Willard Peabody Gerrish was born in 1866 and worked at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory and, later, at Harvard College Observatory during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was hired by Abbot Lawrence Rotch as the first observer at Blue Hill when it opened in 1885, where he kept an ongoing account of the climate. After graduation from MIT in 1887 Gerrish eventually became an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard College Observatory, where he worked under Edward C. Pickering and, later, Harlow Shapley. Shortly after traveling to Yokohama, Japan, to view the August 9, 1896, total solar eclipse, he married Mary Wylie and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They bought the Sir Henry Frankland Garden estate, in Ashland, Massachusetts, in 1911.
His tenure at Harvard College Observatory coincided with Pickering's advancement of the fields of astrophotography and spectroscopy, and Gerrish applied his mechanical skills to the development of telescope drives and other apparatus that would more precisely track celestial movement. He created, with Pickering, the Pickering Polaris Attachment, a telescope attachment that enabled the viewer to easily determine true north. He also designed a telescope known as the "Gerrish Polar Mount", as well as a telegraphic cipher code called "The Gerrish System," which was used to communicate astronomical information.
Gerrish was a sportsman and outdoorsman. He co-founded the Camp Ossipee Association in 1893, which promoted outdoor sports and the natural sciences. He was the licensed pilot and owner of a pleasure steamer.
Willard P. Gerrish died on November 10, 1951.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Willard P. Gerrish papers, Ms. 2005.80, Brown University Library.
The Gerrish papers are a collection of personal and scientific writings that cover a period of about twenty-five years. The lengthiest document is Gerrish's handwritten manuscript account of an 1896 voyage to Japan to view a total eclipse of the sun, titled
Two copies of the
Also included are household receipts for the period from 1907 to 1920, and personal as well as professional correspondence from the years 1874 to 1919. Much of the correspondence regards Willard Gerrish's technical work, but there are also examples of the overlap of personal and professional, such as an 1896 letter from fellow-astronomer George Hale congratulating him on his recent marriage.
Series 2 of the papers is a collection of high school copy books belonging to Gerrish's sisters Isabel and Mary. There is also a folder of correspondence, inventories and legal papers that concern the estate of William H. Gerrish, Willard's father.
This collection is divided into two series:
The Willard P. Gerrish papers were purchased in two parts by Brown University in 2005.
Harvard University Library holds a collection of Gerrish correspondence and has made several Gerrish journal articles available online as well:
Brown University Library catalog record for this collection:
Includes ms. of Journal of the Voyage of the Coronet.