Time and Time Again

Time and Time Again

How Science and Culture Shape the Past, Present, and Future

Sara J. Schechner David P. Wheatland Curator Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Harvard University ©2014 PRESIDENT & FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

© 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Publisher Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Harvard University Science Center 371 1 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 USA chsi.harvard.edu ISBN 978-0-9644329-1-8 (ebook-PDF) ISBN 978-0-9644329-2-5 (iBook)

Picture Credits Cover: Time and Time Again exhibition poster designed by Samantha van Gerbig, 2013, Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University. Title page: Invention of Clockwork, unknown engraver, after Stradanus (Jan van der Straet), from Nova reperta, c. 1599-1603. www.wikigallery.org. Epigraph and postscript endpapers: Valentino Pini, Fabrica de gl’horologi solari (Venice, 1598). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, f IC5 P6555 598f fols. 20, 26. Contents: Trilobite, Paradoxides (Acadoparadoxides) harlani, Middle Cambrian period, Hayward Creek, Braintree, Massachusetts. © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Invertebrate Paleontology Collection, MCZ 190330. Acknowledgments: Foundation peg, Mesopotamian, UR III Period (c. 21st –20th century BCE). Harvard Semitic Museum, 1899.2.625.

Chapter title page: Otto van Veen, Quinti Horatii Flacci emblemata (Antwerp, 1612), detail. Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Typ 630 12.867 (A). / Middlesex Canal workers’ time records, 1797, detail. Time Records, 1797-1823. Baldwin Family Business Records: Canal Papers. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. / Replica of the Aztec Sun Stone preserved in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico, pre-1902, detail. © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 02-42-20/C3123 (digital file# 99110009). Gift of George B. Pitcher, 1902. Chapter opening: Compass sundial, Jacobus de Steur, Leiden, c. 1675, lunar volvelle detail. Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University.

Other images are credited on the pages where they appear.

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. Philip James Bailey Festus. Scene. A Country Town–Market-place—Noon

Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................. 10

Chapter 1

Creation of Time ........................................................................ 13

• Western Time ............................................................................. • Big Bang ........................................................................... • Mythic Time ............................................................................ • Deep Time ............................................................................... • Time Markers of Nature and Man ............................

14 19 22 24 25

Chapter 2

Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars ............ 27

• Natural Time .......................................................................... • Sundials ............................................................................. • Astrolabe ........................................................................... • Nocturnals ........................................................................ • Moon Dials ....................................................................... • Difference between Clocks and Sundials .....................

28 31 39 42 44 47

Chapter 3 50 52 60 62 63 65 68 69 71 72 75 78

Chapter 4

What is an Hour?........................................................................ 89

Chapter 6

Timekeeping.................................................................................. 97

• Calendars ............................................................................... 98 • Book of Hours ................................................................ 102 • Almanacs ........................................................................ 103 • Planners and Diaries ................................................... 107 • “Give us back our eleven days!” .............................. 112 • Ephemerides .................................................................. 114 • Calendars and Culture ............................................... 115 • Sand Glasses ........................................................................ 118 • Interval Timers ..................................................................... 124 • Clocks and Watches ........................................................... 128 • Evolution of the Watch ............................................... 130 • Why do the hours run “clockwise” on clocks? ..... 139 • Sundials Regulate Clocks .......................................... 140 • Equation of Time .......................................................... 145 • Biological Clocks ................................................................. 148

Chapter 7

Time Flow........................................................................................ 48

• Cyclical Time .......................................................................... • Perpetual Calendars ...................................................... • Cyclical Time in Hopi Culture...................................... • Bach’s Circles ................................................................... • Linear Time ............................................................................. • Father Time over Time.................................................... • Mozart’s Arrows................................................................ • The Ages of Man............................................................. • “Carry Your Navel” ................................................. • Coming of Age ........................................................ • Time Reversal ......................................................................... • Relative Time ..........................................................................

Chapter 5

What Does Time Look Like?.................................................. 81 • Which Came First: The Chicken or the Egg?................ 82 • Time as a Series ..................................................................... 86

Atomic Time................................................................................ 154 • Uses of Atomic Time .......................................................... 156

Chapter 8

In Time Together ...................................................................... 158

• Dance, Drill, and Timed Movement .............................. 159 • Musical Tempo ..................................................................... 163 • Timetables ............................................................................. 165 • Sacred Time .......................................................................... 168 • “Gentlemen, Synchronize Your Watches”..................... 173

Chapter 9

Business of Time ...................................................................... 176

• William Bond & Son ........................................................... 177 • Workshop Tools ............................................................. 178 • Bond & Son Awards .................................................... 181 • American Watch Company of Waltham ...................... 183 • Swiss Knock-Offs ........................................................... 193 • Ledger of Watch Repairs .................................................. 195 • Watchmaker’s Tradecard.................................................... 197

Time And Time Again Contents

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Contents Chapter 1 0

Chapter 1 4

• Time and Labor ................................................................... 199 • Time is Money ...................................................................... 205 • Mesopotamian Monthly Expenses ......................... 207 • Daylight Saving and War Time ...................................... 208 • Domestic Time Management .......................................... 210

• Portable Sundials ................................................................ 248 • Diverse German Fashions........................................... 250 • Make Way for Ducklings............................................. 257 • Diptych Sundials for Savvy Travelers .................... 260 • Single-Latitude Sundials for Stay-at-Home Folks ........ 264 • Bird of a political feather.................................................. 267 • Time on your hands ........................................................... 268 • I can see you now ............................................................... 269

Work Time ................................................................................... 198

Chapter 11

Time Out ..................................................................................... 215 • The Coffee Break ................................................................ 216 • Bedouin Hospitality ..................................................... 217 • Take Five for Music.............................................................. 222

Chapter 1 2

Time Stopped and Preserved.............................................. 224 • The Photograph and the Phonograph ......................... 225 • Chronophotography ........................................................... 229 • Time in a Jar.......................................................................... 230 • Engineering Students Attempt to Arrest Time........... 231

Chapter 1 3

Mathematics and the Art of Time .................................. 232

• Polyhedral Sundials ............................................................ 233 • Scenes of Virtue .................................................................. 238 • Foreign Time ......................................................................... 243

Time on the Road .................................................................... 247

Chapter 1 5

Timelines of History .............................................................. 270

Chapter 1 6

Time and Personal Memory................................................ 278 • Journals .................................................................................. 279 • Notches on a Cheyenne Hide Flesher........................... 281

Chapter 1 7

The End of Time ....................................................................... 283 • For Time to End Seems Both Impossible and Inevitable ............................................... 284 • Death Comes A-Knocking ................................................ 293

Time And Time Again Contents

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Acknowledgments Curator Sara J. Schechner David P. Wheatland Curator Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments

Design Samantha van Gerbig Designer & Photographer

Noam Andrews Wheatland Curatorial Fellow

Time Trails

eCatalog Cira Louise Brown

In collaboration with Harvard Museums of Science and Culture

Support generously provided by David P. Wheatland Charitable Trust Provostial Fund Committee for the Arts and Humanities, Harvard University Anonymous Donor

Juan Andres Leon Komal Ashraf Syed

Time And Time Again Acknowledgments

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Acknowledgments Special thanks to the staff of the following institutions who kindly lent items and offered guidance Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School

Harvard University Herbaria and the Botany Libraries

Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University

Harvard University Information Technology— Infrastructure / Network Services

Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard University

Houghton Library, Harvard College Library

Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library Harvard Art Museums Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library

Harvard Planning and Project Management

Museum of Comparative Zoology, President and Fellows of Harvard College Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Semitic Museum, Harvard University and several private collectors


8

Acknowledgments Recognition of the Unstinting Support of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University Peter Galison

Samantha van Gerbig

Pellegrino University Professor and Faculty Director

Photographer & Designer

Jean-François Gauvin

Technology and Applications Coordinator

Administrative Director

Sara J. Schechner David P. Wheatland Curator

Martha Richardson

Michael Kelley Juan Andres Leon Database Project Manager

Richard Wright Curatorial Technician

Collections Manager and Registrar

Sara Frankel Collections Assistant

W ith assistance from and thanks to Lisa Crystal, Laura Neuhaus, Kate Womersley, Nasser Zakariya as planners and content advisors

Maria Stenzel for her escapement video

Yao Li for permission to use his time-lapse film of Boston

Dale Parker, Advanced Imaging, for graphics production technical advice

Daina Yurkus, Light This! for lighting focus

David Ellis former interim Executive Director of HMSC, for agreeing to make Time an HMSC initiative


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Introduction Time and Time Again How Science and Culture Shape the Past, Present, and Future

Time and Time Again Time: We find it, keep it, measure it, obey it, rely on it, waste it, save it, chop it, and try to stop it. We organize our lives around it, and yet, do we really know what time is?

Workers punching time clock upon returning to work after a labor dispute Automobile Industry Labor Disputes Photographs, c. 1937. General File Photograph Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Introduction

Drawing upon collections in Harvard’s scientific, historical, archaeological, anthropological, and natural history museums and libraries, this exhibition explores the answers given to that question in various ages by different world cultures and disciplines.

Time and Time Again

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Themes will include time finding from nature and time keeping by human artifice. We will explore cultural beliefs about the creation and end of time, the flow of time, and personal time as marked by rites of passage. We will take time out and examine the power of keeping time together in music, dance, work, and faith. We will explore time’s representation in history and objects of personal memory, its personification in art, and its expression in biological change and the geological transformations of our planet. Time: It is a riddle to perplex a Sphinx. Clock yourself in, and enjoy the puzzle. Manual time clock In exhibition gallery

Introduction

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Chapter 1 Creation of Time Did time have a beginning or did it always exist? The answer depends on one’s culture and cosmology.

Western Time The ancient Greeks in the Orphic tradition believed that Chronos (Time), was self-formed in the creation. With his consort Ananke (Inevitability), he encircled and hatched the world-egg, thereby forming the earth, sea, and sky. Later personified as Aion (Eternity), he turned the wheel of heaven.

Aion (Eternity) supports the zodiac while Gaia (Earth) reclines Detail of large floor mosaic from a Roman villa in Sentinum, 200-250 CE Staatliche Antikensammlung und Glyptothek, Munich Gl. 504 WAF Wikimedia Commons

Chapter 1: Creation of Time

Jews, Christians, and Muslims began with the Book of Genesis, but still had questions. Did God create the universe in time, or did he have to create time and space first? The debate was settled for Catholics in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council: God created everything simultaneously out of nothing.

Western Time

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Medieval Bibles often showed God with a pair of dividers, creating the world through an act of measurement. This idea came from Platonic texts. Citing the ancient Greeks, many also believed that the planets were in specific zodiacal constellations at the moment of creation. Thema mundi charts perpetuated this view. One consequence was the timing of the start of the year. Those Mediterranean cultures that thought the Sun was in Aries when the universe was created started their religious year at the spring equinox.

God as creator of the world, Book of Genesis Bible Moralisée, French, 1250-1300 Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Codex 1179 Wikimedia Commons

(on following page)

Thema mundi chart depicting the order of the planets at the time of creation Joseph Grünpeck, Ein hubscher Tractat von dem Ursprung des bosen Franzos, das man nennet die wilden Wartzen: auch ein Regime[n]t und ware Ertzenney mit Salben und Gedranck, wie man sich regiren soll in diser Zeyt (Nuremberg: Kaspar Hochfeder, 1496 or 1497). Boston Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Ballard 355


Western Time

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Western Time

In 1617 Robert Fludd startled readers by depicting the moment before creation as a black square surrounded on four sides by the phrase, et sic in infinitum.

