Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1892-1895 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 volumes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born, 1819; Assistant in the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope (1835-1845), cooperated with Sir Thomas Maclear in the extension of Lacaille's arc; produced oldest known calotypes of people and scenes in Southern Africa with the help of John Herschel; Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Regius Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh (1845-1888), introduced time service for Edinburgh with time ball on the Nelson monument and later a time gun fired from Edinburgh Castle (1861); resigned Fellowship on 7 February 1874 on the Society denying him the reading of his paper on the interpretation of the design of the Great Pyramid, published "The Great Pyramid and the Royal Society"; Became obsessed with the metre - he believed the decimal system was foreign, French, and atheist. Claimed if the pyramids were measured very accurately, it was possible to tell that they were based on the British yard, given by God and built by the Hebrews. Led expeditions to Egypt to measure them accurately to prove this. Use of the yard in the Pyramids proved there were common values between the founders of Egypt and the Anglo-Saxons, and so helped to justify the Conquest of Egypt in 1881-2; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1857; died, 1900.
Repository
Archival history
GB 0117 MS 698 1892-1895 Sub-fonds 3 volumes Smyth , Charles Piazzi , 1819-1900 , astronomer
Born, 1819; Assistant in the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope (1835-1845), cooperated with Sir Thomas Maclear in the extension of Lacaille's arc; produced oldest known calotypes of people and scenes in Southern Africa with the help of John Herschel; Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Regius Professor of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh (1845-1888), introduced time service for Edinburgh with time ball on the Nelson monument and later a time gun fired from Edinburgh Castle (1861); resigned Fellowship on 7 February 1874 on the Society denying him the reading of his paper on the interpretation of the design of the Great Pyramid, published "The Great Pyramid and the Royal Society"; Became obsessed with the metre - he believed the decimal system was foreign, French, and atheist. Claimed if the pyramids were measured very accurately, it was possible to tell that they were based on the British yard, given by God and built by the Hebrews. Led expeditions to Egypt to measure them accurately to prove this. Use of the yard in the Pyramids proved there were common values between the founders of Egypt and the Anglo-Saxons, and so helped to justify the Conquest of Egypt in 1881-2; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1857; died, 1900.
Three volumes of photographs taken by Charles Piazzi Smyth, at Clova, Ripon, North Yorkshire, where he had retired from his post of Astronomer Royal of Scotland. Printed title page in first volume; 'Cloud -Forms that have been; to the glory of God their Creator, and the wonderment of learned men. Recorded by Instant Photographs, taken at Clova, Ripon, in 1892, 1893 and 1894', prefaced by an introduction and compendious name, number and date list; but followed up, after the photographs, by a special, and continuous, day to day, meteorological journal, in manuscript. Concluded in the last volume by some discussion on a few of the results hoped to have been obtained.
Chronologically by date.
Open
No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.
English
Condensed enumeration and index in front of each volume of photographs within that volume.
Copied from the Royal Society catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
Feb 2009. Smyth , Charles Piazzi , 1819-1900 , astronomer Meteorology London England UK Western Europe Yorkshire Europe
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Three volumes of photographs taken by Charles Piazzi Smyth, at Clova, Ripon, North Yorkshire, where he had retired from his post of Astronomer Royal of Scotland. Printed title page in first volume; 'Cloud -Forms that have been; to the glory of God their Creator, and the wonderment of learned men. Recorded by Instant Photographs, taken at Clova, Ripon, in 1892, 1893 and 1894', prefaced by an introduction and compendious name, number and date list; but followed up, after the photographs, by a special, and continuous, day to day, meteorological journal, in manuscript. Concluded in the last volume by some discussion on a few of the results hoped to have been obtained.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Chronologically by date.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open
Conditions governing reproduction
No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Condensed enumeration and index in front of each volume of photographs within that volume.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Notes area
Note
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Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English