Research & Collections
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Collections
Collections
Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy
When Max Adler founded the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in 1930, he recognized the complementary roles of a planetarium and astronomical artifacts. Adler purchased a collection of about 500 astronomical, navigational, and mathematical instruments from Anton Mensing in the Netherlands. Housed in the Adler's Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy, the Scientific Instrument Collection today contains about 2000 instruments and models from the 12th through the 20th centuries. Representing many types of astronomical instruments, it is the largest collection of such material in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most significant in the world.
In addition to these instruments, the Webster Institute is home to a significant library of rare and modern books, a collection of works on paper, and the Adler Planetarium's Institutional Archives. For more information, see the collection descriptions below and the Use the Collections page.
Webster Institute staff care for, study, and interpret the collections for both the scholarly community and the general public. We reach these audiences through a variety of projects:
Research & Publications — Webster Institute staff collaborate with scholars from around the world to study scientific instruments and the cultural significance of astronomy.
Exhibits — Our Special Topics in the History of Astronomy temporary exhibit series allows returning visitors to see new collection materials in thematic displays every three months. Permanent exhibitions include The Universe in Your Hands, about the Earth-centered view of the universe; Bringing the Heavens to Earth, about the cultural uses of astronomy for survival, building community, and finding meaning; and From the Night Sky to the Big Bang, about changing views of the cosmos. View Current Exhibits. Past exhibits have covered Asian astronomy, comets, the connections between art and astronomy, William Herschel's discovery of the planet Uranus, Galileo's telescopes, celestial navigation, and early American surveying. View Past History of Astronomy Exhibits.
Educational Programs and Lectures — The annual Fall Webster Lecture focuses on astronomy and archaeology. This free public lecture is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America and hosted by Marjorie Webster, in memory of Roderick Webster, former Adler Curator and Chairman of the Board. Webster Institute staff also work on other lectures, educational programs, and courses throughout the year.
Collection Descriptions
Historic Scientific Instruments Collection
The Historic Scientific Instruments Collection contains nearly 2000 artifacts dating from the 12th through the 20th centuries. The collection contains examples of almost every type of astronomical instrument, including astrolabes, armillary spheres, celestial globes, nocturnals, orreries (or planetaria), sundials, and telescopes. It also includes mathematical, navigational, optical, and surveying instruments.
Click on the links below to view samples and descriptions of objects from our Historic Scientific Instruments Collection:
A detailed collections catalogue publication project is underway. Please see the History of Astronomy Research and Publications page for more information.
Works on Paper Collection
The Works on Paper Collection contains about 650 individual maps, prints, and book plates featuring astronomical illustrations. Strengths of this collection include comet and eclipse broadsides, portrait prints, and celestial charts.
Rare Book Collection
The Rare Book Collection contains over 3000 volumes, including over a dozen incunabula (books printed before 1500). The rare books cover a wide range of topics about the history of astronomy and scientific instruments. This collection includes all of the most important historical celestial atlases, as well as many other atlases. It also contains a large number of books on comets, early works on instruments, and astronomical and cosmological texts and tables. Other works include treatises on mathematics and its practical applications, works on optics, physics, astrology, geography, and navigation, and early encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Books are catalogued in OCLC. You can find books listed in OCLC's free WorldCat database (worldcat.org). In libraries where OCLC's FirstSearch is available, you can limit your WorldCat search to the Library Code "AP$". Interlibrary loan is not available.
Modern Books and Periodicals
The Webster Institute holds a collection of modern books and periodicals relating to historic scientific instruments and the history of astronomy. Books are catalogued in OCLC. You can find books listed in OCLC's free WorldCat database (worldcat.org). In libraries where OCLC's FirstSearch is available, you can limit your WorldCat search to the Library Code "AP$". Interlibrary loan is not available.
Archival and Manuscript Collections
The Webster Institute holds a small number of archival and manuscript collections, primarily relating to the twentieth century:
• Adler Planetarium Institutional Archives
• Alvan Clark Papers
• Derek J. de Solla Price Papers — download finding aid
• Zeiss Projector Collection — download finding aid
Other History of Astronomy Resources
Websters' Database of Signatures
As a tool for specialists interested in makers of scientific instruments, the Adler is pleased to make available a simple but large database of instrument makers, or more precisely of their signatures, a product of many years of research by Roderick and Marjorie Webster, longtime curators of the collection of scientific instruments at the Adler. Use the database as a guide to further research, with caution. Most instruments cited in this database are NOT in the Adler collection. We cannot provide further information on instruments not in the Adler collection.
Websites Relating to the History of Astronomy Collection
Features exhibits and news from the museum with the world’s finest collection of old scientific instruments, with online access to the collection database.
Nautical and maritime matters; probably the finest such collection in the western hemisphere.
Click on Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments for information on this important university department, its museum, and its collection.
An exquisite museum at the University of Leiden, with a famous collection of instruments.
Exceptional maritime-museum holdings, and also world-class collections of astrolabes, sundials, and globes.
A link on the main page takes you into the Whipple’s large (and deep) web site, where the Explore section provides a wealth of up-to-date information about scientific instruments and the history of astronomy.
Lots of information in both Italian and English.
A vast archive collecting internet links to everything relating to the history of astronomy, this site is no longer reliably current.
Webster Institute Staff
Click for information about our staff members.
Director and Curator: Marvin Bolt
Curator Emerita: Marjorie Webster
Curator: Bruce Stephenson
Collections Manager: Devon Pyle-Vowles
Research Center Collections Librarian: Jill Hamrin Postma
Collections Projects Assistant: Jennifer Brand
Assistant Curator: Jodi Lacy
Research Center Projects Assistant: Misty DeMars
Collections Assistant: Charron Brock
Project Archivist: Margie Kollbocker
Contact Information
Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605
P: 312-322-0594
F: 312-341-9935
E: astrohistory@adlerplanetarium.org