Blackness ad infinitum Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia (Oppenheim, 1617). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library EC F6707 B638p v.1


Western Time

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Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars Jan Sadeler the Elder, Flemish, print, c. 1550-1600, after Maerten de Vos (1532-1603) Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum Gift of Belinda L. Randall from the collection of John Witt Randall W 8, H 13, R4876 Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College


Western Time

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Big Bang In the late 1920s, physicist George Lemaître developed a physical model of an expanding universe. His mathematical equations did not require a beginning to time or space. In 1931, he changed his mind. From the point of view of quantum theory, the beginning of the world could not resemble the present order of nature. Time and space would break down. Lemaître’s new model of a primeval atom that fragmented and evolved is the first “big bang” model of the creation of the universe. In 1948, George Gamow would propose his own version in the famous Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper. The initial universe was a compressed gas of neutrons. As it rapidly expanded, the neutrons decayed into protons and electrons, which then combined with ambient neutrons to form heavier atoms. Today’s cosmological models are more nuanced and take into account the actions of the four forces of nature and subatomic particles like quarks. They still begin, however, with the entire universe compressed into an infinitely dense and hot point before creation when space and time did not exist. For physicists, time began with the big bang about 13.7 billion years ago.

(on following pages)

George Lemaître “A Homogeneous Universe of Constant Mass and Increasing Radius accounting for the Radial Velocity of Extra-galactic Nebulae,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 91 (1931): 483-490.

Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe, and George Gamow “The Origin of Chemical Elements,” Physical Review, 73 (1948): 803-804.


Big Bang

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1931MNRAS..91

Mythic Time Native people in North America share a belief in mythic time. They believe that time has no beginning or end, and their universe is unlimited and exists perpetually. According to the cosmology of the Algonkian- and Iroquian-speaking people from the eastern Great Lakes north through the eastern Woodlands, the universe has three parts. The earth floats like an island between an upper, sky world and an underworld, each ruled by powerful manitous or spirits. Chief among these are the thunderbirds and underwater panthers. They are engaged in perpetual conflict.

Underwater panthers Man’s pouch with underwater panthers and images of whirlpools Possibly Southeastern Ojibwa, Great Lakes region, 1810-1850 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 987-16-10/71168 (digital file# 99110017). Gift of Mrs. James Dudley Hawks, II, in memory of her husband, James Dudley Hawks II, Harvard Class of 1943, 1987.


Mythic Time

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Thunderbirds rule the upper world, causing good rain and victory, but also bad storms. Their power is matched in the underworld by the panthers, cat-like beings with horned heads and long tails. The underwater panthers use their tails to whip up the waters and cause drowning, but also are the source of water’s healing and lifeprolonging powers. Adorned with images of the thunderbird and underwater panther, the two bags shown here attach these sacred symbols to earth-bound materials.

Thunderbirds Twined fiber, panel bag, perhaps used to store sacred bundles Possibly Southeastern Ojibwa, Great Lakes region, 1800-1820 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 03-20-10/62493 (digital file# 99110018). Museum Purchase, 1903.


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Deep Time This slab of trilobite fossils was excavated in Braintree, Massachusetts. Others like them are currently found in Morocco, western Europe, and Scandinavia. The fossils are evidence that these lands were once joined together as a small continent (called Avalonia by geologists) in the geologic period that the trilobites lived—some 510 million years ago (Middle Cambrian). Over the next 200 million years, the tectonic plate carrying Avalonia got sandwiched between Europe, America, and Africa forming the supercontinent Pangaea. When Europe and Africa broke away from North America, parts of Avalonia were left in each.

Trilobite, Paradoxides (Acadoparadoxides) harlani Middle Cambrian period Hayward Creek, Braintree, Massachusetts © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Invertebrate Paleontology Collection, MCZ 190330


Deep Time

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Time Markers of Nature and Man Rudists were invertebrate animals living in shallow waters from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period (145 to 65 million years ago). They dominated reefs until the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event wiped them out along with the dinosaurs. Today their remains serve as index fossils—guides to the age of the rocks in which they are preserved.

Rudist fossil, Hippurites radiosus Perigueux, France Turonian stage, Upper Cretaceous period © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Invertebrate Paleontology Collection, MCZ 134179


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This other time marker is manmade. It is a clay peg that was inserted 4000 years ago into the foundation of a building as an act of piety and expression of a ruler’s achievements.

Foundation peg with dedication from the ruler of Lagash, Gudea, to the god Ningirsu Mesopotamian, UR III Period (c. 21st –20th century BCE) Harvard Semitic Museum, 1899.2.625


Time Markers of Nature and Man

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Chapter 2 Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars The earliest methods for tracking the time were observations of the sun, moon, and stars.

Natural Time The alternation of light and dark defined the day. The 29½ day cycle of lunar phases days gave us the month. The sun’s return to the same constellation in the sky gave us the year.

Barritt-Serviss star and planet finder, 40°N Leon Barritt and Garrett P. Serviss, New York, 1906

The average person was aware of time from these natural cycles, but had no reason to subdivide the day or night into smaller units. That need arose from astronomers and priests who devised instruments to find the time more precisely for calendrical and ritual purposes.

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0650

Chapter 2: Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Natural Time

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Portable orrery Peter & John Dollond, London, c. 1787 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0701

(on next page)

Moon calendar 2013 Celestial Products Concord, North Carolina, 2012


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Sundials Every day the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. All sundials use the sun’s apparent motion—up and down, east to west, or a combination of both called the “hour angle,” which measures the sun’s motion along the celestial equator. Sundials find the time by sighting on the sun or using a shadow cast by an object, called a gnomon. The familiar garden sundial finds time by the sun’s hour angle. So do mathematically similar dials where the shadow-casting edge of the gnomon is parallel to the earth’s axis.

Horizontal garden sundial Benjamin Martin, London, c. 1760 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7879

Self-aligning equatorial dial Jacob Moler, Germany, 18th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7122

Chapter 2: Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars Sundials

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The earliest sundials, however, were altitude dials. The Egyptians invented one type by 1500 BCE and later types were scaphes, pillar dials, ring dials, and horary quadrants.

Egyptian altitude sundial—an early but wrong hypothesis! Today we know that Egyptian “shadow clocks” from the time of King Tut were L-shaped and had no cross-bar. However, in 1910-1920 noted Egyptologist, Ludwig Burchardt reasoned that they did, leading to erroneous models in many museum collections. R. T. Gunther, Oxford, England, c. 1930 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7313


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Pillar dial European, 18 century th

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7178

Horary quadrant on ivory astronomical compendium A. André, Paris, 1642 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7498


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Globe dial Japanese, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7395


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Armillary dial with analemma

Polyhedral dial

French, c. 1880

German and English, 19th century

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7802

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7801


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Pair of ring dials European, 17th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7128 and 7132


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Scaphe H. Schmeisser and A. Meissner, Berlin, 1861 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7396


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Vertical plate dial Italian, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7314


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Astrolabe The astrolabe, invented in the fourth century, not only used the altitude of the sun or stars to find time to a few minutes, but could do this at any latitude.

Planispheric astrolabe (front and back) Joannes Bos, Antwerp, 1597 (19th century copy) Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0595

Chapter 2: Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars Astrolabe

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Planispheric astrolabe (front) Fuchs, Germany, 1577


Planispheric astrolabe (back) Fuchs, Germany, 1577


Nocturnals Nocturnals find time from the stars. They use the rotation of key stars around the celestial North Pole like the hands of a clock. When Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are used, the nocturnal may be marked for “Both Bears.” These constellations are better known to us as the Big and Little Dippers.

(above)

Man using a nocturnal European 16th century woodcut Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Webster Institute Collections

(at left)

Nocturnal on an ivory astronomical compendium Flemish, Antwerp, 1599 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7527

Chapter 2: Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars Nocturnals

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Nocturnal for “Both Bears” Marked “SAMVEL MASON IS A KNAVE” I.R. [John Rowley?], England, c. 1680 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7316

Chapter 2: Time Finding from the Sun, Moon, and Stars Nocturnals

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Moon Dials Sundials can be used to find the time by bright moonlight. For this purpose, the sundial will have a rotating disk that can be set for the moon’s age and phase. This volvelle tells the user how many hours the moon is behind the sun in the sky— information needed to correct the reading of the shadow.

Ivory compass sun and moon dial B.R., Germany, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7258


Moon Dials

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Oval ivory diptych with moon dial (shown open) Hans Ducher II or Hans Ducher III, Nuremberg, c. 1585 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7830

Oval ivory diptych with moon dial (cover showing volvelle to set age of moon) Hans Ducher II or Hans Ducher III, Nuremberg, c. 1585 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7830

Difference between Clocks and Sundials Clocks do not find time from astronomical observations, like sundials do. They can only measure time from a given starting point. This teaching model of a Graham, dead-beat clock escapement was used at Harvard College in the early 19th century.

Graham (dead-beat) escapement model Used for teaching at Harvard College for over 100 years William Mason Stiles, London, 1839-1850 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1994-1-0012


Difference between Clocks and Sundials

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Chapter 3 Time Flow How does time flow? Forward, back , in circles, uniformly?

Time Flow Repetitive phenomena in nature— the waxing and waning of the moon, the progression of day and night, the cycle of the seasons, and rising and setting of the stars—promote the view that time is cyclical and never ending. Other facts of life—the aging process, for instance—support the view that time is linear and has a direction. The past gives way to the present, which yields to the future. Our modern society embraces both the cyclical and linear aspects of time—the cyclical in our celebration of recurring holidays, and the linear in our schooling and professional advancement. Science, literature, and the arts give us examples of time stretched, compressed, and reversed. Vertical disk sundial French, 17th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7318

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Cyclical Time Traditional rural societies tend to view time as cyclical. Daily life is governed by the rhythms of agriculture, circadian periods, and recurring natural events such as days, seasons, cycles of birth and death, and regular bodily urges. Church time, like agrarian time, is also cyclical. It is built on the recurrence of holy days and the rhythms of prayer. Images of cyclical time often show a winged youth holding a sundial or the Greek god Aion supporting the circular zodiac. They portray the march of the seasons as a circuit tread by infant, young, middle-aged, and elder males. Another ancient symbol is the ouroboros, a snake biting its tail, and the motto Finis ab origine pendet (the end depends on the beginning).


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As soone, as wee to bee, begunne; We did beginne, to be Vndone. Emblem with ouroboros George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, ancient and moderne: Quickened vvith metracial illustrations, both morall and divine: and disposed into lotteries, that instruction, and good counsell, may bee furthered by an honest and pleasant Recreation (London, 1635). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library f STC 25900

And the seasons they go round and round Emblem showing march of seasons with an ouroboros and butterfly boy Otto van Veen, Quinti Horatii Flacci emblemata (Antwerp, 1612). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 630 12.867 (A)


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Perpetual Calendars Perpetual calendars take advantage of the cyclical nature of our annual calendar. Some are mathematical tables, and others are mechanical devices with rotating disks called volvelles. Both kinds enable the days of the week to be matched up with the days of each month. Many also offer information on the average length of daylight or darkness in a given month, the dates the sun enters each zodiacal sign, and times of festivals.

Mother-of-pearl perpetual calendar to set on a desk French, c. 1850. Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7271


Perpetual Calendars

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Perpetual calendar invented by Samuel Morland (top) on a portable magnetic azimuth sundial Charles Bloud, Dieppe, c. 1660 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collesction of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7897


Perpetual Calendars

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Perpetual calendar on a pocket compass dial Jacobus de Steur, Leiden, c. 1675 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7256

Top of cover showing Dominical letters (telling which days will be Sundays in years beginning 1672); sun’s place in the zodiac for each month; lengths of day and night at that time of the year; times of sunrise and sunset.

Horizontal sundial mounted over a magnetic compass.

Inside of cover showing weekday for every date in the calendar.

Lunar volvelle showing phases of the moon every day of lunar month; how many hours the moon is ahead of the sun (for using the sundial by moonlight); and aspects of the planets.

