Lot of 15 inked Ms. letters dating from July 19 through October 4, 1905 written by Dr. Thomas E McKinney professor of Astronomy at Marietta College, Ohio, who was one of the principle assistants to Dr. Crocker the head of the expedition. These letters were written to his wife Margaret back in Marietta, Ohio. Thomas was part of an American scientific expedition to Spain to observe and record the total solar eclipse that occurred there in August 30th, 1905. This expedition was headed by Dr. William Wallace Campbell director of the Lick observatory and Dr. C.D. Perrine a fellow astronomer at the observatory and their principle assistant Dr. Thomas E. McKinney. Dr. Perrine, his wife and McKinney traveled together via steamship to the Mediterranean aboard the S.S. Romantic, (British White Star Liner) leaving N.Y. on July 6th and the first letter is on that Liners company stationary. These are a wonderful series of letter, that cover the entire period of the expedition from travel to moving equipment and instruments, building towers for same and making adjustments on the instruments to the event itself with results and the breaking down of the camp and equipment. These letter detail their travels from Gibraltar, to Naples, to Genoa, Florence, Pisa Barcelona, where he and the Perrine’s met with U.S. Consul General Ridgely and his wife who helped with the permits they needed and gave them a splendid breakfast at their residence in Barcelona. Finally they reached Alhama de Aragon the site of a Spanish Royal castle where they were to conduct their observations and experiments. McKinney had the job of transporting the instruments from Barcelona to Alhama de Aragon by train and had to deal with the Spanish authorities that sidelined his car, even though it had special orders for its transportation straight through. There were a number of other astronomers and mathematicians that came to the site for the even including Professor Svante Arrhenius & Gustaf Kobb from Stockholm, Palmer from Haverford College, Pa., C.M. Olmstead of Bonn, Sr. D. Ernasto Greve of the National Observatory, Santiago, Chile, all of whom are mentioned in these letters. There are several references to McKinney’s meetings and working with Dr. Campbell in these letters. These letters contain details that I have not found in any of the published reports on this expedition and are a rare glimpse into early 20th century astronomy. Dr. Campbell was one of Americas leading astronomers of this period and the winner of numerous awards from around the world for his contributions to the field. (Ref. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 18, No. 106, pp 13-36)

All with normal folds, some toning and a few minor tears, overall Very Good and written in a legible hand.