Inventory of City of
Originated at The Buhl Planetarium and
Institute of Popular Science,
Moved
to The
2007
September 24
City of Pittsburgh Inventory of "Buhl Planetarium Assets" 2002 January 23
On the date of dedication
of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, 1939 October 24, the
Buhl Foundation conveyed and donated the Buhl Planetarium building, and all
contents of the building, to the City of Pittsburgh. Hence, everything that was
in the Buhl Planetarium building, on the date of dedication, became the legal
property of the City of
The following is an
inventory of City-owned assets, originated at The Buhl Planetarium and
Institute of Popular Science, moved to The
Assets Transferred Under Terms of Three Memoranda of
Understanding, between the City of Pittsburgh and The Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh, Dated 2002 October 25; the City Retains Ownership of the Artifacts
– Dismantled and placed in storage in
The Carnegie Science Center’s Miller Warehouse Building:
1) Zeiss II
Planetarium Projector – Prior to
dismantling, oldest operable major planetarium
projector in the world !
2) Planetarium
Projector Control Console
3) 10-inch
Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope – Prior
to dismantling, second largest Siderostat Telescope in operation in the world !
4) Large Mercator’s
Projection Map of the World – When
first assembled for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City, it was considered the
largest such map in the world !
City of Pittsburgh Assets Moved from The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science to The Carnegie Science Center either in 1991 (with the opening of The Carnegie Science Center) or in 1994 (complete closing of the original Buhl Planetarium building, then known as the Allegheny Square Annex of The Carnegie Science Center) – Placed in storage in
The Carnegie Science Center’s Miller Warehouse Building, or in a few cases, utilized in The Carnegie Science Center:
1) Buhl Planetarium’s Hall
of the Universe included twenty-one classic, "push-button"
display-case exhibits (Astronomy: eighteen exhibits; Meteorology: three
exhibits). The following five Astronomy exhibits are documented as being in
Buhl Planetarium’ s, originally-titled, Hall
of Astronomy, on the date of building dedication, and hence, are the
property of the City of Pittsburgh:
a) Stars do Move
– Demonstrating
precession, with changes in the
star configuration of the Big Dipper over 200,000 years of time as an example.
b) Twin Stars – Showing movement of a binary star system.
c) Light Takes
Time to Travel – Regarding the speed of light.
d) Tycho Brahe’s
Mural Quadrant - Animated Diorama of Tycho Brahe's Observatory in
e) Observatory
of Hevelius at Danzig - Animated Diorama of Johannes Hevelius' Observatory in
2)
Eight Astronomical Paintings by
a) The Dragon
b) A Perspective in Time
c)
Orion and
Taurus the Bull (5)
d)
The Astronomer (sometimes known as "The Old Astronomer") (5)
- A portrait of Johannes Kepler. - This painting was originally hung next to the entrance to the Men's Restroom on the Mezzanine Level of Buhl Planetarium. A black-and-white photograph of this painting has been published as the Frontispiece in the 1940 book, The Story of Astronomy by Arthur L. Draper and Marian Lockwood (this publication of a photograph of "The Astronomer" painting was courtesy of Mrs. D. Owen Stephens). At the time, Arthur Draper and Marian Lockwood were Assistant Curators of the original Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; shortly after the book's publication, Arthur Draper became the second Planetarium Director of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science.
A photograph of this painting was also used in a 1961 black-and-white filmstrip for schools
called "The Race for Space."
e)
Cygnus
the Swan
f)
Nine
Planets and A Million Suns
g)
The
Great Bear
h)
Copernicus - A Portrait of Polish Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus.
(This painting was originally hung next to the Women's Restroom on the Mezzanine Level of Buhl Planetarium. Commissioned by the Polish Arts League of Pittsburgh; donated for Buhl
Planetarium.) This painting is
hanging in a Planetarium office in The
3) Two
Portraits of Henry Buhl, Jr., whose
will created the Buhl Foundation (as of 2010 July 1: one of these portraits is on display in the Atrium Gallery of The Carnegie Science Center, next to
exhibit-only display of the historic Zeiss II Planetarium Projector of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science).
4) Portrait of
Louise Buhl, wife of Henry Buhl, Jr.
5) Van de Graaff Electrostatic Generator (and brass railing which previously encircled generator)
-- Medium-sized model (not large Van
de Graaff purchased in the late 1980s).
6)
4-Inch
Zeiss Terrestrial Refractor Telescope Buhl Planetarium’s very first telescope. Has
unique history, due to purchase just prior to onset of World War II. Terrestrial
Refractor Telescope was sent to
7) Meteorites -- 746-Pound (340 kg) Iron-Nickel
Meteorite, Fifth largest fragment from the Barringer Meteor Crater
near
8) Fairbanks-Morse Planetary Weight Scale Displays person's weight for the planets Earth, Venus,
Mars, and the Moon. This exhibit
is currently in-use near the entrance to The
9) *Four
10) *Planetarium
and Lecture Hall Sound Equipment
*Items with an asterisk [*] indicate that these pieces of equipment or artifacts
were in the building on the day of dedication, and hence, are City property.
However, these specific items are not the original equipment, but replacements
for the original City-owned equipment; apparently, Buhl Planetarium management
deemed it necessary to replace this original equipment. Since this replacement
equipment was deemed necessary for continued operation of the institution [and,
in the case of the Planetarium and Lecture Hall sound equipment, was absolutely
essential!], this replacement equipment is City property.
gaw
