[13] For a list of Fitz material in the U.S. National Museum, see appendix, p. 184.
[14] F. W. Preston, “The first big American telescope mirror, John Peate, his lens,” Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society, 1936, vol. 15, pp. 129-152. Hereafter cited as Preston.
[15] The circumstances of Peate’s life and ministerial career are from Preston, supplemented by Dr. Peate’s service record, provided by the Erie Conference of the Methodist Church. Dr. Preston’s prime sources are: J. N. Fradenburgh, History of the Erie Conference, Oil City, Pa., 1907, vol. 2, pp. 204-211; obituary notice by R. N. Stubbs in Minutes of the Erie Conference, pl. publ. 1903, p. 90. Other data were obtained by Preston through interviews and letters, all cited in detail in the article.
[16] From information provided by Robert Barr, acting secretary of Oberlin College, February 15, 1960. The college records show a John Peate from Buffalo enrolled in the preparatory department in 1842-43 and 1844-45. The Encyclopedia Americana (1924 ed., vol. 21, p. 460) states that Peate attended Oberlin about this time. The Doctorate was an honorary one conferred by Allegheny College.
[17] Fradenburgh, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 204.
[18] Preston, p. 130, n. 10; p. 131, n. 19; p. 148.
[19] “On the Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, Fifteen and a Half Inches in Aperture, and its Use in Celestial Photography,” Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. 14, art. 3, iv+55 pp., 1865 (reprinted in vol. 34 as art. 2, 1904).
[20] Preston, p. 148. From an article in the Greenville, Pa., Record Argus, December 17, 1903.
[21] Preston, p. 148. In 1960 it was further learned that an “American Temperance” college or university once existed at Harriman.
[22] Scientific American, October 24, 1891, vol. 65, p. 260.