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Records of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Tucson, Arizona. Correspondence files of Robert R. McMath, Leo Goldberg, and Orren C. Mohler, reports, minutes, financial and budgetary materials, and technical reports relating to the development of AURA and its predecessor organization, the Advisory Panel for the National Astronomical Observatory, and concerning observatories at Kitt Peak, Arizona, and Cerro Tololo, Chile; also material concerning political developments in Chile; and photographs.

The AURA record group provides a record of an important aspect of the development of modern science, the growth of cooperative scientific associations, and the beginnings of government support for basic research in the post-war period. In addition, the records include much information related to the University of Michigan Astronomy Department and observatories, since several faculty members, including Robert R. McMath, Leo Goldberg, and Orren C. Mohler, have been involved in the growth of AURA. The record group also provides a detailed history of the development of AURA itself, and the observatories at Kitt Peak and at Cerro Tololo, where it touches on scientific and political developments in Chile during the 1960s and 1970s.

The AURA record group includes files collected by three University of Michigan Astronomy Department faculty members who were active in the organization. Robert R. McMath, chairman of the Advisory Panel for the National Astronomical Observatory, first President of AURA, and Chairman of the Board of AURA, was responsible for most of the material dated before his death in 1962. Leo Goldberg, a consultant to the Advisory Panel, is responsible for a correspondence file related to the work of the panel. This file partially duplicates McMath's correspondence file. On the death of McMath, Orren C. Mohler assumed the duties of University of Michigan representative on the AURA Board of Directors and continued to add to the record group. Some of the material dated before McMath's death and all material after that date was collected by Mohler.

The collection includes seven major types of records: historical/informational materials; correspondence; minutes/reports; governance records including papers of the board of directors and the executive committee; committee and subcommittee files; financial/funding records; files about the Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo observatories; and miscellaneous which includes a few folders of photographs. Correspondence is divided into three groups according to the originators of the files. Within each group some correspondence is arranged chronologically and some by correspondent, but there is considerable overlap between the two sequences. Reports, minutes, and financial records are arranged chronologically.

Records of astronomical observatories operated by the University of Michigan including the Detroit Observatory on the Ann Arbor campus (1855-), the Lamont-Hussey Observatory (Bloemfontein, South Africa, 1928-), the McMath-Hulbert Observatory (Portage Lake, Michigan, 1935-1979), the Portage Lake/Peach Mountain Observatory (Dexter, Michigan, 1948-. Records include correspondence files, administrative files, observation notebooks, photographs and architectural drawings.

The University of Michigan Observatory records include those of the Lamont-Hussey Observatory, the McMath-Hulbert Observatory, the Peach Mountain Observatory, the Angell Hall Laboratory, the Department of Astronomy, and records of faculty members. Documentation consists of correspondence, astronomical and meteorological observation records, financial records, reports, scrapbooks and blueprints. The collection is divided into seven series: Correspondence, Observatories, Department of Astronomy, Scrapbooks and Clippings, Observation Charts and Notebooks, Photographs, and Blueprints.

Detroit, Michigan industrialist and director of the McMath-Hulbert Observatory of University of Michigan (located on Lake Angelus near Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan.). Correspondence concerning astronomy, particularly celestial photography, and the development of the McMath Observatory, financial records, plans for telescope equipment, and printed materials.

The Robert R. McMath papers consist primarily of correspondence concerning astronomy, particularly celestial photography, and the development of the McMath-Hulbert Observatory of the University of Michigan, financial records, plans for telescope equipment, and printed materials. Correspondents include some leading astronomers of the day but the bulk is with his collaborators in construction and operation of the Observatory and with the Heber D. Curtis, chair of the University of Michigan Astronomy Department and university president Alexander Ruthven. Writings include articles by McMath about the equipment and operation of the observatory and reports on specific astronomical observations made there. The papers have been arranged into the following series: Biographical; Correspondence; Miscellaneous; Organizational Affiliations; Writings; McMath-Hulbert Observatory, Lake Angelus; and Research and topical files.