January 06 Newsletter: Featured Archive Item: The Blue Hill Box Kite
Engineer Chuck Donaldson, working with Don McCasland of Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, Massachusetts, had taken on a project: to build a replica of one of the types of kites used at Blue Hill for meteorological data collection and research. Where to turn for help in assuring their work’s authenticity? Don and Chuck began by e-mailing Scott Skinner, DF’s board president, to solicit his ideas. Scott knew exactly where to start, but the resource he suggested was not readily available. Chuck responded, “Scott, you refer to the big book, Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, 1887-1902, as having a lot of specifications for the type of kite that we plan to construct. My problem is that I cannot find a copy of this book. Any assistance that you may be in helping me gain (buy or borrow) access to the data in this book is needed ASAP.”
Skinner knew that the DF Archive had a photocopy of the “big book” (made originally at Harvard); he could even specify the pages needed for the project. He asked the DF Study Center in Seattle to assist. Within a week, Donaldson and McCasland had pertinent photocopies in hand and could proceed with the drafting and construction of the kite on schedule. Two hundred hours of painstaking work later, their replica was mounted in a new Weather exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Science. As for Donaldson, this project is only the beginning. He reports, “I found the patent on the Eddy kite and may build one of those next.”
Link to the DF website for a description of the DF archive and its special collections. Drachen has recently completed cataloguing the books in its archive, and is formatting the information to make it available online.