Letter from John Quincy Adams to Josiah Quincy, 1845 May 19.

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Letter from John Quincy Adams to Josiah Quincy, 1845 May 19.

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990019703850203941/catalog

Framed double-sided letter from politician and educator John Quincy Adams to outgoing Harvard president Josiah Quincy. In his letter to Quincy, Adams requests information about the Harvard College Observatory, to be used in a report from the Board of Overseers' Committee on the Observatory. The four paged letter lists ten questions related to the Observatory, regarding its origins, finances and fundraising, property, staffing, scientific functions, and general astronomical publications. A note at the bottom of the third page states, “Letter found among the M.S.S. of President Quincy and presented to the Observatory by Eliza Susan Quincy, May 6, 1868.” Eliza Quincy was the daughter of Josiah Quincy.

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Harvard University Archives.

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SNAC Resource ID: 8184001

Harvard University Archives.

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Harvard College Observatory

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In 1839, the Harvard Corporation appointed William Cranch Bond the first Astronomical Observer to the University, thereby taking the first step in establishing the Harvard College Observatory, after which the first telescope was installed in 1847. Scholars and students had studied astronomy at Harvard since the seventeenth century, but it wasn’t until a large comet sparked public interest in 1843 that donors began donating funds to build an observatory. During the tenure of the Harvar...

Harvard University

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Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848

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John Quincy Adams (b. July 11, 1767, Braintree, Massachusetts-d. February 23, 1848, Washington, D.C.) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and the sixth President of the United States. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later the Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. He was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams. As a diplomat, Adams played an important role in neg...