Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 135

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

3 volume (+ 7 leaves)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

John Ewing notebooks on astronomy and physics, 1784-1796, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1784-1796 (inclusive)

Creator:

Ewing, John

Form:

Manuscripts, American -- 18th century, Lecture notes, and Notebooks

Abstract:

Three volumes comprising the notebooks of John Ewing spanning the years from 1784 to 1796.

Ewing was Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1759 to 1802 and served as Provost of the the University of Pennsylvania from 1780-1802. He was a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. A vice-president of the American Philosophical Society, he contributed articles on astronomy to their Transactions. Ewing served on commissions with D. Rittenhouse to settle boundary disputes. Ewing was born in Cecil County, Maryland to Nathaniel and Rachel Porter Ewing. He had a twin brother named James.

Three volumes comprising the notebooks of John Ewing spanning the years from 1784 to 1796. The 1784 notebook contains astronomical observations made during an expedition in the summer of 1784 to settle such a dispute. Ewing's lectures on natural philosophy were published, posthumously, as "A Plain Elementary and Practical System of Natural Experimental Philosophy" (Philadelphia: Hopkins and Earle, 1809). Robert Patterson compiled these lectures, which included astronomy and chronology, and prefaced them with a biographical sketch of Ewing. Folder 1 contains Ewing's notebook of astronomical tables for 1784 and astronomical observations from July 17-September 5, 1784 including "a comparison of the correspondent observations made at Wilmington [De.] and ye S. West corner of Pennsylvania," regarding a boundary dispute. One leaf laid in indentifies the observers as Ewing, Ellicott, Hutchins, and Madison. Total of 4 leaves laid in. Folder 2 contains Ewing's notebook of astronomical tables for 1790; the final third of the notebook contains a copy of "de la Caile's catalogue of...Decl[ensions] of Stars, for 1788, of 405 Stars." Three leaves laid in include a notarized certificate identifying Hugh Maffet [or Maffit], born in Philadelphia and baptized in Rev. Ewing's church, signed by Robert Maffet, Hugh's father, and John Ewing, pastor, 13 September 1796 (with a description of his complexion, hair coloring, and scars); document signed by John Ewing regarding payment of his dividends from Insurance Company of North America, August 1796; and an envelope or wrapper dated 1845, addressed to Prof. Reed and Prof. Frazer (both at U. Pennsylvania), with the "compliments of [I.] M. Pettit" (donor?). Folder 3 contains Ewing's notebook, pages numbered 9-42, with questions and answers, on, for example, Equable Motion, Projectiles, Specific Gravity, and Hydrostatics. With 8 unnumbered pages (4 leaves, loose) of lecture notes on "The Descent of Bodies" and on Mechanics. With 4 pages (2 leaves, loose) of lecture notes on "Central Forces." Pages are loose; some pages are torn across fold. The July 14-27, 1784, observations are published in "Memorandum Book of Dr. John Ewing with account of a journey to settle the Boundary of Pennsylvania, May 1784," Pennsylvania Archives, 6th ser., XIV, 1-20.