A Creation of His Own: Tappan's Detroit Observatory (review)

A Creation of His Own: Tappan's Detroit Observatory, by Patricia S. Whitesell. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Bentley Historical Library, 1998; distributed by the University of Michigan Press. Pp. xix+236; illustrations, appendixes, notes/references, bibliography, index. $48 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

Patricia Whitesell's history of the Detroit Observatory (named for the city of its financial benefactors, not its location) of the University of Michigan is a niche publication. Unfortunately, it is difficult to say just what the niche is. There is no question as to the observatory's importance. It was, after the Cincinnati Observatory, the earliest midwestern astronomical institution. And it was arguably much more important, at least in terms of the people who trained there, who included James Watson, Asaph Hall, Cleveland Abbe, W. W. Campbell, J. M. Schaeberle, and H. D. Curtis.

The observatory's origins go back to 1854, when the University of Michigan's first president, Henry Philip Tappan, was appointed. A well-connected New Yorker and an admirer of Victor Cousin and Prussian educational methods, Tappan hoped to bring a modern science curriculum to the fledgling university. An observatory was his first priority, and within two months of his inauguration he had garnered sufficient funds to travel to the east and to Europe to obtain instruments. The Henry Fitz refractor for Ann Arbor was one of the largest in the world, though it took several attempts to obtain a telescope of excellent quality. Probably more important was Tappan's meeting with Franz Brünnow in Berlin and his subsequent hiring of the young German astronomer to direct the new institution. Very soon, Brünnow married Tappan's only daughter. In 1863, however, a regents' coup led to Tappan's dismissal, and Brünnow quickly resigned. Tappan followed his son-in-law to Europe and eventually died in Switzerland.

Although the author of A Creation of His Own was a key figure in restoring the Detroit Observatory to something close to its original form, with its original instruments, readers of Technology and Culture who are interested in historical reconstruction will be disappointed by the book. While there are a number of interesting references to the problems faced in the restoration and to the solutions found for them, there is too little to be of use. Anyone trying to restore a similar scientific site would have to visit Ann Arbor for firsthand knowledge.

Historians of American science will be better served, for the book contains many valuable tidbits, even if those interested in nineteenth-century astronomical instruments may be frustrated by the sketchy information about the instruments at the observatory. The point of the book is not really clear. Is it a study of Tappan, or of the observatory, or its various directors, or its instruments, or its restoration? It is all these, in some ways. If you like antiquarian history, and I freely admit that I do, you will enjoy this book. As one who likes to snoop about old observatories, and who has visited the University of Michigan on many occasions, I had no problem reading this book in one go. Still, I kept asking "where is the narrative?" What we have is a series of separate chapters written as if they were individual essays, with much repetition. One keeps thinking, "but what did Tappan or Brünnow do then?" Instead, we have chapters on the observatory's instruments, architecture, construction, and benefactors before we really know what astronomy was accomplished there.

Whitesell has done a remarkable sleuthing job in tricking out the many details of this story. There are a few gaps, however, such as incomplete dates in the appendix on Michigan alumni in astronomy. Similarly, in the discussion of the observatory's architects, Andrew Jackson Downing is introduced without a mention that he was probably the most influential American landscape architect of the first half of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, James...