Perpetual calendar on a pocket equatorial dial Augsburg, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7049


Perpetual Calendars

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Perpetual calendar on top and bottom of an aide memoire The owner can write notes in pencil on the ivory leaves. German, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7276


Perpetual Calendars

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Perpetual calendar in almanac book form The Shakspeare Calendar (Athens, Georgia, 1849). Schechner Collection


Perpetual Calendars

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Detail showing saints’ days during a month (top) on a cardboard perpetual calendar to mount on a house wall Nuremberg, c. 1800 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7327


Perpetual Calendars

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Coin-shaped perpetual calendar to carry in a pocket French, c. 1850 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7272


Perpetual Calendars

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Cyclical Time in Hopi Culture For many Native peoples in North America—particularly those in agricultural societies—time flows in a never-ending circle. Rituals related to mythological beings are performed cyclically in order to maintain balance in the universe. Experiences in time are grounded in repetition and renewal, in opposition to the linear western sense of unfolding changes. The Hopi people believe that benevolent spirit beings, katsinam, visit them for half of every year. The katsinam begin to arrive from the spirit world at the winter solstice in late December, and depart in July after the summer solstice. Hopi men costume themselves as the katsinam and perform dances and ceremonies during their stay to offer prayers for health, fertility, and rain. The katsinam accept the prayers and gifts from the Hopi and carry them back to the gods. Hopi katsina dolls are wooden effigies of the spirit beings. They are given to babies of both sexes, girls near marriageable age, and women during the ceremonies and dances. The dolls are treasured and hung inside the home to promote their wellbeing and that of the family.

(image of katsina dolls on following page)


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(first, from left)

(third, from left)

Leenang, the flute katsina with squash blossoms on his head

Si´o Sa´lako katsina with a feathered skirt

He appears in December to bring rain, health, and good harvests. Hopi, Arizona, pre-1892

He performs in the January winter social dances to bring rain. Hopi, Arizona, pre-1892

(second, from left)

(fourth, from left)

Sa´lakwmana katsina with a headdress representing clouds and the rainbow

Pawtiwa, the Zuni sun god and a kastina chief, brings rain and mist in Hopi culture

She may arrive in January with Si’o Sa’lako, and dances with her brother in midsummer. Hopi, Arizona, pre-1892

He performs in January. Hopi, Arizona, pre-1892

© President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 45-25-10/28863, 45-25-10/28830, 45-25-10/28823, 45-25-10/28877 (digital file# 99110016). Gift of the Estate of Mary Hemenway, 1945.


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Bach’s Circles The fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach are said to go in circles. Musical elements overlap and return on each other.

Fugue for two harpsichords Johann Sebastian Bach, “Fuga duo Clavechimbalorum,” Die Kunst der Fuge (Zurich, c. 1802). Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard College Library, Merritt Room Mus 627.1.410.1


Bach’s Circles

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Linear Time City dwellers and merchants are more prone to scheduling than their rural counterparts. Beginning in the 14th century as feudal society gave way to more urban, commercial centers, time became seen as a precious commodity to be budgeted and spent wisely. Petrarch and educational reformers urged people to multitask and organize activities carefully. Otherwise they would die without achieving any good. The new time pressures reinforced the linear sense of time. Mementi mori, images that reminded people of their hastening death, served as moral goads. Sands of time Sand glass Italian? c. 1760 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7301


Linaer Time

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Death’s one long-Sleepe; and, Life’s no more, But one short-Watch, an houre before. Memento mori showing sand glass topped by watch escapement, alongside a candle and a woman. George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, ancient and moderne: Quickened vvith metracial illustrations, both morall and divine: and disposed into lotteries, that instruction, and good counsell, may bee furthered by an honest and pleasant Recreation (London, 1635). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library f STC 25900

Father Time over Time Artists depicted Chronos or Time in Petrarch’s day as an elder man carried on a litter. By the Renaissance, he was an inescapable force causing ruin or decay. This ruthless old man now carried a lethal instrument, a scythe to cut down anything in his path. Wings symbolized his fleeting nature. A sandglass or clock escapement signaled the unstoppable course. This Father Time kept company with death. Curiously by the end of the 19th century, this fierce representation became domesticated into the amiable and feeble Father Time figure we know today.

Time as an old man with wings and crutches Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), Triumph of Time, manuscript created by Maître des Entrées de Claude de France, c. 1500 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Fr. 12423 Wikimedia Commons


Father Time over Time

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Time in a chariot of clock and sundial parts, bringing ruin in his wake Engraving to illustrate Petrarch’s Triumph of Time Maarten van Heemskerck (1498-1574), print designer, and Philips Galle (1537-1612), engraver and publisher, Antwerp, c. 1565. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Courtesy of Koninklijke Bibliotheek / The Memory of the Netherlands, and Wikimedia Commons

Time as a deadly menace cutting down the arts and sciences Otto van Veen, Quinti Horatii Flacci emblemata (Antwerp, 1612). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 630 12.867 (A)

Father Time Bryant Baker, “The Old and the New,” Puck, 28 December 1910 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division AP101.P7 1910 (Case X) [P&P]


Father Time over Time

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Mozart’s Arrows Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s works are very goal-directed. They tell a story and build to a climax.

Missa brevis in D major Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Missa ex D a 4. vocibus ordinariis, 2. violinis, con organo & violoncello (Augsburg, 1793). Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard College Library, Merritt Room Mus 745.1.515.7 BMEO


Mozart’s Arrows

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The Ages of Man As men and women go through life they pass through different stages between birth and death. Key moments in time are marked by rites of passage. These rites are governed by rules that bind the individual to his society. Ceremonies such as baby naming, confirmation of faith, school graduation, weddings, and funerals celebrate the distinct stages of life.

The Ages of Man Bartholomaeus, Anglicus, Le Proprietaire en francoys (Lyon, 1486). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Inc 8540 (32.5)


The Ages of Man

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The Life and Age of Woman Currier and Ives, New York, 1850 Reprint Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University Gr13-1

“Carry Your Navel” Among the western Sioux during pregnancy, a female relative or the prospective mother herself made an amulet to hold the newborn baby’s umbilical cord. The amulets were shaped as either a lizard (for boys) or turtle (for girls). These animals were revered as difficult to kill, and so were appropriate guardians against evil and symbols of longevity. The mother tied the amulet to the frame of the cradleboard so that it suspended in front of the infant, serving as a toy as well as talisman. When the child began to walk, the amulet was worn or attached to the clothing. A five- and six year-old child was called a “carry your navel.”

Lizard-shaped umbilical amulet Lakota (western Sioux), late 19th to early 20th century © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 38-4410/12857 (digital file# 99110026). Gift of Mrs. Henry H. Richardson in memory of Theodore Jewett Eastman, A.B. 1901, M.D. 1905, 1938.

Turtle-shaped umbilical amulet Lakota (western Sioux), late 19th to early 20th century © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 13-4810/85447 (digital file# 99110024). Museum purchase, Huntington Frothingham Wolcott Fund, 1913.


“Carry Your Navel”

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Coming of Age Many societies mark the time of puberty with rituals that introduce the boy or girl to shamanistic, professional, or future adult roles. Ceremonies and new adornments also declare the boy or girl’s new status to the rest of the community.

Bayaka boy’s initiation mask of Mondo rank (and detail image) Worn in dances through neighboring villages by an important boy (10-14 years old) celebrating the completion of a yearlong “bush school,” which began with his circumcision. Maskmaker Ngonzo, near Munene village, Bayaka tribe, Kwango River, Congo, 1948 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 49-9-50/7392 (digital file# 99110010, 99110011). Gift of Patrick Putnam, 1949.


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Feather headdress and pin for Pomo boy’s initiation (and pin detail image) Tabate Band, Northern Pomo, California, pre-1910 Unused example © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 10-2110/76455 (digital file# 99110019, 99110020). Gift of Lewis Farlow, 1910.


Coming of Age

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Pair of silver ankle bracelets given to a Bedouin girl at puberty and worn for the rest of her life Palestine, pre-1902 Harvard Semitic Museum, 1902.18.27


Coming of Age

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Time Reversal According to Isaac Newton, time was absolute and constant everywhere in the universe. In classical physics, equations are also reversible in time. A movie of billiard balls colliding will make sense whether played forward or back.

Absolute time according to Newton W. J. ‘s Gravesande, An Explanation of the Newtonian Philosophy (London, 1735). Schechner Collection


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Our lives, however, do not run in reverse, but legends of a fountain of youth are common in many cultures.

The fountain of youth Lucas Cranach the Elder, Der Jungbrunnen, 1546 (detail) Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, 593 Wikimedia Commons


Time Reversal

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The fountain of youth Japanese Fairy Tales, Tokyo, c. 1900. Harvard-Yenching Library of the Harvard College Library, Harvard University, GR340 .J33 1900zx


Time Reversal

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Relative Time Since Einstein presented his theories of relativity in 1905 and 1916, time and space are no longer seen as physical absolutes. They are subject to forces such as gravity and the motion of observers relative to each other. If a bicyclist carrying a clock raced past us moving close to the speed of light, our view from the sidewalk would show the bicycle shortened in length and the clock ticking slowed down. The cyclist would see his vehicle and clock running normally.

The Alarm Clock Theatrical poster for a Federal Theatre Division, Work Projects Administration production of The Alarm Clock at the Mason Opera House. California, Federal Art Project, between 1936 and 1938 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division POS - WPA - CA .01 .A53, no. 1 (B size) [P&P]


The perception of time as running slow or fast is conditioned by our psychology and society. An hour spent in Boston traffic is not the same as an hour at a Celtics game.

Relative Time

78

Relative time for Mr. Tompkins George Gamow, Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland: or, Stories of c, G, and h (New York, 1940). Widener Library, Harvard College Library


Relative Time

Time compression and dilation are also features of artistic productions. A play may cover a person’s entire life in a couple of hours; a slow-motion video may stretch a second into an hour.

Ten Minute Alibi Theatrical poster for a Federal Theatre Division, Work Projects Administration production of the Ten Minute Alibi at the Waterloo Theater. Iowa, Federal Art Project, 1936 or 1937 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division POS - WPA - IOWA .01 .P871, no. 1 (B size) [P&P]


Relative Time

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Chapter 4 What Does Time Look Like? When we visualize time, do we think of its cyclical or linear aspects? Its unfolding but turning back on itself or its inescapable progression forward?

Which Came First: the Chicken or the Egg? The philosophical conundrum of the chicken and egg dates back to Aristotle and philosophers of the 4th century BCE. It concerns causality and the order of things in time. Day may give birth to night and night to day metaphorically, but can there be “offspring” without “parents” or vice versa? The chicken-and-egg question has led to deep thinking about the eternity or creation of the universe.

(above) Egg, Aves undated © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Ornithology Collection, MCZ 363126

(at left) Domestic chicken, Gallus domesticus Mounted skin, undated © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Ornithology Collection, MCZ 363047

Chapter 4: What Does Time Look Like?

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The chicken and egg embody circular aspects of time. Julia Child’s stopwatch, on the other hand, and her husband’s timeline for an opening sequence in The French Chef, television’s first cooking show, embody the linear aspects of time.

Julia Child’s stopwatch Used by Paul Child or Ruth Lockwood to time segments of The French Chef Herwins, Switzerland, c. 1963 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Ruth Lockwood Papers

(on next page)

On time sequence planned for Julia Child’s TV program Paul Child to Charles Child, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 26 January 1963 Paul Child Materials ©2014. Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Julia Child Papers, MC 644, folder 78



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Linking these two is the clock escapement with its oscillating pendulum. The swing of the pendulum in time turns back on itself but propels the clock movement to tick out the minutes in one direction only.

Anchor escapement model Simon Willard, Roxbury, 1822 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1995-1-0007



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Time as a Series Another way to visualize time is as a progressive series of changes. The morphological development of a frog from egg to full-grown adult exhibits the forward motion of time. So does the evolution of the oil lamp from the Early Bronze Age until the modern era. Archaeologists use found objects like lamps to date strata in their digs in the same way that geologists and paleontologists use index fossils to date sediments.

