J.A. Leon Bassot Fonds, 1864-1910
The fonds contains material related to the work of French geodesist and astronomer J.A. Léon Bassot. Most of the material is correspondence written in French to his wife while travelling for his professional projects from 1881 to 1884, including the Academy of Science expedition to St. Augustine, Florida to observe the transit of Venus in 1882. He travelled through New York, Niagara Falls and Montreal, and wrote a letter from the Clifton House describing his experience of observing the Falls. There is also a menu from the Clifton House. Several letters describing the transit of Venus are also included. Other correspondence covers his geodesic activities in Paris and Nice in 1881 and 1882, as well as his campaign for regional political office in 1884.
RG 829 J.A. Léon Bassot fonds, 1864-1910, n.d.
Letter from Leon Bassot to his wife, December 6, 1882
In this letter Bassot notes that the transit occurred that day and they were able to observe it completely. Everything went wonderfully well and he thinks the observations will be very good.
Letter from Leon Bassot to his wife, October 11, 1882
Bassot describes his visit to Niagara Falls on stationary from the Clifton House.
