Willard P. Gerrish papers, 1874-1937

(bulk 1896-1920)

John Hay Library, Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title:	Willard P. Gerrish papers
Date range:	1874-1937, (bulk 1896-1920)
Creator:	Gerrish, Willard P. (Willard Peabody), b. 1866
Abstract:	The Willard P. Gerrish papers include a travel journal, specifications, blueprints and photographs of various telescopes and mounts, along with related technical writings by Gerrish on specific engineering projects, from 1896 to 1920. Household receipts and correspondence comprise a large portion of the collection. Also included are legal documents and correspondence regarding the estate of his father, William H. Gerrish, and high school copy books belonging to his sisters Isabel and Mary.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, Special Collections
Collection number:	Ms.2005.80

Scope & content

The Gerrish papers are a collection of personal and scientific writings that cover a period of about twenty-five years. The lengthiest document is Gerrish's handwritten manuscript account of an 1896 voyage to Japan to view a total eclipse of the sun, titled "Journal of [the] voyage of Yacht Coronet: San Francisco to Hawaiian Islands and Japan." It is a detailed personal journal of his trans-Pacific crossing; among his party were Prof. David Todd, an astronomer from Amherst, Massachusetts, and his wife Mabel Loomis Todd, also known as a champion of Emily Dickinson's poetry. Although the Journal itself ends with the party's arrival in Japan, it is accompanied by the handwritten draft of a letter from Gerrish to Todd describing technical details of the actual observation.

Two copies of the "Telegraphic Cipher Code: Gerrish System" (1906) along with several short studies are included in the collection. There are also photographs of various telescopes and mounts, along with related specifications and informal notes in Gerrish's hand.

Also included are household receipts for the period from 1907 to 1920, and personal as well as professional correspondence from the years 1874 to 1919. Much of the correspondence regards Willard Gerrish's technical work, but there are also examples of the overlap of personal and professional, such as an 1896 letter from fellow-astronomer George Hale congratulating him on his recent marriage.

Series 2 of the papers is a collection of high school copy books belonging to Gerrish's sisters Isabel and Mary. There is also a folder of correspondence, inventories and legal papers that concern the estate of William H. Gerrish, Willard's father.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Gerrish, Isabel F.
• Gerrish, Mary L.
• Gerrish, Mary Wylie
• Gerrish, Willard P. (Willard Peabody), b. 1866
• Gerrish, William H.
• Pickering, Edward C. (Edward Charles), 1846-1919

Subject Organizations

• Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory (Harvard University)
• Harvard College Observatory

Subject Topics

• Astronomers
• Telescopes

Document Types

• Bills of sale
• Clippings
• Diaries
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Manuscripts
• Photographs
• receipts

Subject Topics

• Science and Technology

Arrangement

This collection is divided into two series:

• Series 1. Willard P. Gerrish correspondence and papers
• Series 2. Gerrish family papers

Biographical note

Willard Peabody Gerrish was born in 1866 and worked at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory and, later, at Harvard College Observatory during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was hired by Abbot Lawrence Rotch as the first observer at Blue Hill when it opened in 1885, where he kept an ongoing account of the climate. After graduation from MIT in 1887 Gerrish eventually became an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard College Observatory, where he worked under Edward C. Pickering and, later, Harlow Shapley. Shortly after traveling to Yokohama, Japan, to view the August 9, 1896, total solar eclipse, he married Mary Wylie and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They bought the Sir Henry Frankland Garden estate, in Ashland, Massachusetts, in 1911.

His tenure at Harvard College Observatory coincided with Pickering's advancement of the fields of astrophotography and spectroscopy, and Gerrish applied his mechanical skills to the development of telescope drives and other apparatus that would more precisely track celestial movement. He created, with Pickering, the Pickering Polaris Attachment, a telescope attachment that enabled the viewer to easily determine true north. He also designed a telescope known as the "Gerrish Polar Mount", as well as a telegraphic cipher code called "The Gerrish System," which was used to communicate astronomical information.

Gerrish was a sportsman and outdoorsman. He co-founded the Camp Ossipee Association in 1893, which promoted outdoor sports and the natural sciences. He was the licensed pilot and owner of a pleasure steamer.

Willard P. Gerrish died on November 10, 1951.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Willard P. Gerrish papers, Ms. 2005.80, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The Willard P. Gerrish papers were purchased in two parts by Brown University in 2005.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Deborah Peterson.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-02-27

Additional Information

Other information:

Brown University Library catalog record for this collection: Willard P. Gerrish papers

Inventory

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