Sky & Telescope - April 2025 - 33

ber) be induced to publish his Astronomical Journal (revived in
1885) as a society organ.
The question of whether the Brooklyn-based AAS should
merge with the Brooklyn Institute was put to the active members
for a vote. The ayes won by a margin of eight to three.
Thus was born the Astronomical Department of the Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences, which held its first meeting
under its new name in June 1888.
After the Name Change
The second scrapbook reveals that as the Brooklyn Institute's
Astronomical Department, the renamed AAS did not
die; instead, it retained the same organizational structure,
the same officers, and the same meeting procedures. But its
membership and average attendance grew rapidly. So, what
had changed?
First, it received an infusion of funds, plus access to the
Brooklyn Institute's infrastructure for handling dues, printing
meeting notices, and publicizing activities. Yet the biggest
benefit was Hooper's gentle but innovative management,
teamed with Serviss's involvement as the group's long-serving
president (White was gone, having been elected to Congress
in 1886).
By the 1890s, the Astronomical Department was hosting
talks on current research by such well-known professional
astronomers as George Ellery Hale, James E. Keeler, Percival
Lowell, David Peck Todd, and professional telescope maker
John A. Brashear. In fact, Hale (then in his twenties) took
such an interest in the group's activities that he attended several
board meetings and contributed lantern slides and other
items. Meanwhile, the Astronomical Department's membership
rose rapidly to about 250; monthly meeting attendance
averaged about 150 but occasionally swelled to more than
1,000 for famous speakers. This pattern lasted well into the
mid-20th century.
In his recollections of 1940, Way recounted, " The secretary
had kept a very careful record of all our meetings, " and " The
librarian of our department kept scrap-books containing the
articles from the newspapers, and the entire manuscripts of
the papers that had been presented. " But at some point the
early documents were haphazardly packed away, and many
were later ruined by rainwater. Some materials were rescued,
but most disappeared entirely - until the 1970s, when the
scrapbooks described in this article reappeared.
Legacy of the Brooklyn AAS
Timing suggests that the founding of the first AAS in January
1883 may have inspired the foundation of other astronomical
societies around the nation. The Sidereal Messenger reported
the subsequent creation of astronomical societies in Baltimore,
Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, and elsewhere
in the 1880s and 1890s. The Baltimore group even followed
the pattern of the AAS's evolution, eventually merging with
the newly re-founded (1897) Maryland Academy of Sciences.
Such inspiration clearly extended to the professionals. On
An Enduring
Astronomical Society
" Astronomy was well established as a discipline by the
late 19th century, but not as a profession, " write historians
Brant L. Sponberg and David H. DeVorkin. " Most
astronomers spent the bulk of their efforts teaching. "
So, in 1899, George Ellery Hale and Simon Newcomb
- arguably the two best-known astronomers in the U.S.
- spearheaded an effort to organize American astronomy
around a new national organization. Initially called
the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America,
it became the American Astronomical Society in 1914.
Today the AAS pursues a vision to " create a world
where all people value and benefit from a scientific
understanding of our universe. " Headquartered in
Washington, DC, the society convenes two national
meetings each year, along with annual meetings of its
six discipline-specific divisions. The AAS also publishes
four professional journals and (since acquiring it in
2019) Sky & Telescope.
- J. KELLY BEATTY
New Year's Day 1889, Lick director Holden, one of the Brooklyn
AAS's old friends, used the occasion of a total solar eclipse
across California to establish the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific (still active today), in part to form a nationwide group
joining amateur and professional astronomers.
Ten years later, professional astronomers co-led by Hale,
then director of Yerkes Observatory, founded the Astronomical
and Astrophysical Society of America (AASA). At least 18
of its 113 charter members were current or former corresponding
members of the Brooklyn-based AAS.
For the nine charter AASA officers, the contact was even
closer: six had past or ongoing contact with the Brooklyn
group under either name, including its early supporters Hale,
Pickering, and Young. The exact significance of those contacts
is unknown, but the AASA's founders were clearly aware of
the Brooklyn group.
In 1914, the AASA was renamed the American Astronomical
Society (AAS), which now boasts 8,200 active members -
including a special category for amateur astronomers!
¢ Contributing Editor TRUDY E. BELL has been a staff editor
for Scientific American and IEEE Spectrum. Her journalism
and research awards include the David N. Schramm Award
from the American Astronomical Society (2006). She thanks
the archivists at the American Museum of Natural History and
the Brooklyn Museum for generously providing access to the
first scrapbook of the AAS and to early issues of the Brooklyn
Institute's Year Book, along with the late historian Craig B. Waff
for Brooklyn newspaper articles from the 1880s and 1890s.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * APRIL 2025 33
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