{"admin":{"added":1592970827000,"created":1354795552000,"flag":"Standard Record","id":"object-110000393","indexed":1747160954754,"modified":1721812819000,"processed":1747159409017,"source":"adlib","stream":"fitz-online","uid":"adlib-object-110000393","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110000393","uuid":"d3c2c55b-e392-3650-a729-8ca0468f3a64","version":6},"content":{"description":[{"type":"content description","value":"Cecilia Louisa Glaisher (1828-1892) was born on April 20th in Greenwich, Kent, a daughter of John Henry Belville (1795-1856). He was an assistant observer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, under George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), the 7th astronomer royal. She married James Glaisher (1809-1903), superintendent of the Meteorological and Magnetic department at the Royal Observatory, on December 31st, 1843. \n\nCecilia Glaisher's work was made between approximately 1853 and 1859. It consists of photogenic drawings of ferns; hand-coloured nature prints of leaves; and illustrations of the structure of snow crystals, made in mixed media. \n\nThe snow crystal illustrations include early annotated observation sketches; precise pen and ink schematic drawings, to some of which colour has been added by hand; photogenic drawing contact-copies from them; printed-paper proofs; and coloured artwork for snow crystal designs. \n\nSome of the images of snow crystal forms were used to illustrate a scientific paper, \u2018On the Severe Weather at the beginning of the year 1855; and on Snow  and Snow-crystals\u2019, authored by her husband and published by the British Meteorological Society.  From this followed a second paper, \u2018On the crystals of snow as applied to the purposes of design\u2019, published in The Art Journal in 1857.  \n\nJames Glaisher became a prominent Victorian scientist. In the 1860s he undertook a series of balloon ascents on behalf of the British Association for the Advancement of Science to investigate and analyse the properties of the upper atmosphere. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1841, a fellow of the Royal Society in 1849, and in 1850 helped to initiate the founding of the British Meteorological Society, serving as President in 1867-68. He worked to organise meteorology into an exact science, promoting the use of accurate, standardised instruments to record natural phenomena. He was a fellow of the Microscopical Society, and its President in 1865-68. A member of the Photographic Society from 1854, he was President in 1869-74 and 1875-92, interested mainly in the practical, technical, and scientific applications of photography. \n\nThe Glaishers had three children: Cecilia Appelina (1845-1932), who emigrated with her family to New Zealand in 1880; James Whitbread Lee (1848-1928), a mathematician at Trinity College, Cambridge; and Ernest Henry (1858-1885), Curator of the British Guiana Museum in Georgetown in 1883-85, and author of \u2018A Journey on the Berbice River and Wieroonie Creek\u2019 Demerara: Argosy Press, 1885). \n\nCecilia Glaisher\u2019s work came to the Fitzwilliam Museum after the death in 1928 of the Glaishers' eldest son, James Whitbread Lee, along with the bequest of his pottery and porcelain collection to the Museum. \n\n\nResearch and catalogue by Caroline Marten."}]},"identifier":[{"accession_number":"Glaisher(C)","primary":true,"type":"accession number","value":"Glaisher(C)"},{"priref":"110000393","type":"priref","value":"110000393"},{"type":"uri","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110000393","value":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110000393"}],"institutions":[{"@link":{"type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-149638","uid":"adlib-agent-149638","uuid":"7376d833-d0a7-3be0-916e-9c892b7a24d8"},"summary_title":"The Fitzwilliam Museum"}],"lifecycle":{"creation":[{"date":[{"earliest":1854,"from":{"earliest":1854,"latest":1854,"value":"1854"},"latest":1912,"range":true,"to":{"earliest":1912,"latest":1912,"value":"1912"}}],"maker":[{"@link":{"type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-187307","uid":"adlib-agent-187307","uuid":"71d6f251-edfc-3640-9780-ae9b08eaf8a0"},"summary_title":"Glaisher, Cecilia"},{"@link":{"type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-189489","uid":"adlib-agent-189489","uuid":"83ea05e0-375c-3dac-9109-dd587ba89dbf"},"summary_title":"Glaisher, James"}]}]},"summary_title":"Cecilia Glaisher: Snow crystals","title":[{"value":"Cecilia Glaisher: Snow crystals"}],"type":{"base":"object","type":"OBJECT"}}