Francis H. Chafee Barometric Pressure Readings

University Archives and Special Collections
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Published in 2009

Collection Overview

Title:	Francis H. Chafee Barometric Pressure Readings
Date range:	1929-1990
Creator:	Chafee, Francis H.
Extent:	1 linear foot 1 box
Abstract:	This collections contains the charts of Francis H. Chafee's weekly barometric pressure readings from 1929 to 1990.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	University Archives and Special Collections
Collection number:	Mss. Gr. 186

Scope & content

In the summer of 1929, Francis H. Chafee purchased a Negretti and Zambra model R/5669 recording barometer from the manufacturer in London. The barometer produced graphs of barometric pressure readings on paper charts representing a single week. Chafee began recording with the barometer on the week of September 22, 1929 and, except for a period from 1943 to 1946 when he was in Europe during World War II, continued taking recordings until the week of February 17, 1990. There is a single sheet in the collection from the period of the war: on the week of September 14, 1944, Chafee’s wife, Jane, operated the barometer to record the barometric pressure for an Atlantic hurricane. Readings of barometric pressure for several other hurricanes are also contained in the collection, including the hurricane of September 24, 1938, as well as Hurricanes Edna (September 1954), Hazel (October 1954), Donna (September 1960), and Agnes (June 1972).

For each of the years 1929 through 1981, Chafee glued the weekly charts together to make a continuous graph representing an entire year’s readings. Each year’s graphs were rolled up and marked with the year, or partial year, and location of the readings. From 1929 to 1931 the barometer was used in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Chafee was studying medicine at Harvard Medical School. From 1931 to 1933 the readings were taken in New York City during Chafee’s internship at Presbyterian Hospital. From 1933 until 1981 the barometer kept readings in Providence at four separate locations: 20 Young Orchard Avenue (1933-1936), 454 Angell St. (1936), 12 Humboldt Avenue (1936-April 1978), and 8 Roger Williams Green (November 1978-1981). There is also a small roll representing January and February of 1990.

Charts representing the readings from 1982 through the first week of 1990 have not been glued together or stored in rolls, but have been kept as single sheets in chronological order. There are no locations noted on the loose sheets. The entire collection consists of fifty rolls and the loose sheets. There are various annotations on the sheets representing weather events, changes in location, or notes on servicing of the barometer. The glue on some of the older rolls in the collection has become brittle, and unrolling them causes the sheets to separate.

Arrangement

The Barometirc Pressure Readings collection is divided into one series that contains 50 rolls of barometric pressure readings.

• 1. Barometric Pressure Readings

Biographical note

Francis H. Chafee was born December 12, 1903 in Providence, Rhode Island, the youngest of the six children of Zechariah and Mary Dexter (Sharpe) Chafee. Like his father, his brothers, and his sister Mary, he attended Brown University, graduating in 1927. In June of 1929, Chafee married Jane Spofford, and they later had three children: Richard in 1933, Mary in 1935, and Nathaniel in 1940. After graduating from Brown, Francis attended Harvard Medical School, receiving his M.D. in 1931. He then moved to New York City for an internship at Presbyterian Hospital from 1931 to 1933.

Chafee returned to Providence in November of 1933 and began his medical practice as a staff member at Rhode Island Hospital. In the late 1930s he began specializing as an allergist and founded the Rhode Island Hospital allergy clinic, acting as its Director from 1938 until 1965. He was also a member of the Brown University Division of University Health from 1935 to 1961, and consulted as an allergist at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Butler Health Center, and Miriam Hospital.

During World War II, Chafee served for three years in Europe as a captain, then major, in the Army Medical Corps. He returned to Providence in 1946, again taking up his medical practice, which he continued until 1975. During his career he published 29 research papers and maintained memberships in many professional associations. He was a Fellow in the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Allergy (for which he served as Vice-president in 1968), the American College of Allergists, and the American Medical Association. He was also a member of the American Federation of Clinical Research and the International Society of Allergists, and served as President of the Providence Medical Association in 1955, and of the New England Society of Allergy and the Rhode Island Society of Allergy from 1970 to 1972.

Chafee was also a member of many clubs and associations in Providence, including the AE, Art, Hope, Review, Shop, and University Clubs, as well as the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Sneeze, Wheeze, and Itch Club in Boston.

Chafee also had a number of hobbies. He was an amateur astronomer, spending many summer nights outdoors with a telescope. He also collected books, including numerous editions of Nathaniel Bowditch’s Practical Navigator, which he donated to Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library on his retirement. He developed a lifelong interest in sailing when, during his college years, he sailed along the New England coast. Later, he would spend summers at his house in Sorrento, Maine, sailing on Frenchman Bay. He became the first Secretary of the Sorrento Yacht Club, and was a member of the Sorrento-Sullivan Historical Society. Another of his hobbies, recording barometer readings, is the source of the Francis Chafee Barometric Pressure Readings collection.

Francis Chafee died in East Providence on April 24, 1990 at the age of 86.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	Open for research.
Use of the materials:	Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Preferred citation:	Francis H. Chafee Barometric Pressure Readings, 1929-1990, Ms. 186, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
Contact information:	University Archives and Special Collections 15 Lippitt Road Kingston, RI 02881-2011 Tel: 401-874-4632 email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The records were donated to the University Library Special Collections Unit in 1992 by Francis Chafee’s son, Richard S. Chafee.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by David Sherman.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Hailie D. Posey 2009 June 01, updated by Mark Dionne on 2020 April 8
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory

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Inventory