The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Philip Fox Collection 1905-1933
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The Philip Fox Notebooks were processed and preserved with support from the John Crerar Foundation.
| Title: | Fox, Philip. Collection |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1905-1933 |
| Size: | 2.5 linear feet (5 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| 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. |
This collection contains a recording which requires reformatting for access. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
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
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.
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.
| 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 |