Microscope
date: label: date made
content: 1849-1859
label: associated dates
content: 1990-04-10
name: label: maker
content: C. A. & H. Spencer
notes: label: Description
content: In March 1856, the University of Michigan named a committee “to contract for the construction of a suitable microscope for the University.” Within a year or so, this committee had spent $469 for a microscope made by Charles Achilles Spencer, America’s first successful microscope maker. This enormous sum was charged to the account of "Natural History" and the microscope was placed in the hands of Alexander Winchell, a professor of geology who would soon be named Geologist of the State. Twenty years later, after Winchell had left the University, the costly microscope was transferred to the Physiological Laboratory in the Medical School. The transfer was arranged by Charles Stowell, a young doctor who would spend his career teaching physiology and microscopy, and who was clearly aware of the historic importance of the instrument. In an obituary notice penned shortly after Spencer’s death in 1881, Stowell explained that the objective was a 1/16 of “as near 180°as can be obtained.” That is, it had a very short focal length and a very wide angular aperture. When Stowell got his hands on this objective, he saw a crack “running across about 1/3 of the field,” and so returned it to the firm. Spencer replied that he could make a new objective nearly as cheap as he could remedy this, “for it is one of my first glasses.” Accepting the inevitable, Stowell ordered a new 1/18. We have not yet measure the objective, but note that it does not appear to have a crack.
label: Description
content: Spencer referred to the stand of this microscope as a Pritchard, recognizing that the form had been popularized by Andrew Pritchard, an important London naturalist and optician. The “C. A. & H. Spencer / Canastota, N.Y.” inscription on the tube refers to the partnership between Charles A. Spencer and his cousin Hamilton, a partnership that began around 1848 and ended around 1854.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Canastota
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Microscopes
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: National Treasures exhibit
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The University of Michigan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1990.0183.01
label: catalog number
content: 1990.0183.01
label: accession number
content: 1990.0183
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microscope
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 7/8 in x 13 in x 8 in; 42.8625 cm x 33.02 cm x 20.32 cm