Frog development series, Pelophylax lessonae © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Herpetology Collection, MCZ A-136433

(gallery view with oil lamps on following page)


Time as a Series

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Series of oil lamps All from the Harvard Semitic Museum Early Bronze Age, 3150 – 2300 BCE 1907.64.177

Middle Bronze Age, 2300 – 1550 BCE 1907.76.65

Late Bronze-Iron Age, 1550 – 1000 BCE 1905.5.17

Late Iron Age, 1000 – 586 BCE 1907.64.179

Hellenistic, 332 – 198 BCE 1907.64.175

Hellenistic (Delphinform), 198 – 63 BCE 1907.64.203

Ptolemaic Egyptian (with Palmette), 50 BCE – 25 CE 1931.3.173

Herodian, 30 BCE – 70 CE

1907.64.2

Roman, 1st century CE

1907.64.268

Roman (Discus with heat shield), 1st century CE 1907.64.286

Early Byzantine (Beit Natif), 360 – 491 CE 1902.36.2

Late Byzantine (Slipper), 491 – 640 CE 1902.36.4

Islamic (Umayyad ovoid), 661 – 750 CE 1907.9.5

Late Islamic (Mamluk), 1258 – 1517 CE 1892.2.2

Late Islamic (Mamluk), 1258 – 1517 CE 2006.4.15

Modern

1907.64.194


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Chapter 5 What is an Hour? Today it is 1 /24 of a day, but it was not always so. The length of the hour is arbitrary, and ways of counting them have varied in time and place.

What is an Hour? The splitting of the day into twentyfour hours dates back to the Egyptians and was influenced by their administrative division of the year into ten-day weeks. The dawn rising of a bright star announced the start of each week. The spacing of these decan stars across the visible night sky divided the night into twelve hours. By analogy, Egyptian priests divided the day into twelve parts. Subdivisions of the hour into sixty minutes, and the minute into sixty seconds came from Babylonia, where astronomical calculations were done in base sixty. Common hours Mechanical equatorial sundial with enamel face European, c. 1800 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2010-1-0004

Since day and night were always divided into twelve hours each, the lengths of light and dark hours were unequal. The hours were like sponges, expanding and contracting with the seasons. Greeks, Romans, Jews, and Christians all used this system. In Asia, the Chinese and Japanese used similar systems, but their hours were twice as long.

Chapter 5: What is an Hour?

90

Japanese unequal hours Equatorial sundial, Japan, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7933


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Japanese unequal hours and western equal minutes on a watch Triple-case pocket watch by N. James, London, 17001725 with chain attached to Japanese scaphe sundial Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7935


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The invention of the mechanical clock in the 13th century introduced Europe to a new system of equal hours alongside the old. In the 15th century sundials began to be calibrated for equal hours too, so that clocks and dials were using the same system. Even with equal hours, there were many regional styles of counting them. Italians counted them 1–24 from sunset; Germans, 1–24 from sunrise. The French and English counted 1–12 twice beginning at midday and midnight. These common hours were also the preference of astronomers. Many portable sundials show multiple hour systems so that users could convert between them.

Common, astronomical, and Italian hours Horizontal and pin-gnomon sundial Naples, 1627 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7191


93

During the French Revolution, reformers introduced a more rational, decimal system of timekeeping. The day was divided into ten hours, each of 100 minutes. The public hated it, and it was eventually discontinued. (at left) French decimal hours Pocket watch with both the 10-hour system of the French Revolution and the common 24-hour system http://www.antique-horology.org/_Editorial/ RepublicanCalendar/

(below) Hours from sunrise and hours to sunset, with common hours Inclining horizontal and analemmatic sundial Johann Engelbrecht, Beraun, 1786 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland 7379


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Italian and Nuremberg hours alongside unequal hours and common equal hours Ivory diptych Conrad Karner, Nuremberg, 1630 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7553

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Turkish numerals Quadruple-case watch, Edward Prior, London, c. 1790 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1998-1-1353


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Chapter 6 Timekeeping Timekeeping instruments measure time intervals from fractions of a second to years. They do not find time directly from nature as sundials do, but track it from a point chosen by a person.

Calendars The calendar is a method of timekeeping over an extended period. It counts the days in the year, assigning them to weeks and months. It is an administrative system, and therefore strongly influenced by the culture in which it is made and the audience it serves. Most calendars are based on the cycles of the Sun and Moon, which have been used to reckon time for religious and civil purposes since as early as 10,000 BCE.

The Common Woman’s 1972 Calendar Women’s Press, Boston, 1972 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

(details of months on the following pages)

Chapter 6: Timekeeping Calendars

98

Many early calendars were lunar. The Islamic calendar, for instance, is based on a thirty-year-cycle of twelve lunar months beginning with the date the prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina (July 16, 622). The Jewish calendar is luni-solar, adding a “leap month” in seven lunar years out of nineteen in order to reconcile the count with solar years. Traditional Chinese and Hindu calendars are also luni-solar. Our solar calendar of 365 days had its origins in Egypt around 3000 BCE. By Roman times, it was ninety days out of step with the sun’s true position. In 45 BCE, Julius Caesar reformed it, adding a leap day every four years and moving the start to January 1 from March 1. A slight error, however, caused large problems: By the 1500s, the Julian calendar was ten days off, causing Easter and religious festivals to fall too early. A commission appointed by Pope Gregory XIII solved the problem in 1582 by modifying the schedule of leap years and removing ten days.

Chapter 6: Timekeeping Calendars

101

Book of Hours Books of hours are late medieval devotional texts. They contain prayers for specific hours of the day and night according to the divine office of the Catholic Church. They also contain an ecclesiastical calendar listing feast days and saints’ days.

Calendar leaf from a book of hours French, mid-15th century Gingerich Collection

Chapter 6: Timekeeping

Book of Hours

102

Almanacs Almanacs are annual compilations that list each month along with information about monthappropriate chores, usually agricultural. They list the rising and setting of major constellations, visible planets, predicted eclipses, and weather. All mark religious festivals and civic events; some advise on good and evil days. Many also offer handy advice on cooking, medical treatments, transportation systems, and animal behavior. Almanacs have been produced since the 5th century BCE up to the present day. The Diamond Dye Almanac, 1888 Burlington, Vermont, 1887 Schechner Collection

Chapter 6: Timekeeping Almanacs

103

(above) The Boston Almanac, 1847 Boston, 1846 Launie Collection

(at left) The Boston Almanac, 1847 and 1850 Boston, 1846, 1849

Cambridge Directory and Almanac, 1852 Cambridge, 1851 Launie Collection


104

The New Calendar of Salads

The Foolish Almanac for 1906

Chicago, c. 1920

Boston, 1905

Schechner Collection

Schechner Collection

(detail on following page)


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Planners and Diaries Frequently calendars and almanacs had space for their owners to note significant events. This farmer’s almanac from 1763 records the birth of a calf.

Farmer’s almanac noting birth of a calf Nathaniel Ames, Astronomical Diary: or, Almanack, 1763 (Boston, 1762). Launie Collection

(detail on following page)


Planners and Diaries

107

The lady’s diary has an “x” next to the dates that its owner got her menstrual period.

The Lady’s Almanac for the Year 1869 Boston, 1868 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Mary Augusta Cumings Papers, MC 350, vol. 4



109

Phillips Brooks Appointment Calendar, 1936 Boston, 1935 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Marietta Tree Papers, MC 539, box 6



110

Suffrage Calendar 1912 with lady on a soapbox Philadelphia, 1911 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Suffrage vertical files



111

“Give us back our eleven days!” England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752, by which time the “double dating” of correspondence between England and the Continent had become a tradehindering nuisance. Almanacs for that year show the loss of eleven days in September. New Year’s Day was also shifted from March 25 to January 1. Many people were unhappy with the financial implications of losing the eleven days of work and rent.

Almanac for use during calendar reform The Ladies Diary: Or, Woman’s Almanack, 1752 (London, 1751). Gingerich Collection

(detail on next page)


“Give us back our eleven days!”

112

Lost days in September during calendar reform The Ladies Diary: Or, Woman’s Almanack, 1752 (London, 1751). Gingerich Collection

Ephemerides A calendar focused on the positions of the planets, sun, and moon is called an ephemerides. The technical information was highly valued by astronomers. This volume was owned by Edmond Halley (1656-1742), the famed astronomer best known for his research on comet orbits.

Ephemerides owned by Edmond Halley Johannes Stadius, Ephemerides novae (Cologne, 1570). Gingerich Collection

Chapter 6: Timekeeping Ephemerides

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Calendars and Culture Different societies keep track of time in distinct ways. Some indigenous people of Siberia count the days on wooden sticks and disks. The Aztecs had an agricultural cycle of 365 days, a ritual cycle of 260 days, and a 52-year cycle linking them.

Calendar stick incised with days and weeks (and detail image) Samoyedic, Siberia, Russia, pre-1924 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 24-48-60/ D2063 (digital file# 99110021, 99110022). Museum purchase, Huntington Frothingham Wolcott Fund, 1924.


Calendars and Culture

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Calendar markings appear on the Aztec Sun Stone, a twenty-four-ton carving dating from 1427 CE. It also depicts cycles of creation and destruction in time. The Sun god, Tonatiuh, in the center, begs to be fed the blood of human hearts in order for him to keep the world in motion. Around him are the sun gods of prior ages. According to Aztec cosmology, the present day world contains remnants of worlds that came before.

Aztec Sun Stone (and detail image) Scale replica of the Aztec Sun Stone preserved in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology Mexico, pre-1902 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 02-42-20/C3123 (digital file# 99110008, 99110009). Gift of George B. Pitcher, 1902.



116

Sabjassi calendar disk with days of the week Yakut, Siberia, Russia, pre-1924 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 2448-60/D2327 (digital file# 99110023). Museum purchase, Huntington Frothingham Wolcott Fund, 1924.

Persian zodiac perhaps 17th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7350



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Sand Glasses Invented in the Middle Ages, sand glasses measure time by the flow of a crushed material—rock or eggshells—from one ampoule to another. The intervals may be hours, or fractions of hours and minutes. Sand glasses were used to time sermons and lessons. Aboard ships, large ones timed two-hour work periods called “watches.” For determining the ship’s speed, sailors used 28-second sand glasses to time the distance run as knots played out in a log line tossed overboard. Delightfully ornamental sand glasses were for domestic use. Sand glass European, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7291


Sand Glasses

118

Sand glass of short duration, likely for timing eggs

Sand glass with fractionated ampoule

Possibly English, mid-19 century


th


French, mid-18th century

(on next page)

Stay and take the other glass Minister rotates his sand glass in order to double the time of his sermon William Yonge, England’s Shame, or The Unmasking of a Politick Atheist (London, 1663). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library *EC65 P4425 W663y


Sand Glasses

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Sand glass with fractionated ampoule French, mid-18th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7289


Sand Glasses

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The sand glass maker Christoph Weigel, Abbildung der gemein-nützlichen Haupt-Stände (Ratisbon, 1698). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 620.98 876


Sand Glasses

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Double sand glass

Double sand glass

Possibly German, 17th century

Possibly French, c. 1700

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7295



Sand Glasses

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Interval Timers The earliest timers were the human pulse or the chanting of words. Then came water clocks that measured time drop by drop, and fire clocks that used the amount of candle wax or incense consumed. Sand glasses came on the scene in the Middle Ages. The development of precision timers had encouragement from surprising places. To time horse races, Nicolas Rieussec in 1821 invented the first chronograph with a seconds indicator. Polaroid allegedly repurposed some bomb timers in their film development timers. Sand glass timer Italian, c. 1750 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1987 7300


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Horse-race chronograph with seconds indicator The user can pay full attention to the race while operating a pen trigger that drops an ink spot on the rotating dial. The position of the spots on the dial indicates the beginning and end of the interval timed. Nicolas Rieussec, 1822 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0648


Interval Timers

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Stopwatch W. E. Huguenin Switzerland, c. 1866 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from the Institute of Geographical Exploration, c. 1967 5118


Interval Timers

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Electric motor timer French, c. 1880 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0095

Peel-apart, instant-film development timer Owned by Edwin H. Land, the inventor of Polaroid Polaroid, Cambridge, 1963-1978 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of the Edwin Land family, 2004 2004-1-0139


Interval Timers

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Clocks and Watches Water-powered, geared mechanisms existed in Greece in the 3rd century BCE to measure time and show star positions and lunar phases. Unfortunately, this clock technology was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire. To regulate times of prayer, medieval monks turned to sundials by day and simple water clocks by night. In cloudy, frozen, northern climes, neither was reliable. The invention of the sand glass helped, but the monks found they needed some sort of alarm to wake the sleepy brother whose job it was to call them all to prayer. The weight-driven clock solved the problem in the late 13th century. By the 1330s, clocks were set up in church towers and struck bells to count the hours. Anyone in earshot could now tell the time. Domestic timepieces followed. Use of a mainspring in place of falling weights enabled them to be more compact around 1400. The pocket watch came on the scene around 1575. These early clocks did well to mark the hours. Improvements to their movements led to increased precision, particularly with the introduction of the pendulum by Christian Huygens in 1656. The addition of minute and second hands came after 1680. At first only the rich could afford to own a clock or watch. But improved workshop practices and economic competition brought down prices, making clocks accessible to merchants and others in the 18th century.


