Call Number:

001.035

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.02 linear ft. (1 folder )

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Samuel J. Gummere lecture notes (HCS.001.035) Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

Undated

Creator:

Gummere, Samuel James

Form:

Lecture notes

Abstract:

Collection contains one lithographic print of Samuel J. Gummere along with assorted lecture notes.

Samuel James Gummere was born on April 28, 1811, in Rancocas, New Jersey. Gummere began his teaching career as an assistant at his father's boarding school in Burlington, New Jersey, and went on to organize the classical department in the Friend's School in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1834, he was hired as an assistant teacher at Haverford College (then Haverford School) and married his first wife, Abigail Griscom, the following year. Following his wife's death in 1840, Gummere reopened the Burlington boarding school and was remarried to Elizabeth Hooton Barton in 1845. Gummere returned to Haverford College in 1862 and became president in 1863, a position he would hold until his death on October 23, 1874. He had three children: Caroline E. Gummere, John Gummere, and Francis Barton Gummere.

Collection contains one lithographic print of Samuel J. Gummere along with assorted lecture notes. All of the lectures are undated and produced on paper of varying sizes. The print is identified as the work of Frederick Gutekunst (1831-1917), a Philadelphia native who saw sucess in early photography. While centralized around astronomy, Gummere touches on a variety of subtopics and related subjects including: ancient astronomy, length of the year, obliquity of the ecliptic, weather predictions, and more. Interspersed between the complete, multi-page, lectures are excerpts from others and additional revisions to those included. The majority of lectures begin with an introduction detailing the ancient perspective on a given topic, before transitioning into the contemporary era of astrological theory. References to Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Pappus of Alexandria and Aristarchus are found throughout.

The lithograph is displayed first, while the following lectures are arranged according to the penciled-in numbers in the top right corners of many pages.