Reconsidering the History of the AAVSO--Part 1

Volume 29 number 2 (2001)

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Thomas R. Williams

1750 Albans Road Houston, Texas 77005-1704

Abstract

A review of the history of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) reveals that its development in the first half of the twentieth century requires reconsideration in two important respects. This first part of a two-part paper deals with one historical issue, the founding of the association and its operation during its first six years, including the role played by Edward Charles Pickering and Harvard College Observatory, and recognizes that William Tyler Olcott played a more prominent role than has previously been acknowledged.