Clocks and Watches

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The Clockmaker Hartmann Schopper, Panoplia omnium illiberalium mechanicarum aut sedentariarum artium genera continens (Frankfurt, 1558). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 520 68.773


Clocks and Watches

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Evolution of the Watch All watches have three basic parts—an energy source, something that vibrates consistently and controls the release of the energy, and a way to count and display those vibrations. Here are watches paired with movements of their day over a 300-year period.

Pair-case pocket watch with spring and fusee Owned by William Bond, Plymouth, England, before 1784 and later his son, William Cranch Bond, director of Harvard College Observatory. George Lindsay, London, 1724 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1968 1990-1-0007


Evolution of the Watch

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Pair-case pocket watch with spring and fusee John Pepys, London, 1680-1708 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7953



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Quarter-hour repeater pocket watch Purchased by astronomer William Cranch Bond in Paris in 1819 on a trip abroad to determine the best instruments to equip a new observatory at Harvard. Breguet et Fils, Paris, 1819 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from Harvard College Observatory, 1963 1993-1-0005



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(above) Watch winding keys From the collection of William Bond & Son, Boston, c. 1929 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland 1998-1-1161

(at left) Asa Gray’s first pocket watch Bought by the botanist with $60.00 from the proceeds of Gray’s first course of Lowell Lectures at Harvard. Abraham Vacheron Girod, Geneva, 1843 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, 1990 1990-2-0009



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Hunting case pocket watch Given to Dr. Sereno Watson in 1885 by fellow paleobotanist and bryologist, Leo Lesquereux out of appreciation for Watson’s assistance in the completion of the Manual of the Mosses of North America. Edouard Richard, Le Locle, c. 1885 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, 1990 1990-2-0010



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Lady’s pendant watch Probably a Swiss import sold by William Bond & Son, Boston, c. 1900 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0563

Pocket watch

Accutron wristwatch with tuning fork

Presented to botanist C. A. Weatherby upon his retirement from the Gray Herbarium in 1940. Hamilton Watch Company, Lancaster, 1940

Until October 25, 1960, all watches ticked. That’s when Bulova introduced the first electronic watch that hummed. With a tuning fork that oscillated at 360 Hz, it was accurate enough for use by NASA. Bulova Watch Company, New York, 1967

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, 1990 1990-2-0011


Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of Lewis Law 1998-1-1354


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Accutron wristwatch with tuning fork Bulova Watch Company, New York, 1970 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of Ebenezer Gay, 1989 1988-0026



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Lady’s wristwatch with quartz crystal to keep the beat In 1969, Seiko made the first quartz wristwatches. Seiko, Japan, c. 1990 Schechner Collection

Why do the hours run “clockwise” on clocks? They copy the direction the shadow moves hour-by-hour on sundials in the northern hemisphere.

Sundials Regulate Clocks Clocks can only keep time from an arbitrary starting point and do it in an average way. Sundials find the time directly and precisely from nature. Therefore all early clock users needed a good sundial to set their clocks.

Cannon sundial at the Palais Royal gardens Fulgence Marion, The Wonders of Optics (London, 1868). Widener Library, Harvard College Library


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A beloved method for setting one’s watch was the cannon dial, which combined a horizontal sundial and a noon gun. At midday, a burning lens focused the sun’s beam onto the touch hole of the cannon, igniting the gunpowder. One was set up in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris in 1786. “Every fine day towards twelve o’clock,” wrote an observer in 1868, “crowds of Parisians who have nothing to do may be seen bending their steps towards the Palais Royal to set their watches by the gun.”

Man setting his watch by the noon blast of a cannon sundial Adolphe Ganot, Natural Philosophy for General Readers and Young Persons (New York, 1872). Cabot Science Library, Harvard College Library



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(above) Dipleidoscope Fixed to a porch rail or window sill, the dipleidoscope uses the light of the midday sun in order to determine true noon for the express purpose of setting one’s watch. E. J. Dent, London, c. 1850 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7890

(at left) Young man using Dent’s dipleidoscope to set his watch E. J. Dent, A Description of the Dipleidoscope (London, 1875). Private Collection



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Precision inclining sundial in bearings Matthew Berge, London, c. 1800-1817 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7477



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Old Timer The original logo of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors showed a Victorian gentleman checking his pocket watch against a garden sundial. The image was taken from the title page of James W. Benson, Time and TimeTellers (London, 1875). NAWCC membership patch United States, c. 1975 Schechner Collection

The foolish servant has dug up the sundial when asked to set his master’s watch to it Copy of the Irish Footman, an etching by Thomas Rowlandson, after George Moutard Woodward, originally published by R. Ackermann, London, 1808.



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Equation of Time Unfortunately, the sun is not a very regular timekeeper because of the earth’s motion. Sundial time can be as much as 16 minutes off from mean clock time. The difference between solar time and mean time follows a proscribed annual cycle. The conversion between the two is called the “equation of time.” Tables and diagrams for the equation of time were published by astronomers in the mid-17th century, and included with watches and sundials beginning in the 18th century. Heliochronometer An instrument to find mean time from the sun by putting a spot of light on the equation of time, which is laid out on the figure-eight shape, known as the analemma. P. Flechet et Cie., Paris, c. 1880 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7398

(detail of analemma on following page)


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Watch papers with the equation of time Such useful papers to convert solar time to mean time for setting one’s watch were stored in watch cases. These were found with the pocket watch by George Lindsay, 1724. William Bond & Son, early 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1990-1-0007

Biological Clocks Plants and animals track linear time through growth rings. The rings on this eastern hemlock “cookie” inform us that the tree lived over 220 years. Those on the Massachusetts clam shells indicate that these animals can live up to 500 years. The scutes on a turtle’s shell also have an age-dependent ring structure. Other biological changes show time’s cyclical aspects. Circadian rhythms are biological cycles—such as wakefulness and sleep—observed to occur daily. The female menstrual cycle is a monthly occurrence. Women worried about the decline of their fertility with age often speak of their biological clocks ticking down.

Tree rings Cross section of a 220-year-old Eastern Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis Arnold Arboretum, 2012 Collected by David Orwig of the Harvard Forest Harvard University Herbaria


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Leopard tortoises, Stigmochelys pardalis babcocki Adult from Arusha, Tanzania, 1916 and juvenile from Moroto, Uganda, 1967 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Herpetology Collection, MCZ R-18156 (paratype) and MCZ R-120270 (in ethanol)


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Long lives of clams Clam shells, Arctica islandica Collected in Lynn, Massachusetts, 1895 and near Barnstable, Cape Cod, 1954 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Malacology Collection, MCZ 15042 (4 specimens) and MCZ 200495 (1 specimen)


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The Forecaster Menstrual cycle slide chart New York, The Forecaster Co., 1948 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Boston Association for Childbirth Education Records: MC 515 6.5

Your Pregnancy Calculator Circular rule American College of Nurse-Midwives, 1988 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Boston Association for Childbirth Education Records: MC 515 6.6


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Alimentary timetable Kellog Company, The Sunny Side of Life Book (London, Ontario, 1934). Schechner Collection


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Chapter 7 Atomic Time In late 1967, the second – the basic unit of time – was officially redefined in terms of measurements made with atomic clocks rather than by astronomical observations of the Earth’s motion.

Atomic Time The first atomic clock was built in 1948 at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. This clock used radiation emitted and absorbed by the ammonia molecule to measure time. However, the ammonia clock was not very stable and only ever ran for a few hours. In 1955 the first clock based on cesium atoms was built at the National Physics Laboratory in the U.K. This clock was more stable and precise than any previously built clock. It established an atomic definition of the second: 9,192,631,770 cycles of the cesium frequency. In 1967, the international timekeeping community adopted this “new” second. Since then, several types of atomic clocks have been developed, offering increased precision and stability. One example is the hydrogen maser clock, developed by Norman Ramsey and his colleagues at Harvard in 1960. Hydrogen maser clock Model H-10, serial no. 5, used at MIT’s Lincoln Lab Varian Associates, Quantum Electronic Devices, c. 1964 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of the MIT Haystack Observatory and Lincoln Laboratory 1998-1-1628

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Uses of Atomic Time Atomic clocks and their high-precision time measurements have benefited science and consumer technologies. In 1976 a hydrogen maser clock was sent into space to measure the gravitational redshift predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. This maser was used to confirm the value predicted by relativity to 1 part in 106. Before the advent of atomic clocks, the red shift had only been confirmed to an accuracy of 1 part in 102.

The first atomic clock, based on the ammonia molecule, was built in 1948 by Harold Lyons (right) and his team at the US National Bureau of Standards. In this iconic photograph, the copper tubing containing the ammonia is wrapped around a tradional clock face.


Atomic clocks are central to the functioning of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which became operational in 1993. Each satellite in the GPS network carries several atomic clocks on board that transmit highly accurate time signals. These time signals are used to triangulate positions on Earth.

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In hydrogen maser clocks, a quartz crystal oscillator is tuned to the frequency of radiation emitted when the hydrogen atoms change state (1,420,405,752 Hz). Hydrogen atoms pass through a magnetic state selector, which allows those in the higher state to enter a microwave cavity. Within the cavity, the atoms are exposed to applied radiation at the transition frequency, causing some of the atoms to drop to the lower state. These transitions release further radiation at the transition frequency, creating a resonance effect. The emitted radiation is used to lock the applied radiation at the transition frequency, as well as tune a quartz crystal oscillator that can “tick” seconds.


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Chapter 8 In Time Together Keeping together in time — synchrony — is a major part of community life.

Dance, Drill, and Timed Movement Shared muscular movement in time—whether dance or military drill, calisthenics or repetitive work—reinforces a sense of community and common purpose, especially when done to music or rhythmic drumming.

Pair of drums with sticks Palestine, late 19th century Harvard Semitic Museum, 1902.53.4

Chapter 8: In Time Together

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Tambourine Damascus, 19th century Harvard Semitic Museum, 1902.39.10

(on following page)

Dance choreography Kellom Tomlinson, The Art of Dancing Explained by Reading and Figures (London, 1735). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 705.35.842



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Putting the motions down on paper is a challenge. Raoul-Auger Feuillet (1659-1710) and Kellom Tomlinson (1690-1753) taught dance figures by assigning choreographic symbols to measures of music. Elocution manuals of the 19th century recommended the metronome to actors and ministers as a tool to pace their words and gestures.

