Boswell Observatory Doane’s house of history

Heidi Hochstetler
Staff Writer
April 8, 2004, Page 3

This school year marks 120th anniversary of Boswell Observatory, the oldest observatory in Nebraska and the oldest existing building on Doane's campus.
Part of the Doane College Historic District, Boswell Observatory is home to many pieces of astronomical and other scientific equipment.
Janet Jeffries, director of Foundation and Corporate Giving, came to Doane in 1995 during the renovation of the observatory. The building had been used for faculty offices since the 1960s, but after the renovation Jeffries scoured the campus for antique equipment.
"I went on a hunt to the Goodall Science Building and looked in closets," Jeffries said.
"I think it's wonderful that so much of the equipment has survived," Jeffries said. "The faculty and staff were very careful with [the equipment]."
Jeffries calls the observatory a "little vignette of the past," a place to learn about Doane's history. Thomas Doane's surveying equipment, as well as antique meteorological instruments dating back to the late 1800s when Boswell Observatory was home to the Nebraska Weather Service station, offer a glimpse into the past.
The artifacts are also an indication of the college's high standards, even in the early days. When completed in 1883, the observatory was equipped with the latest astronomical apparatus, according to the Doane College Historic District pamphlet.
The equatorial refractor telescope, mounted on an isolated brick pier to keep the telescope stationary as the building settles, was installed in 1884. At the time, the ten-foot telescope was the largest of its kind in the Trans-Mississippi West.
"He produced some of the best telescopes in the world at that time," said Doane Physics Professor Mark Plano Clark. "It's a remarkable telescope and it still works remarkably well."
Current astronomy classes use the original telescope for star gazing several times a semester. A smaller transit telescope is no longer in use.
Originally used by Thomas Doane in drilling a tunnel through the Hoosac Mountains in the 1860s, the meridian transit telescope was used to tell time by the stars.
The observatory is also the home of several Doane artifacts unrelated to science. Several Doane Family memorabilia can be viewed, such as Thomas Doane's diploma from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
Money for the observatory was donated by Charles Boswell, a private donor.