This series contains records relating to the eclipse expeditions of Lick Observatory staff, as well as the D.O. Mills Expedition to establish and operate a southern-sky observatory in Chile. Materials include correspondence, planning and financial documents, maps, reports, news clippings and press releases, and some photographs.

The Lick Observatory was completed in 1888 and continues to be an active astronomy research facility at the summit of Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California. It is named after James Lick (1796-1876), who left $700,000 in 1875 to purchase land and build a facility that would be home to "a powerful telescope, superior to and more powerful than any telescope yet made". The completion of the Great Lick Refractor in 1888 made the observatory home to the largest refracting telescope in the world for 9 years, until the completion of the 40-inch refractor at Yerkes Observatory in 1897. Since its founding in 1887, the Lick Observatory facility has provided on-site housing on Mount Hamilton for researchers, their families, and staff, making it the world's oldest residential observatory.

6.6 Linear Feet 13 boxes

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Collection is open for research.