Our permanent exhibit is in the front room of The Cottage and covers the Draper family and their extraordinary scientific achievements.
There is a special focus on the Draper family’s contributions to astrophotography and the discoveries made at the Draper Observatory in Hastings.
Moon Over Hastings Fireplace Screen
An important artifact was recently donated to us by James and Abby Draper. James is a great-grandson of Henry Draper’s brother, Daniel.
This image of the moon is one of approximately 1,500 taken by Dr. Henry Draper at his observatory – now the Society’s home – in the 1863 time frame. Mounted between two plates of glass and framed, it was used as a decorative fireplace screen. For unknown reasons, the image is mounted upside down.
The screen came to us from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was part of the 2019 exhibit Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography. That exhibit, presented in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, traced the progress of lunar photography from the 1840s to the present.
Come see this artifact, back home after nearly 160 years!