Gestures to reinforce words Andrew Comstock, A system of elocution, with special reference to gesture, to the treatment of stammering, and defective articulation (Philadelphia, 1843). Widener Library, Harvard College Library



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Musical Tempo Since the 15th century, performers have kept together in time by tactus, or touch. Tempo was conveyed by hand gestures, finger tapping, foot stamping, and beating the floor with a stick. Changes in tempo were declared in written instructions that went with the music. As musical productions grew larger in scale and included opera, theater, and orchestral performances, there came a need for more visible and central coordination by a conductor. Batons were first used at the end of the 18th century. The Cantor Christoph Weigel, Abbildung der gemein-nützlichen Haupt-Stände (Ratisbon, 1698). Hougton Library, Harvard College Library Typ 620.98 876

Conducting baton Mollard, Bath, Ohio, 2013 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University


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The metronome, invented in 1812, offered composers a way to establish a tempo and musicians a way to maintain it in performance. Ludwig Beethoven was the first to employ metronome markings. Musical notation fixes music in time by making the duration and rhythm of notes visible on the page.

Maelzel-type metronome European, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University RS1262


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Timetables To take advantage of public transportation, people need transit schedules.

For business or pleasure: A guide to the world’s largest connected system of electric street cars at the turn of the 20th century Derrah’s Official Street Railway Guide for New England (Boston: Robert. H. Derrah, c. 1907). Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

(timetable on following page)

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Catching the horse rail in Harvard Square in 1862 A user notes that the horse car leaves twenty minutes earlier than advertised. Russell’s Horse Railroad Guide for Boston and Vicinity (Boston: B. B. Russell, 1862). Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

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Sacred Time In many religions there is an underlying belief that the power of prayer is strengthened when members of the whole community raise their voices together. This promotes time discipline.

Pillar dial with a Jesuit seal on base Spanish, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7183


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Required to pray at certain hours of the day and night, Catholic monks and nuns used sundials and clocks to keep on schedule. After the Gregorian reform of the old Julian calendar in 1582, German sundials often had epact tables in both systems for determining the date of Easter over a nineteen year period. Religious imagery adorned sundials owned by the devout.

Epact tables for determining the date of Easter according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars Ivory diptych Hans Troschel II, Nuremberg, 1620-1634 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7535


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Horizontal Solnhofen limestone sundial with Jesuit symbols South German, 17th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7281

Islam had its own special sundials to help Muslims know the direction to face during ritual prayers. Known as qibla indicators, they found the times for the day’s prayers and the direction of Mecca.

Qibla indicator Persian, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7351


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Native Americans also had time-based religious practices. For instance, this headdress was worn by a female dancer appearing during the annual Night Dances in March near the time of the spring planting. The dances are part of a cycle of Hopi ceremonies and prayers for a good harvest.

Palhikmana tablita (Butterfly-Dance headdress) With cloud motifs on top, the sun in the center, and flowers on left and right Hopi, Arizona, pre-1892 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 45-25-10/28712 (digital file# 99110015). Gift of the Estate of Mary Hemenway, 1945.


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“Gentlemen, Synchronize Your Watches” In the late 19th century, the U.S. government sent daily time signals over telegraph lines to public clocks as part of a time service. People would use it to set their mechanical watches. After 1920, people could get a form of electric time in their homes, thanks to the Warren Clock Company of Ashland, Massachusetts. Its new clock, the Telechron, had a synchronous motor and depended on electricpower stations delivering alternating current at a standard frequency of sixty cycles per second. The name Telechron means “time from a distance.”

Advertisement, Elgin National Watch Company Illinois, 1902 Schechner Collection


Telechron synchronous-motor clock Warren Clock Company, Ashland, 1923 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1990 1998-1-1318

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Taking a precise mechanical clock along was another way to synchronize timepieces at remote stations. Chronometers were used for this purpose in navigation and surveying.

56-hour marine chronometer John Bliss & Co., New York, c. 1880 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0246



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Chronometer and tape chronograph T. & F. Mercer, St. Albans, c. 1900 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland DW0471a,b



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Chapter 9 Business of Time Two local firms — W illiam Bond & Son and the American Watch Company — introduced the world to American know-how with superior timekeepers in the 19 th century.

William Bond & Son William Bond & Son was founded in 1793 by an English watchmaker who settled in Boston. Joining him in the business was his son, the astronomer William Cranch Bond. W. C. Bond built the first American-made marine chronometer in 1812. With his son George, he devised a breakcircuit device that permitted a clock to send electrical signals. This was the foundation of the new “American method” of determining longitude and the sending standard time signals along telegraph lines. Watchmaker’s transit From the workshop of Bond & Son John Bliss & Co., New York, c. 1880 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1969 1997-1-1800

Chapter 9: Business of Time

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The firm’s main business was supplying and regulating chronometers and making pocket watches of superior quality for railroad conductors. The Bonds also designed and built outstanding and innovative regulator clocks for use in astronomical observatories. These award-winning clocks were so precise and reliable that they delivered standard time to the railroads of New England. Other clients were the U.S. Navy and the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Tool for repairing barrels of watch mainsprings From the workshop of Bond & Son Andrew S. Clackner, Rochester, c. 1865 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of William B. Osgood, 1959. 2005-1-0192

Uprighting tool From the workshop of Bond & Son American, c. 1845 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0128


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Casting pattern: 2 pillar screws for Bond regulators nos. 394, 395, 396 William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0143

Casting pattern: Conical pendulum ring for Bond regulators nos. 394, 395, 396 William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0130

Casting patterns: 3 weight pulleys William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0107


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Casting pattern and core box for spherical weights for Bond regulators nos. 394, 395, 396 William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0092

Casting patterns: 4 chronometer or clock winding keys William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0032

Casting pattern: Seatboard for Bond regulator no. 370 William Bond & Son, Boston, mid-19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 2005-1-0091


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(on previous page)

Bond & Son awards: Bronze medal, Great Exhibition of 1851 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1998-1-1362

Silver medal for chronometers Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1856 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1998-1-1356

Gold medal for astronomical regulator, Bond no. 396 Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, 1869 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1998-1-1355


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American Watch Company of Waltham A revolution in watch making occurred in Waltham, Massachusetts in the 1850s with the application of the mass production techniques used for firearms to the pocket watch. The watch was redesigned so that the movement was assembled from interchangeable parts. Specialized machinery made each component. The tightly organized factory employed many skilled men and women.

Hours of work and wages of watch factory employees (detail) Waltham Watch Company Time book, 1872 Waltham Watch Co. Records. Baker Library, Harvard Business School


(full view on following page)

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The Waltham watches were the world’s first machine-made watches. They were lower cost yet far more reliable than imported watches. In 1858, the company manufactured 14,000 watches. Numbers climbed from there with the production of better and more diverse movements. Waltham’s factory methods were newsworthy enough to make the cover of Scientific American.

Printing block promoting Riverside movement Waltham Watch Company, c. 1910 Schechner Collection

(on following pages)

The Watch as a Growth of Invention Scientific American, September 1870 Launie Collection

Watchmaking by machinery in America Illustrated London News, June 1875 Schechner Collection



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Pocket watch model 57 Appleton, Tracy & Co., Waltham, 1857 Launie Collection



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Pocket watch, model 99, no. 625 grade American Waltham Watch Co., Waltham, 1899 Launie Collection



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Pocket watch, model 92, Vanguard grade Waltham Watch Co., Waltham, 1894 Launie Collection



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Box of mainsprings Waltham Watch Company, 1899 Launie Collection



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Watchmaker’s transit J. Short, London, c. 1870 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Transfer from Agassiz Station, Harvard College Observatory, 1969 1997-1-1933



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Swiss Knock-Offs Waltham watches were so good that Swiss watchmakers counterfeited the American product and tried to pass them off as the real thing.

The earliest methods for tracking the time were observations of the sun, moon, and stars.

Pocket watch model 57

Swiss fake of the model 57

Appleton, Tracy & Co., Waltham, 1859

“U S Watch Co, Boston,” c. 1860

Launie Collection

Launie Collection

(comparison of movements on following page)


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Comparison of pocket watch model 57 (above) and the Swiss knock-off (beneath)

Ledger of watch repairs Daybook, D. E. Hoxie, Northhampton, 1875-1880 Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Ledger of watch repairs Daybook, D. E. Hoxie, Northhampton, 1875-1880 Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Watchmaker’s Tradecard John Wilson, Carlisle, England, 1840-1850 Foxwell Trade Card Collection, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Chapter 1 0 Work Time Work is ruled by the clock in business and the home.

Time and Labor With the American Industrial Revolution, work moved out of homes and small shops into large factories and engineering projects. Wages were based on time, not on the piece. Work schedules were very strict and had long hours. Time sheets recorded who worked when and how long.

Women punching the clock At the SKF roller bearing factory Marjory Collins, photographer, Philadelphia, 1942 or 1943

At the cotton mills, factory managers rang bells to call workers to the gates, to send them to and from meals, and mark the day’s end. Work was ruled by the clock, and the mill’s time table said precisely which clock on which street corner was the master.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division LC-USW3- 022507-E [P&P]

Chapter 10: Work Time

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The work day was longer in summer than winter months to take advantage of more natural light, but workers got the same day’s wage. When artificial lighting was introduced, the workday stretched up to 14 hours long.

Middlesex Canal workers’ time records, 1797

(on next pages)

Time Records, 1797-1823. Baldwin Family Business Records: Canal Papers. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Time Table of the Lowell Mills [Lowell, Mass.]: B.H. Penhallow, 1851. Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Time Table of the Newburyport Cotton Mills [Newburyport, Mass.]: Morss, Brewster & Huse, printers, corner of State and Middle Streets, c. 1855. Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School


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In disgust workers organized in the early 19 th century to try and reduce the work day to ten hours. In Massachusetts, legislation was passed limiting the work day to 10¾ hours for women and children in 1887. By this time, factory workers here and overseas were campaigning for an 8-hour work day.

Fight for an eight-hour day Tom Mann, What a Compulsory 8 Hour Working Day Means to the Workers (London: Modern Press, 1886). Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School


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The folks who brought you the weekend The Labor Movement bumper sticker United States, 2012

Campaign for an eight-hour day James Leatham, An Eight Hours Day with Ten Hours’ Pay: How to Get It and How to Keep It (Aberdeen: J. Leatham, 1890). Baker Old Class Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School


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Time is Money Benjamin Franklin designed this currency for the Continental Congress in 1776. The bill and coin feature a sundial with the Latin word fugio (I fly) next to the sun. Below the dial is the motto, “Mind Your Business.”

Fugio Cent The United Colonies, one cent, 1776. American Currency Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School


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Fugio paper notes of fractional denominations The United Colonies, 1/3 dollar, 1776. The United Colonies, 1/3 dollar, 1776. The United Colonies, 2/3 dollar, 1776. American Currency Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Mesopotamian Monthly Expenses This cuneiform tablet records in Sumerian that a brewer (Ur-Dumuzi) paid for barley on four successive months in the years 2 and 3 of the reign of Amar-Suen (2047-2048 BCE) to make his beer.

Economic text Mesopotamian, UR III Period (c. 21st –20th century BCE) Harvard Semitic Museum, 1895.1.39


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Daylight Saving and War Time Daylight Saving Time was created by Congress in 1918 as a national plan to save fuel during World War I. Protests by farmers led Congress to repeal the act at the war’s end. At the outbreak of World War II, the United States again adopted daylight saving time to save electricity and encourage evening work on Victory gardens.” It was observed year-round until 1945. Between the wars and since, it has been state choice whether to observe daylight saving time. Workers were encouraged to hustle to be more productive during World War I and II.

