair opened with
the theme "Building the World of Tomorrow." Science
and technology were on grand display, and the fair drew
almost 45 million visitors before its gates closed in October 1940. During the fair's ﬁrst season, Charlie Federer
was deeply involved with establishing a national federation of amateur astronomy clubs; it would eventually
become today's Astronomical League (Shapley's name,
according to Charlie). Included in the plan was a big
meeting of amateurs, and Shapley, who was in favor of
an amateur federation and had met Charlie earlier when
a group of New York amateurs visited Harvard, accepted
an invitation to give a public lecture on astronomy at
the World's Fair. On August 19th, a "drenching" rain
soaked the fairgrounds. After those present retreated
under a tent, Charlie and Helen spent time talking with

Sky and Telescope - November 2016

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