June 23, 2000 -- For the past two years, negotiations have been underway between the Board of Directors of the Dudley Observatory in Schenectady, New York and the Arunah Hill Natural Science Center, Inc.  The subject of the negotiations was a 12 inch Warner & Swasey telescope.

Due to the delicacy of these talks, very little has been said about them publicly.  That has now changed.  In a unanimous vote, the Dudley Board has agreed to a long term loan of the instrument to Arunah Hill.

The President of the Board of Trustees, Samuel C. Wait, Jr., was pleased to find a home where the telescope could find a new life.

History

The Warner & Swasey telescope was fabricated in the machine shops of the famous Warner & Swasey Company of Chicago.  The telescopes being produced by the Warner & Swasey company were considered to be state of the art.  It was then shipped to Albany for  installation.  It was officially named the Pruyn Refractor after Robert H. Pruyn, who was on the Board of Trustees of the Dudley Observatory, as listed in a report from the year 1863.

The optics for the telescope were ground and polished by the Brashear Company.  Brashear was the foremost optician of his day.  His work took up where Alvin Clark & Sons had left off, and some of his telescopes are considered to be among the finest refracting instruments ever made.

The Pruyn telescope was used for scientific research for many years.  Over time, the role of the Dudley Observatory changed from a pure research institution to one also concerned with education and community service.  The organization moved several times and eventually the telescope was mothballed. 

Negotiations

Late in 1998, in conversations with Susan and Alan French of the Albany Astronomy Club, it was learned that the Dudley observatory was seeking to "close the book" on it's 12" refractor.

Among the options being reviewed was to donate the instrument to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. where it would undoubtedly disappear forever.

It is not clear who broached the subject, but wouldn't it be fitting if the telescope could find new life as an educational tool within a short drive of Albany?  Alan French, a member of the Dudley Board of Directors, was intrigued by the idea and approached the board with it.

Arunah Hill sent a formal proposal to the board outlining an arrangement that would allow Dudley to maintain ownership of the instrument while Arunah Hill would oversee restoration, operation and long term housing.  The end result would be that school children and adults would once again be able to use the telescope

The agreement was hammered out and closed with two final stipulations.  The first was that Arunah Hill would carry an insurance policy on the instrument and the second was that a plaque would be fixed to the base of the telescope stating:

The 12" Pruyn Refractor
Of the Dudley Observatory

The closing stages of the agreement will involve the signing over and release of the telescope into the hands of Arunah Hill members who will oversee the beginning of the restoration while work progresses on the observatory building that will house it.

Connections

Aside from the obvious, there are many reasons why Arunah Hill would be interested in a 12 inch refracting telescope built by the Warner & Swasey Company.

During one of our many visits to the Town of Cummington Community House, Steve Pielock and I noticed a large sterling silver vase standing in a glass case in one corner of the meeting room.  We were early for the meeting, and, curious, we wandered over to look at it.  It was an exquisite example of the machinist's art.  I noticed the small plaque on it's base. It read: Worcester Warner Machine Company.

Then we saw a large oil painting of Worcester Warner hanging on the wall.  Below it was an inscription stating that the Community House was a gift to the town from Worcester Warner himself.   It seems that Warner was a native son of Cummington.  Our organization had inadvertently settled in the home town of a turn of the century telescope maker.

Imagination ran wild.  Arunah Hill already had an example of a Brashear telescope built by the Gaertner Company, and a Fitz telescope that had been refigured by Clark.  Wouldn't it be great to add a Warner & Swasey instrument to the growing collection?

As many of our readers already know, Arunah Hill became the owner of the largest surviving Fitz refracting telescope in the world several years ago.

This historical 13 inch telescope was built in 1862 for the Dudley Observatory, then located in Albany, New York.  There it stayed until about 1906, when a decision was made to purchase a brand new state of the art Warner & Swasey telescope to replace it.  The old Fitz telescope disappeared and began a long journey that led to Arunah Hill in 1995 (see View From Arunah volume 14).

When negotiations began with the Dudley Observatory, we were well aware that the telescope that Dudley had purchased to replace the Fitz might find itself under that same roof as its predecessor.

Future

Arunah Hill has inadvertently become a treasury of historic refractors.  But it was never intended to become a museum of exhibits behind glass.  We are dedicated to the restoration and use of these instruments for education.

Not surprisingly, the Town of Cummington Historical Society has been keenly interested in this development.  They see it as a boon for the community that this instrument find a home in the town of Worcester Warner's birth.  The benefits to Arunah Hill of hosting this telescope may become obvious in the years to come.

It is Arunah Hill's goal to become a point of community pride.  If political issues adversely affecting Arunah Hill come up for vote at town meetings, we want the community standing behind us.  Other dark sky sites have failed to make such community connections, and have paid the price!

And so Arunah Hill has become the host of historical working educational telescopes.

With that in mind, we have worked to prepare a site for a large observatory building.  This building will be large enough to house four operational 12 inch class refractors, one 24 inch class refractor, and numerous smaller instruments, simultaneously.

Fund raising is underway to amass the thousands of dollars that will be needed to pay for the construction.   Many of us serve the dream of Arunah Hill with blood, sweat and tears, because it is all we have to offer.  There are others who could serve through their check books.  Such gifts are always welcome and our history shows that we make every dollar count.

Arunah Hill is our Legacy to the future.  Future generations will judge our actions.  Worcester Warner is remembered by his community to this day.

-Joe Zuraw