Reeve's pattern folding plane table alidade

Images(8)

Reeve's pattern folding plane table alidade

Datecirca 1920

Inventory Number1989-1-0028

ClassificationAlidade

Subject

Maker C. F. Casella & Co. Ltd. founded 1905

User Sylvanus Griswold Morley 1883 - 1948

User Alfred V. Kidder 1885 - 1963

Dimensionsalidade: 13.2 × 54 × 14.5 cm (5 3/16 × 21 1/4 × 5 11/16 in.)
case: 14.6 × 54 × 7.8 cm (5 3/4 × 21 1/4 × 3 1/16 in.)

Material

Accessoriescase

Bibliography

Catalogue 564: Surveying & Drawing Instruments and Appliances

DescriptionThis is listed in the Casella catalogue of surveying and drawing instruments of 1920 as a "Reeve's pattern folding alidade."

Brass plane table alidade with telescopic sight and vertical arc reading to 5 minutes with vernier. Arc marked in tangents. The telescope is mounted to a pillar, which is attached to a strong brass bar. The pillar can fold flat for easy storage of the instrument.

The bar of the alidade has a parallel ruler attachement. The bar is graduated and has diagaonal scales and crossed bubble levels.

The plane table alidade has it original mahogany case. This is covered by a leather and stiff-canvas case. The canvas is green and has leather straps and a handle.

A trough compass likely came with this instrument, but is not present in the case.

Signedstamped logo: CASELLA / LONDON

Inscribedstamped on alidade: H. R. / INSTITUTE OF / GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION / HARVARD UNIVERSITY serial number: No. 9089 stamped on rule: P M # 27

ProvenanceA. Hamilton Rice, Jr; Institute of Geographical Exploration, Harvard University; Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC, where Sylvanus Morley and Alfred V. Kidder may have used it; gift to CHSI from Professor Stephen Williams, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard.

Historical AttributesThe Casella catalogue of 1920 observed that the Reeve's pattern folding plane table alidade was "particularly recommended for explorers and travellers." According to a tag on the case, this plane table alidade was a "Gift of Prof. Steven Stephen Williams, Peabody Museum, Received by him from Carnegie Institute of Washington—Division of History. S. V. Morley and A. V. Kidder. Maya Archaeology, (Period 1920-1950)." Sylvanus Griswold Morley (1883-1948) and Alfred V. Kidder (1885-1963) were students together at Harvard and later colleagues in the study of Mayan archaeology. Morley understook extensive excavations of the Maya site of Chichen Itza as director of the project for the Carnegie Institution. Kidder began his career by conducting expeditions to the American southwest in New Mexico and Arizona under the sponsorship of Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. He was also connected to the Carnegie Institution, first as an associate in charge of archaeological investigations (1927–1929) and then as chairman of the division of historical research (1929–1950) during which he did research in the Guatemalan highlands on Mayan stratigraphy. In 1939 he became honorary curator of Southwestern American archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard. The donor, Stephen Williams (b. 1926), is an archeologist at Harvard University, currently holding the title of Peabody Professor of North American Archeology and Ethnography, Emeritus. Prior to ending up at the Carnegie Institution, the plane table alidade was the property of the Institute of Geographical Exploration at Harvard. The initials "H. R." on the instrument may refer to A. Hamilton Rice, Jr., the geographer and explorer who built the Institute of Geographical Exploration in 1929 and served as its director.