Barnard Observatory is an academic building at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...

. Completed as an observatory in 1859, it was part of the astronomy focus that chancellor Frederick A.P. Barnard had for the school. Due to the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, though, the purchase of the observatory's telescopes were put on hold. Today the observatory houses the

Center for the Study of Southern Culture The Center for the Study of Southern Culture (CSSC), located in Barnard Observatory on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Mississippi, is an academic organization dedicated to the investigation, documentation, interpretation and teac ...

while the university's astronomers use Kennon Observatory. The observatory is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

History

Barnard Observatory University of Mississippi 2018 2

The observatory is a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

design and modeled after the observatory in Pulkovo, Russia.National Register of Historic Places, Barnard Observatory, Oxford, Lafayette, Mississippi, National Register #78001607 Chancellor Barnard commissioned a northern company to build the telescope. The telescope was designed to be larger than the observatories in Pulokovo and Harvard. However, due to the Civil War, the observatory ended up going to

Dearborn Observatory The Dearborn Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The observatory was originally constructed in 1888, through an agreement between the university and the Chicago Astronomical Socie ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. Chancellor Barnard, who was fond of astronomy, designed the observatory to house the world's largest telescope. He also stocked the observatory with other scientific equipment, such as a state of the art barometer. However, due to the outbreak of the Civil War, the telescope was never delivered. The observatory also housed the chancellor's family quarters, into which Barnard moved in 1860. With the outbreak of the

, the University of Mississippi closed in 1861 and Barnard left. Professor Alexander Quinche and

Burton Harrison Burton Norvell Harrison (July 14, 1838 – March 29, 1904), was a lawyer, American Democratic politician, and private secretary to Confederate States of America president Jefferson Davis. Harrison's support for the pro-slavery South countered a ...

, entrusted by the board of trustees to safekeep the university, lived in the observatory's quarters. Due to Oxford's proximity to much of the war, many buildings in town and on campus were used by armed forces, including the observatory which served as a hospital. However, it was the former chancellor's relationship with General William Tecumseh Sherman that spared both the observatory and the university from Union troops burning it down. Writing to Chancellor Barnard, General Sherman explained his reasoning for sparing the observatory. In addition to the observatory's use as a hospital, it has also been home to the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the early 1900s, the Department of Naval Sciences, and the Alpha Xi Delta sorority. The chancellor's residence was relocated from the observatory in 1971. Sansing (1999), p. 315. Barnard Observatory currently houses the

, and the observatory is now listed on the

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* {{Portal bar, Mississippi, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Mississippi University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Infrastructure completed in 1857 Defunct astronomical observatories Buildings and structures at the University of Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Lafayette County, Mississippi 1857 establishments in Mississippi University and college buildings completed in 1857

History

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