Victory! Congress Passes Daylight Saving Bill Poster showing Uncle Sam turning a clock to Daylight Saving Time as a clock-headed lad gets ready to work on his victory garden. Sponsored by United Cigar Stores Company, United States, 1918 Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division POS - US .U55, no. 4 (C size) [P&P]


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Every Minute Counts Posters were designed and produced by the Division of Information, Office of War Information for display in war plants throughout the United States. Photograph of women inspecting drills, Republic Drill and Tool Company, Chicago, 1942 Ann Rosener, photographer, Chicago, August 1942 Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division LC-USE6- D-005716 [P&P]


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Domestic Time Management Beginning in the 19th century, a woman who stayed home while her husband went to work was encouraged to run an orderly household. There were many domestic guides and ready-made items to help her do it. Home efficiency was taken to new heights in the 20th century work of Lillian Gilbreth. An industrial psychologist and mother of twelve, Gilbreth applied the principles of scientific management to housework. Using time-and-motion studies, she reorganized kitchens to eliminate unnecessary steps and promoted time-saving methods of food preparation. The goal was to have more “happiness minutes.” Not enough hours in the day for working women Sybil Stanton, The 25 Hour Woman (Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1986). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University


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The Economy of Time Hand-sewn commonplace book Hattie A. Harlow, Brockton and Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1870-1889 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Hattie A. Harlow Papers, 90-M43



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Five Minute Meats Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Culinary Pamphlets Pr-6, box 51

Mapping out the time-saving kitchen. Scenes from Lillian Gilbreth’s book Lillian Gilbreth, Management in the Home: Happier Living through Saving Time and Energy (New York, 1964). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, 647 G463m, 1964



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Chart of the most efficient way to make meatloaf, with a key to actions Lillian Gilbreth, Management in the Home: Happier Living through Saving Time and Energy (New York, 1964). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, 647 G463m, 1964

Chapter 11 Time Out Coffee breaks, tea time, happy hours — these are all ways we stop time and rest from work and responsibilities.

The Coffee Break Legend has it that an Ethiopian goatherd in about AD 800 noticed his goats gamboling from one coffee shrub to another, and after tasting a few beans himself was soon frolicking with his flock. Coffee crossed the Red Sea to Arabia by AD 1000, but the roasted brew was not introduced to Europe until 1615.

Time out for coffee Customers at the auction sale of Mr. Anthony Yacek’s farm, Derby, Connecticut, 1940 Jack Delano, photographer, Derby, 1940 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection LC-USF34- 041927-E [P&P] LOT 1270

Chapter 11: Time Out

The ritual “coffee break” during the workday arrived on the scene around 1900, but was not called that until 1952. It came with social reforms in American industry as a way to ease drudgery and perk up the workforce.

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Bedouin Hospitality Bedouins are well known for their hospitality to desert travelers. When a guest arrives, he is treated to a coffee ritual. The master of the tent will personally roast coffee beans over a fire and let them cool. He places the beans in an enormous, decorated mortar and pounds them with a pestle in a rhythm all his own. The drumming sound will draw men to the tent to exchange news and tell stories with the guest. The coffee is boiled with cardamom and served in a long-beaked, brass pot called a dallah. Three cups of coffee are proper. The host pours and tastes the first cup himself in order to let the guest feel safe. The guest tastes the second cup of coffee. The third cup is also drunk by the guest. When he has had enough, he wobbles his cup and hands it back to the host.


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217

Mortar and pestle for grinding coffee

Dallah

Bedouin, 19th century

Traditional Bedouin coffee pot Early 20th century

Harvard Semitic Museum, 1907.2.13 a/b

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University


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Bedouins roasting coffee Adwan-Louzi tribes, Sheik Majid’s tent Bedouins in Jordan and other locations, an album of gelatin silver prints John D. Whiting, photographer, Jordan, 1934-1935 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division LOT 13852 (H) [P&P] LC-DIG-ppmsca-18429-00029 (digital file from original on page 14, no. 27)

Time out on the assembly line “That thirty-minute lunch period has earnest and enthusiastic devotees at the Willow Run bomber plant. To save time, workers bring lunches from home and eat close to the job.” Part of a series of photographs about production at the Willow Run bomber plant, built and operated by Ford Motor Company in Michigan on its Willow Run farm for the production of B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II Ann Rosener, photographer, July 1942 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection LC-USE6- D-005693 [P&P]


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Lunch break at the construction site Workmen at lunch hour on an emergency, office-space construction job, Washington, D.C., 1941 John Collier, photographer, Washington, D.C., December 1941 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Photograph Collection LC-USF34- 081707-E [P&P] LOT 1402


Lunch break at the construction site

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Take Five for Music

Take Five The Time Out jazz album had Dave Brubeck’s hit single, “Take Five,” and other compositions that experimented with uncommon time signatures Time Out The Dave Brubeck Quartet Columbia Records, New York, 1959 Schechner Collection


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Time out for music Playlist on the headphones in the exhibition.

Léo Ferré

Avec le temps 4:27

Charles Aznavour

Le temps 2:37

Johann Sebastian Bach

Das wohltemperierte Klavier 4:07

Beethoven

Symphony no. 5 in C minor 7:38

Pink Floyd

Time 6:54

Metallica

The Day that Never Comes 7:56

The Doors

The End 6:30

Jacques Brel

La valse à mille temps 3:52

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626

2:49

Bruno Pelletier

Le temps des cathédrales

2:25

Daniel Bélanger

Quatre saisons dans le désordre 4:48

Maurice Ravel

Boléro 14:49

Peter Gabriel

Big Time 4:28

Sting

All This Time 4:54

The Police

Synchronicity 3:23

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Take Five 5:25

The Byrds

Turn! Turn! Turn! 3:49


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Chapter 1 2 Time Stopped and Preserved We capture fleeting moments in time and preserve them for posterity with sound recordings and snapshots.

The Photograph and the Phonograph

Flowered phonograph horn Edison Manufacturing Company, New York, c. 1904 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 1997-1-0981a

Chapter 12: Time Stopped and Preserved

Two mid-19th century inventions—the photograph and phonograph—radically changed the human experience of time. The images and voices of loved ones could now be recorded. The Gramophone Company emphasized this point in its trademarks. The first was the “recording angel,” which showed a seated angel writing the groove into the disc record. The second was Francis Barraud’s painting of Nipper the dog listening to “his master’s voice” being played off a record.


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Recording angel Trademark of the Gramophone Company, 1898-1909 Private Collection

Nipper the dog hears his master’s voice Victor disc record Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden, New Jersey, c. 1908 Schechner Collection



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(above) Edison Gem phonograph National Phonograph Company, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., Orange, New Jersey, 1904 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 8503

(at left) Edison cylinder record in case Schechner Collection



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Swinger Polaroid Land camera with original box and manual This camera was owned by Edwin H. Land, the inventor of instant photography Polaroid, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1965-1970 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of the family of Edwin Land, 2004 2004-1-0074



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Chronophotography Another invention was chronophotography—a set of stop-action photographs of rapidly moving things in order to study and measure the motion. Pioneers of this technique included artist Eadward Muybridge (1830-1904) and scientist Étienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904).

Marey-wheel photographs of unidentified model with Eadweard Muybridge notation Thomas Eakins, Motion Studies, Philadelphia, 1884 The Library Company of Philadelphia

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Time in a Jar Tschudi’s African bullfrog is a remarkable species of large frog that spends as much as ten months a year aestivating to conserve water and wait out drought conditions. Before the land becomes parched, the frog burrows into soft earth, sheds several layers of skin to form a cocoon, and keeps only its nostrils exposed. Summer rains trigger it to emerge from its low metabolic state. This South African specimen was collected in 1910, over a hundred years ago.

Tschudi’s African bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adspersus Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa, 25 November 1910 © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Herpetology Collection, MCZ A-10788 (in ethanol)


Time in a Jar

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Engineering Students Attempt to Arrest Time “Daylight Saving Time poses Big Problem for Some: These engineering students at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology needed a slide rule, wrench and hammer to work over their sundial for the annual time change.” Original photographic print with news clipping dated 28 April 1969, catalogued under “Day Light Saving Time.” Released from a newspaper morgue Schechner Collection


Engineering Students Attempt to Arrest Time

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Chapter 1 3 Mathematics and the Art of Time Sundial makers have designed instruments of great beauty and mathematical complexity.

Polyhedral Sundials Polyhedral dials and portable compendia often had a unique sundial on every surface, much to the joy of their owners.

Astronomical compendium Calendar detail showing festivals and activities in April, May, and June Christoph Schissler, Augsburg, c. 1550 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7470

Chapter 13: Mathematics and the Art of Time

Polyhedral Sundials

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Astronomical compendium Christoph Schissler, Augsburg, c. 1550 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7470


Polyhedral Sundials

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Pillar sundial

Inclining cube sundial

Johann Spiegel, Lindau, c. 1705

David Beringer, Nuremberg, 1771-1821

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7188

Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7391


Polyhedral Sundials

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Stone cube sundial Nuremberg, 1774 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7405


Polyhedral Sundials

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Polyhedral sundial Possibly Johann Spiegel, Lindau, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7384


Polyhedral Sundials

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Scenes of Virtue Between the hour lines, artists placed scenes of nature, civic virtues, religious motifs, and images of people from foreign lands.

Painted castle in landscape, sun, moon, and stars Ivory diptych, with case French, 1623 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7495


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(above) Compass dial with heart-shaped plumb bob and engraved cover Edmund Culpeper, London, c. 1700-1737 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7484

(at left) Sweet flowers Tiny bone diptych Possibly Karner workshop, Nuremberg, 17th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7894


Scenes of Virtue

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Carved sun Wooden diptych South Germany, c. 1820 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7437


Scenes of Virtue

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Justice and Truth Oval diptych Hans Troschel II, 1620-1634 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c.1985 7532


Scenes of Virtue

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Ottoman Turk and Native American figures on one leaf contrast with a European man and woman on the other leaf. Rectangular ivory diptych Thomas Ducher, Nuremberg, 1620-1645 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7579


Scenes of Virtue

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Foreign Time Sundials from Japan and China offer us a glimpse of Far Eastern hours and aesthetics.

(above) Compendium with scaphe sundial, compass, and two magnifying lenses Japanese, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7965

(at left) Chinese wooden diptych with leopard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7445


Foreign Time

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Scaphe sundial and magnetic compass on carving of a fish with a rat Tsurugi, Japanese, c. 1600 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7974


Foreign Time

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Silver crab atop clamshell that opens to reveal a sundial and compass Japanese, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7983


Foreign Time

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Scaphe sundial, cardinal-directions indicator, and magnetic compass in ornamental box Japanese, 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7992


Foreign Time

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Chapter 1 4 Time on the Road Pocket sundials were the all the rage between 1450 and 1825, with styles to suit every purse and profession.

Portable Sundials Sundials had gazetteers, enabling traveling merchants and pilgrims to set them up properly at different latitudes. By displaying hours in Italian, German, English and other styles, the sundials helped travelers to keep their appointments in foreign cities.

Augsburg-type dial Joseph Daniel Mayer, Augsburg, 1675 Gift of Philip Hofer to Houghton Library, Harvard University, 1981. Long term loan from the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library to the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, 1991 HO81Z-12

Fashion dictated the style of sundial one might own. Sundials with little birds marking the latitude were favorites in Paris. Rectangular folding “books” were desired in Nuremberg. Augsburg’s denizens liked Baroque dials fitted with plumb-bobs and hours marked on circular rings.

(detail of gazetteer on following page)

Chapter 14: Time on the Road

Portable Sundials

248

Augsburg-type dial Joseph Daniel Mayer, Augsburg, 1675 Gift of Philip Hofer to Houghton Library, Harvard University, 1981. Long term loan from the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library to the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, 1991 HO81Z-12

Diverse German Fashions For finding the time at home or on the road, German instrument makers offered many different styles of pocket sundials to their customers. All of these could be set up for easy use at different latitudes.

