by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, April 5, 2024.
In August of 1932, three 17-year-olds gathered in the cemetery field off Linden Street to watch the highly anticipated solar eclipse. The boys were well equipped with at least one pair of eclipse glasses from the Harvey & Lewis Company, an optical firm founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1890.
News that an eclipse was due in Exeter began to hit the newspapers in July. Exeter native, Ambrose Swasey, an industrialist who produced mechanisms for telescopes, asked Dr. J. J. Nassau, the director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory in Cleveland, Ohio, to calculate the path of the eclipse for Exeter residents. “Exeter is 40 miles south of the central path of totality. The width of the path of totality at the coast is 105 miles and the duration of totality at the center of the path is 98 seconds.” In Exeter, there would be a mere 73 seconds of totality.
“The total solar eclipse of August 31, 1932, will be visible over the northeastern part of the United States. The path of totality will cross Hudson Bay, Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and will end at sunset in the middle of the Atlantic,” reported the Exeter News-Letter. “The total phase begins with the sweep of the moon’s shadow over the earth just like the coming of a great storm. This shadow travels from west to east with a speed of 1500 miles an hour. As the sun finally disappears its eastern edge is sometimes broken up by bright patches of light. The sunlight creeps through the lunar valleys and produces only for an instant, the ‘Baily’s Beads,’ as these light flashes are called.”
By mid-August, the newspapers were reporting that New Hampshire would be invaded with visitors. “Hotels and boarding houses will be taxed to capacity, and many will doubtless prolong their stay over the eventful day. For dwellers in Boston and other points out of the belt of totality there will be special train service.” It turned out that Exeter was not overcome with tourists. Exeter then, as now, was something of a ghost town in August.
Amateur photographers were encouraged to take pictures: “the amateurs, it is possible, may in some cases get better pictures than the astronomers. The scientific men will have their elaborate instruments set up for weeks in advance, and at the last minute may be handicapped by locally cloudy skies. Amateurs, however, with more mobile equipment, may have clear skies in their localities, and find it possible to obtain pictures of exceedingly great interest and possible scientific value.” They were instructed to send away for a booklet with instructions on how to do this safely.
It seems that safety was nearly an afterthought. In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, there were urgent entreaties reminding everyone to take caution when observing the eclipse. “Everyone trying to see the eclipse next Wednesday should be sure to use smoked glass as recommended by the papers as protection for their eyes.” Sunglasses had been around for decades – often blue or green in color. Smoke glass could be produced by most people by holding a piece of glass over a candle until it darkened. Photographic negatives could also be used to shield the eyes, but primarily people were cautioned (as they are today) to avoid doing the one thing they really wanted to do – look at the eclipse. Cardboard eclipse glasses – made with darkened film – could be purchased for about ten cents.
Arthur Conner wrote to the News-Letter to let everyone know that “The highway map issued this week, on view at the White House Café, is a special eclipse edition, showing the center line and the side lines of totality.” Stratham Hill Park was recommended for local viewing, as if the elevation would make the darkness more profound. It did provide an unobstructed view, however, and this was what people wanted.
In 1932, since schools didn’t open until after Labor Day, the kids were still on summer break. All they needed was a tree-free area and plenty of warnings not to look directly at the eclipse until full totality.
The 2024 eclipse is scheduled to be at its darkest at the exact time many Exeter elementary children are supposed to be on the buses heading home. Main Street and Lincoln Street schools will be hosting an eclipse viewing party for students and families.
For his part, after promoting the eclipse to Exeter residents, Ambrose Swasey travelled to Douglas Hill, Maine to watch the event. It had been previously chosen by the Warner & Swasey Observatory as the best location to see the event. Another Exeter resident, Betty Tufts, was vacationing with her family at the AMC camp on Lake Winnipesaukee. In her diary, she described it as “WONDERFUL – beyond belief or description when total.”
The Exeter News-Letter summed it up two days later: “The eagerly awaited total eclipse of the sun is now an event of the past. Much of Wednesday was cloudy, but conditions grew more favorable as the day wore on and in Exeter were ideal throughout the eclipse. It is not for the layman to describe its beauty and majesty, and the fleeting seconds of totality were thrilling. The Swasey Parkway, the Playstead, the Academy’s playing fields were vantage points, and many went to elevations in Stratham, Epping and other out-lying towns.”
This year, you can pick up a pair of eclipse glasses at the Exeter Public Library for safe viewing. There are gathering places all around town to watch the eclipse. A few of us will be at Swasey Parkway – as we were during the partial eclipse in 2017 – in honor of our most noted manufacturer of telescopes, Ambrose Swasey. Look for the eclipse to begin about 2:30 in the afternoon, peaking at about 95% at 3:30 and finishing by 4:30. We won’t reach totality, as we did in 1932, but it will still be thrilling to watch the process.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Images: Ambrose Swasey viewing the August 31st, 1932 eclipse from Douglas Hill, Maine. Swasey made sure Exeter residents were aware that the eclipse would be visible in his home town.
“Eclipse-O-Scope” safety eclipse glasses in the collections of the Exeter Historical Society. This pair was used by teenagers, Paul Barlow, Art Morse, and Joe Tardiff, who watched the eclipse in cemetery field off Linden Street. Glasses like these could be purchased for about ten cents.