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Summary; Description; Sources; Links:

Introduction

The Bloemfontein Branch of ASSA has an historical workgroup, which is very active. They research the histories of Boyden and Lamont-Hussey Observatories and also try to find original material. One of the methods is to identify possible missing components and then during lectures the public is asked to look out for the components. A few very interesting finds have been made in the past. On one occasion the tube of the 27-inch telescope with its mounting were identified and moved to a "safe haven", the Ehrlicpark (Mangaung) fire station which has a Fire Station Museum. It can now be called a fire station and astronomy museum. In another find some telescope components were identified, including  a Warner and Swasey clock drive. Follow up research by Dr. Patrick Seitzer (a very active collaborator of the historical group and astronomer at the University of Michigan, USA) showed this to be possibly the clock drive of a 6-inch Clark refractor, which is missing. [Penning; MNASSA April 2004.] For more information see Look and Found.

Braam van Zyl, member of the Bloemfontein Astronomy Society is also a fireman.  He has managed to persuade his superiors to establish a museum for the fire prevention industry. In one of the mysteries of life, as luck would have it, the tube of the 27-inch telescope was discovered next to the building which now housing the Fire Station Museum. Since he is also involved with the historical workgroup, it became logical to move the telescope tube into the building, and so the Museum dedicated to the fire prevention industry aquired an astronomical flavour as well. Since then, more objects have been found, and it was logical to also add them to the Museum. That is why we now have astronomical objects in the Fire Station Museum.

Director Historical Section: Chris de Coning - siriusa@absamail.co.za

Webmaster: Christian Hettlage - webmaster@assa.saao.ac.za