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The first-ever photographs of a total solar eclipse – sequential daguerreotypes from 1854 by the Philadelphia brothers William and Frederick Langenheim.

Complement with the world’s first book about eclipses, by the woman who brought Emily Dickinson’s writing to the world.

Mabel Loomis Todd Emily Dickinson total solar eclipse eclipse science and technology science space lit history and literature

A vast, palpable presence seems overwhelming the world. The blue sky changes to gray or dull purple, speedily becoming more dusky, and a death-like trance seizes upon everything earthly.

Mabel Loomis Todd’s poetic and scientifically illuminating 19th-century guide to viewing a total solar eclipse.

Maria Mitchell eclipse total solar eclipse culture and society sience science and technology astronomy

Excited for next month’s total solar eclipse? Warm up with astronomer Maria Mitchell’s spectacular account of the Great Eclipse of the 19th century – the world’s first celestial spectator sport – concluding with a clever twist calling for equality in science.