Mechanical equatorial dial reading time to the minute Al. Zimmerman, Germany, c. 1840 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7487


Diverse German Fashions

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Inclining dial A rotating disk on the cover tells the user the lengths of day and night, and times of sunrise and sunset during the year. Marcus Purmann, Munich, 1601 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7204



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Pop-up equatorial dial When the user pushes a button, the sundial pops open to the latitude previously set. Johann Martin, Augsburg, 1670-1720 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7071



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Universal ring dial Johann Willebrand, Augsburg, 1703-1726 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7906

above: ring dial is open at left: ring dial is closed

Silver Augsburg-type dial that came with an instruction sheet Johann Schrettegger, Augsburg, late 18th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7476

(case not shown; front and back of instruction sheet on following pages)



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Make Way for Ducklings In Paris, sundials with bird-gnomons were all the rage after their introduction by Michael Butterfield around 1675. After consulting the gazetteer on the underside of the sundial, the user adjusted the angle of the triangular gnomon so that the little bird’s beak pointed to the correct latitude.

Butterfield-type sundial Pierre Sevin and Michael Butterfield, Paris, c. 1675-1685 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7012


Make Way for Ducklings

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Mrs. Mallard leads her brood—Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack— to the Boston Public Garden Lagoon.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f )

(g)

(h)

(i)

(from previous page)

Mama Bird:

(a) Butterfield-type sundial H. Sykes, Paris, c. 1785 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7040

Her brood:

(b) Butterfield-type sundial Pierre Sevin and Michael Butterfield, Paris, c. 1675-1685 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7012 (c) Butterfield-type sundial Pierre Sevin, Paris, c. 1675-1685 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7037 (d) Butterfield-type sundial Michael Butterfield, Paris, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7011 (e) Butterfield-type sundial Nicolas Bion, Paris, c. 1681-1733

(f) Butterfield-type sundial Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas Delure, Paris, c. 1695-1736 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7020 (g) Butterfield-type sundial Sautout, Paris, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7039 (h) Inclining horizontal dial

with bird gnomon

Pierre Le Maire II, Paris, c. 1730-1760 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7065 (i) Portable cannon dial with bird gnomon A bit of gunpowder goes in the cannon. The midday sun ignites it by means of the burning lens. J. Neuschüler, Palermo, late 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7878


The lagoon (at left): Garden dial with mirror for watching clouds and an equation of time for setting watches. This sundial was highly commended at the Ohio State Fair in 1857. W. W. Wilson, Pittsburgh, c. 1857 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7394

Diptych Sundials for Savvy Travelers Sundials with two leaves that fold together are known as diptychs. Nuremberg, Germany and Dieppe, France were the biggest producers of ivory diptychs. The Nuremberg diptychs typically had a string for the gnomon which was aligned with the earth’s axis by means of the inset magnetic compass. Moving the string from one hole to another adjusted the gnomon for different latitudes.

Ivory diptych, Nuremberg-style String-gnomon dial in diptych Joseph Ducher, Nuremberg, 1640-1644 Gift of Philip Hofer to Houghton Library, Harvard University, 1981 Long term loan from the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Houghton Library to the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, 1991 7899


Diptych Sundials for Savvy Travelers

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The Dieppe sundials often used the compass needle to indicate the hour on an adjustable scale inside the compass box when the shadow of the upright leaf fell directly over the horizontal leaf. This was useful for a single region, but sundials on other faces of the diptych were adjustable for different latitudes. Sometimes within the compass box there was a Guide Michelin listing cities and their attractions.

Ivory diptych, Dieppe-style, with a traveler’s guide in the base Magnetic azimuth dial in diptych Jacques Guerard, Dieppe, 1660-1680 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland 7507

(detail on next page)



261

By rotating the calendar scale, which is on the underside of the sundial, the user adjusts the hour scale inside the compass box, so that time may be read by the compass needle.

(at left) Paper-covered wooden diptych David Beringer, Nuremberg, 1777-1821 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7431

(below) “Sunwatch” horizontal dial with original box Ansonia Clock Co., New York, c. 1930 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7913



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Single-Latitude Sundials for Stay-at-Home Folks Not all pocket sundials were designed to travel very far. These were made for single latitudes and of materials to suit every pocketbook.

Painted wooden diptych with the sun’s azimuth indicated on the wind rose German, c. 1825 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1987 7441


Single-Latitude Sundials for Stay-at-Home Folks

264

Gilt brass diptych

Paper-covered wooden diptych

Christoph Schissler, Augsburg, 1582

Thomas Lehner, Geiselhöring, c. 1720


Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7440

Wooden diptych with punched numerals and incised lines

Painted wooden diptych

Karner workshop, Nuremberg, c. 1750 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7436

German, c. 1750 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7439

Floating dial A tiny sundial mounted on a magnetic compass card German, c. 1800 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7347


Single-Latitude Sundials for Stay-at-Home Folks

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Bird of a political feather String-gnomon dial C. H. Schindler, Germany, early 18th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7231

Time on your hands Finger-ring equatorial sundial Japanese, early 19th century Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Ernst Collection of Sundials, Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, 1964 7956


Time on your hands

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I can see you now Compass dial with mirror and lens English, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7243


I can see you now

269

Chapter 1 5 Timelines of History There are many ways to graph historical time — as rivers flowing into each other, as spiraling events, and even as animals and people.


Polyhedral Sundials


Scenes of Virtue

(on previous pages)

Discus chronologicus

Christoph Weigel, Discus chronologicus regum utriusque Siciliae et ducum principumque Italiae praecipuorum (Nuremberg, 1720). Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library

Second Century of the Bear Johannes Buno, Historische Bilder darinnen Idea historiae universalis (Luneberg, 1672). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library *45-903

Fifteenth Century of the Pope Johannes Buno, Historische Bilder darinnen Idea historiae universalis (Luneberg, 1672). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library *45-903

Streams of Time Samuel G. Goodrich, Universal History Illustrated: or the Stream of Time, made Visible (New York, 1841). Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library G3201.E1 1841 .G6

Time on a colossal statue Matthaeus Seutter, Colossus monarchicus statua Danielis (Augsburg, 1730). Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library G301.S1 1720 .S4

A New Chart of History Joseph Priestley, A new chart of history: To Benjamin Franklin LL.D. F.R.S. this chart is, in testimony of esteem & friendship, inscribed by his most obliged humble servt. (London, 1769). Harvard Map Collection, Harvard College Library G3201.S1 1769 .P7

Chapter 1 6 Time and Personal Memory The past is never dead. It’s not even past. — W illiam Faulkner

Journals Personal recollections, particularly of family events, and treasured objects shape our sense of time. People record personally significant events in dated journals. Sukie’s baby book links the newborn to her ancestors on the family tree. It records the time of birth, first smile, first words, first steps, and other key stages in her life along with a time series of photographs from 1934. The diaries of David Gordon Lyon, curator of the Semitic Museum, take us with him hour-by-hour, day-by-day on his archaeological exploration of Sebastia, Palestine in 1907-1908.

Journal of David Gordon Lyon Sebastia, April 1, 1907-1908 Harvard Semitic Museum

Chapter 16: Time and Personal Memory Journals

279

Baby’s Autobiography Baby book of Susan (“Sukie”) Hilles Bush, 1934 Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Susan Morse Hilles Papers, series IV 221v, MC 463, box 19

Chapter 16: Time and Personal Memory Journals

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Notches on a Cheyenne Hide Flesher This is a woman’s tool. Made of elk antler and fitted with a metal blade, a Cheyenne woman used it to scrape the flesh from hides of bison, antelope, elk, or mule deer once they were stretched and staked. Women did the heavy labor of processing hides and making tipis, clothing, and containers. They prided themselves on their work and were honored for doing a good job. Some had special skills and rights to work with certain materials or make ceremonial things. Higher status was given to women who made complex objects like a lodge or fancy garment or ritual object. To keep track of their accomplishments, women incised lines on their fleshers. The lines might represent her children, the number of tipis she made, or a record of other important work. The meaning of the tally lines was personal choice. Often women handed down their tools to their daughters or nieces for several generations.

(image on next page)

Chapter 16: Time and Personal Memory

Notches on a Cheyenne Hide Flesher

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Hide flesher (and detail image) Cheyenne, Wyoming, 19th century © President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 98527-10/59390 (digital file# 99110012, 99110014). Bequest of William H. Claflin, Jr., 1985.

Chapter 16: Time and Personal Memory

Notches on a Cheyenne Hide Flesher

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Chapter 1 7 The End of Time Often the end is just another beginning, but the end of time would be the end of endings and beginnings. It would be a moment when there is no “after.”

For Time to End Seems Both Impossible and Inevitable Will our world come to an end? In five billion years, astrophysics tells us that our sun will swell up and engulf the earth. What about the universe? As it continues to expand and evolve, will time endure? Diverse religions have different visions of the end of time. Some see an apocalypse and Day of Judgment. Others see destruction followed by a new creation. And yet others believe that the world and time will remain in eternal balance.

Deluge Beatus of Liébana (d. 798), Commentarius in Apocalypsin French manuscript, 1072 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Latin 8878 Wikimedia Commons

Chapter 17: The End of Time

Certainly our personal time will come to an end. The memento mori images in art remind us that time keeps company with death. Make haste. Use your time wisely and for the good of others.

For Time to End Seems Both Impossible and Inevitable

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Memento mori George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, ancient and moderne: Quickened vvith metracial illustrations, both morall and divine: and disposed into lotteries, that instruction, and good counsell, may bee furthered by an honest and pleasant Recreation (London, 1635). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library f STC 25900

Live, ever mindfull of thy dying; For, Time is always from thee flying. Memento mori showing a skull on a winged sand glass, with a cortege in the background. George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, ancient and moderne: Quickened vvith metracial illustrations, both morall and divine: and disposed into lotteries, that instruction, and good counsell, may bee furthered by an honest and pleasant Recreation (London, 1635). Houghton Library, Harvard College Library f STC 25900



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Death and the Standing Naked One Hans Sebald Beham, 1547 http://www.hans-sebald-beham.com/

(on next page)

Morgan Apocalypse English and French manuscript, 1255-1260 Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, M. 524 Wikimedia Commons



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Grave Marker Female Palmyrene bust Palmyra, central Syria, 2nd century CE Harvard Semitic Museum, 1902.45.29

Bone Collector Limestone ossuary and lid possibly from a Silwan tomb, Palestine Second Temple period, 40 BCE - 135 CE Harvard Semitic Museum, 1907.54.14



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Funeral Blues W. H. Auden, Another Time (New York, 1940). ©Copyright The Estate of W. H. Auden, 1976. Quoted with the permission of Curtis Brown Ltd.



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Quartet for the End of Time Composed and first performed in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, the quartet was written for the instruments available. Olivier Messiaen, Stalag VIII-A, near Görlitz, Germany, 1940 Private Collection



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Doomsday Clock: Two Minutes to Midnight The Doomsday Clock symbolizes how close we are to destroying our civilization with powerful technologies of our own making. It first appeared on the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1947 to convey the dangers of the nuclear arms race. Today it also reflects the dangers of climate-changing technologies and of emerging biological and cyber technologies that could bring about our own destruction through misapplication, madness, or accident. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists October 1953 Schechner Collection

(on next page)

We Live in an Age of Peril Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists October 1953 Schechner Collection


Doomsday Clock

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Death Comes A-Knocking Sundials were decorated with images reminding people not to waste time.

While a boy sleeps next to a sand glass (above), an angel delivers the warning “Remember that you are ashes and to ashes you will return” (below) Gilt brass diptych German, 1587 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University 7455


Death Comes A-Knocking

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Boy with sand glass leans against a skull that has a snake going through the eye sockets Ivory diptych Michael Lesel, Nuremberg, 1613-1629 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Drecker Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, c. 1985 7559



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Where will I go from here? A skull on top of a winged sand glass adorns the center of the wind rose Compass dial John Robins, England, c. 1700 Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, Gillingham Collection, Gift of David P. Wheatland, 1985 7253



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The end crowns all, And that old common arbitrator, Time, W ill one day end it. William Shakespeare Troilus and Cressida. Act IV. Scene 5.

Time and Time Again

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