SUNDIAL SECTIONS:

Sundials Home

History of Sundials

Why the Sun Dial keeps time

Developing and Making Sundials

Sundial Materials

Sundial Hour Lines Lay out

Sundial "Furniture"

Declination Lines of Sundials

Portable Sundials

Interesting Sundials of the World

PORTABLE SUN DIALS
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The Harold C. Ernst collection of portable sundials, formerly displayed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, is now the property of Harvard University. It is on exhibition in the transparency room at the Harvard College Astronomical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts. So far as we know it is the only collection in the United States devoted solely to portable sundials. It contains one hundred and forty pieces covering the period from 1600 to 1921. Several of the sundials are illustrated elsewhere in this book. In addition to the Ernst Collection there are about a dozen replicas of larger sundials of various types designed by the late J. Ernest G. Yalden of East Orange, New Jersey. In the museum on the top floor of the Bristol Connecticut Public Library, may be seen the F. Richard Bolster Collection of copies of historic and interesting sundials, which has been previously described in this chapter. At the time of writing the museum is open on request only. An inquiry at the delivery desk will admit you to the collection at any time during library hours. The Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City also has a few sundials which may be seen in the wall cases in the corridor around the theater. The above list of collections is incomplete, due to little information concerning others. However, those noted above are outstanding and they present a great variety of types. We have no knowledge of any collections west of Chicago.

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