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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Philip Fox Collection 1905-1933

© 2011 University of Chicago Library

Acknowledgments

The Philip Fox Notebooks were processed and preserved with support from the John Crerar Foundation.

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Fox, Philip. Collection

Dates:

1905-1933

Size:

2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Philip Fox (1878-1944) astronomer and first Director of the Adler Planetarium. Contains sixteen notebooks of astronomical observations and calculations in Berlin and at Yerkes Observatory and Dearborn Observatory, photographs and a recording.

Information on Use

Access

This collection contains a recording which requires reformatting for access. The remainder of the collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Fox, Philip. Notebooks, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Philip Fox was born on March 7, 1878, in Manhattan, Kansas. He received BS and MS degrees in mathematics from Kansas State University, and a second BS, in physics, from Dartmouth College. He completed graduate studies in astronomy in at the University of Berlin in 1905, and received a PhD in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1906.

In 1903, Fox joined the University of Chicago's Yerkes Observatory as a Carnegie Research Assistant and instructor in astrophysics. He became director of Northwestern University's Dearborn Observatory in 1909, and served as chair of the University's Department of Astronomy. In 1929, he was named the first Director of Chicago's Adler Planetarium. He served as Director of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry from 1937-1942.

In addition to his academic career, Fox served in the US Army during the Spanish American War, and the First and Second World Wars, reaching the rank of Colonel in the Army Reserve between the World Wars. He commanded the Army Signal Corps and the Army Electronics Center at Harvard in 1942 and 1943, and taught briefly at Harvard after leaving the army. Fox married Ethel Snow in 1905. The couple had four children. He died on July 21, 1944.

Scope Note

The bulk of the collection consists of sixteen notebooks of astronomical observations and calculations in Berlin and at Yerkes Observatory and Dearborn Observatory, complied by Fox. The collection also contains a photocopy of the text of a speech that Fox prepared for the 1933 Arcturus ceremony at the Yerkes observatory, as well as a cassette tape of the actual ceremony. Also included are modern prints of three photographs: one of the observatory taken between 1903 and 1909, a Yerkes postcard sent to Philip and his family in 1928, and a photo of Philip with his father, Simeon M. Fox, on the Yerkes grounds in 1907.

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Box 1   Folder 1

Vol. 1.,Berlin and Yerkes Observatory, 1905-1908

Box 1   Folder 2

Vol. 2, Micrometric Observations, Yerkes Observatory, 1908-1909

Box 1   Folder 3

Vol. 3, Micrometric Observations, Yerkes and Dearborn Observatories, 1909-1910

Box 1   Folder 4

Vol. 4, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1910

Box 1   Folder 5

Vol. 5, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1910

Box 1   Folder 6

Vol. 6, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1910-1911

Box 1   Folder 7

Vol. 7, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1911

Box 2   Folder 1

Vol. 8, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1911-1912

Box 2   Folder 2

Vol. 9, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1912

Box 2   Folder 3

Vol. 10, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1912

Box 2   Folder 4

Vol. 11, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1912-1913

Box 2   Folder 5

Vol. 12, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1913-1914

Box 2   Folder 6

Vol. 13, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1914

Box 2   Folder 7

Vol. 14, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1914-1915

Box 3   Folder 1

Vol. 15, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1915-1916

Box 3   Folder 2

Vol. 16, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1916

Box 3   Folder 3

Vol. 17, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1917-1920

Box 3   Folder 4

Vol. 18, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1921

Box 3   Folder 5

Vol. 19, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1921-1922

Box 3   Folder 6

Vol. 20, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1922-1923

Box 3   Folder 7

Vol. 21, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1923

Box 3   Folder 8

Vol. 22, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1923-1924

Box 4   Folder 1

Vol. 24, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1924-1925

Box 4   Folder 2

Vol. 25, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1925

Box 4   Folder 3

Vol. 26, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1925-1929

Box 4   Folder 4

Vol. 27, Micrometric Observations, Dearborn Observatory, 1929-1938

Box 4   Folder 5

12" Spectrograph, 1907-1930

Box 4   Folder 6

Index lo Ledger of Double Star Observations, undated

Box 4   Folder 7

Ledger of Double Stars Observations, Vol. I, undated

Box 5   Folder 1

Ledger of Double Stars Observations, Vol. II, undated

Box 5   Folder 2

Measurements of Rumford Spectro-Heliograph Plates, Vol. I, 1904

Box 5   Folder 3

Photographs, undated

Box 5   Folder 4

Arcturus ceremony, recording, 1933