The Department of Astronomy and the Observatory Records document the origins of the modern astronomy department and the construction of the early observatories at Columbia University. The correspondence and writings of faculty members illustrate the growth of the department in its formative years and highlight contemporary scholarly interests within the field.
Collection consists of Schilt's correspondence as chairperson of Columbia's department of astronomy and director of the Yale-Columbia Southern Station as well as the Rutherford Observatory at Columbia. The majority of arranged office files are comprised of memoranda, documents, some departmental correspondence, committee reports, course material including material for student laboratory exercises. Thers is also a small sampling of Schilt's early notes as a student and reports of oo-site testing done under the auspices of the National Science Foundation.
Correspondence, manuscripts, lectures, notes, and printed materials of Kevin H. Prendergast, a prominent astronomer who worked in the fields off dynamics of many-body systems, the rotation curves of galaxies, and X-ray binary systems.