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Wright (Frederic Eugene) Papers
mssWright
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Frederic Eugene Wright papers
Creator:
Wright, F. E. (Frederic Eugene), 1877-1953.
Identifier/Call Number: mssWright
Physical Description:
3.71 Linear Feet
(7 boxes, 3 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1924-1961
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of
American optician and geophysicist Frederic Eugene Wright (1877-1953), who served as the
chair of the "Committee on Study of Surface Feature of Moon" of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington. The majority of the collection deals with the history of science and Wright's
research of the physical features of the moon.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
RESTRICTED: Box 5: housed in cold storage; extended retrieval and delivery time
required.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Frederic Eugene Wright papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Deposit, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection, 1988.
Approximately fifty additional separate collections form the Mount Wilson Papers of the
Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and are available for research in
the Manuscripts Department of the Huntington Library.
Frederic Eugene Wright (1877-1953) was an eminent optician and geophysicist. His various
specialties included the physical features of the surface of the moon, and in 1925, he was
appointed the chair of the "Committee on Study of Surface Feature of Moon" of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington. In addition to Wright, the committee consisted of W. S. Adams and
F. G. Pease (Mt. Wilson Observatory), A. L. Day (Geophysical Laboratory of the Institution),
John P. Buwalda and Paul S. Epstein (California Institute of Technology), and W. W. Campbell
(Lick Observatory). Wright remained at the Carnegie Institution until his retirement in
1944. At the time of his death, he was considered the foremost authority on the Moon.
This collection contains material ranging from correspondence to various types of research
materials to clippings and reprints of articles of newspapers, magazines, and academic
journals. The majority of the collection deals with the history of science and Wright's
research of the physical features of the moon. The collection is composed of four sections
in accordance with the types of sources: correspondence, manuscripts, research materials,
and ephemera. The correspondence is contained in Box 1, while the manuscripts are housed in
Boxes 1 and 2. Research materials occupy Boxes 2-5, divided into five sub-sections: unbound
research materials, research materials in folders, bound research materials, photographs,
including some taken by Charles A. Lindbergh, and negatives. The Ephemera section is
contained in Boxes 5 and 6. The items in each section and sub-section are placed in
chronological order. Correspondence indicates the ways in which Wright advanced the research
project of the Committee on Study of Surface Feature of Moon as well as in which he shaped
his ideas and conducted his research in relation to other scholars; he asked other scholars
research questions and was asked by them. Wright regularly corresponded with administrators
at the Carnegie Institution, such as W. M. Gilbert and John Merriam, and the committee
members in California, updating each other on the project. Also he communicated with other
scholars in the field including R. A. Daly at Harvard, W. H. Pickering at an observatory in
Jamaica, George Hale at the California Institute of Technology, Harlow Shapley at the
Harvard College Observatory, C. P. Oliver at the University of Pennsylvania, Ernest Brown at
Yale, Jesse L. Greenstein at the Harvard College Observatory, Otto Struve at the University
of California, Berkeley, and Henry Norris Russell at Princeton. Manuscripts and research
materials tell us exactly what Wright thought and did in terms of his research project.
Manuscripts include the reports of the committee and drafts of talks he gave to various
audiences. Research materials are a nice collection of research data (graphs and tables),
research notes, and visual sources such as photographs and negatives. The ephemera section
also contributes to tracing the trajectory of Wright's ideas, composed of clippings of
articles regarding the moon from newspapers and magazines and reprints of his own published
papers.
Processed by Go Oyagi in May 2011. In March 2023, transparencies in box 5 were moved to
cold storage; Maggie Hughes updated the finding aid to reflect that the non-photographic
material formerly in box 5 was moved to box 7.
Former call number: mssWright papers.
Organized in the following series: correspondence, manuscripts, research materials, and
ephemera.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Astronomers -- Correspondence
Astronomical observatories -- California -- Wilson, Mount
(Mountain)
Astronomy -- United States -- History -- 20th century --
Sources
Astronomy -- Research
Lunar geology
Moon.
Moon -- Photographs
Moon -- Surface
Letters (correspondence) -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Research (document genres) -- 20th century
Adams, Walter S. (Walter Sydney), 1876-1956
Brown, Ernest W. (Ernest William), 1866-1938
Daly, Reginald Aldworth, 1871-1957
Greenstein, Jesse L. (Jesse Leonard), 1909-2002
Hale, George Ellery, 1868-1938
Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974
Merriam, John C. (John Campbell), 1869-1945
Oliver, Charles P.
Pickering, William H. (William Henry), b. 1858
Russell, Henry Norris, 1877-1957
Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972
Struve, Otto, 1897-1963
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Mount Wilson Observatory -- History --
Sources
Mount Wilson Observatory. Committee on Study of the Surface Features
of the Moon