Astronomer Henry M. Parkhurst

Henry Martyn Parkhurst (March 1, 1825 - January 21, 1908) was an American stenographer who served as Chief Official Court Reporter for the US Senate, an astronomer with pioneering work in Photometry, and an author.[1][2][3] Parkhurst was an advocate of "Dianism".[3]

Early life

Henry M. Parkhurst was born on March 1, 1825, to Rev. John L. Parkhurst. His cousin was Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst.[4]

Stenographer

While typical stenographers record the words spoken, Parkhurst became a "phonographic recorder", writing not the words but rather the sounds which were spoken.[5] Parkhurst devised a modification of Pittman's phonography which Parkhurst called "Stenophonography".[1] An advocate for spelling reform, Parkhurst published The Plowshare for forty years, using a special alphabet "in which each character stood for a single sound and each sound was represented by a single character."[1]

In 1847, he served as reporter for the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Salem.[6][7]From 1848 to 1854, Parkhurst was the Chief Official Court Reporter for the US Senate.[1][8]

Astronomy

At a young age, Parkhurst observed the Great Comet of 1843. In the 1870s, he published a journal article describing a new photometric mapping device that could record the location and magnitude of stars. In 1893, ten years of his observations were published in the Harvard Annals.[9][10] From 1883 to 1907, he conducted research into long period variable stars. [11] Beginning in 1887, he conducted a survey of asteroids. [11]

Paranormal investigator

In 1867, Parkhurst investigated purported-clairvoyant Mollie Fancher, and after which he wrote multiple statements attesting to her abilities. In 1878, Parkhurt publicly attested to Fancher's abilities in a letter to the editor of the New York Herald.[12][13][14]

Dianism

In 1887, Henry M. Parkhurst anonymously published 'Diana', a pamphlet that taught the practice of Dianaism. [15][16][17] The pamphlet was written in "reform spelling".[18] Parkhurst named his practice after the goddess of chastity. [17] Parkhurst drew inspiration from radical religious philosopher John Humphrey Noyes.[17]

Parkhurt later took credit for the pamphlet, authoring "Why I Wrote 'Diana'".[15]

Elmina Slenker was a "prominent promoter of the 'Diana method' of continence and distributor of the pamphlet Diana which explained to readers how to practice sexual expression without fears of conception".[19] She was arrested under obscenity laws. Parkhurst briefly took the stand in her defense at her trial.[15]

Influence

Sex reformer Ida Craddock advised study of "Alpha-ism" and Dianism [20][18] "Diana", a pamphlet by "Prof. Parkhurst, the astronomer, and published by the Burnz Publishing Co., New York".[18]

In 1908, Parkhust died. That year, an in-depth profile of Parkhurst was published in Popular Astronomy, penned by Yerkes Observatory astronomer John Adelbert Parkhurst (no relation).[11]

Works

  • Proceedings of the Anti-Sabbath Convention : held in the Melodeon, March 23d and 24th / (Boston : Published by order of the convention, 1848)[21]
  • The stenophonographer. Upon the basis of Pitman's phonography, with the circular vowel scale of July, 1851. (New York : H.M. Parkhurst, 1870)[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "1908PA.....16..231P Page 231". adsabs.harvard.edu. Bibcode:1908PA.....16..231P.
  2. ↑ "Parkhurst Henry Martyn 1825 1908 - AbeBooks". www.abebooks.com.
  3. 1 2 Chappell, Vere (1 December 2010). Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock. Weiser Books. ISBN 9781609252960 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York on January 22, 1908 · Page 3".
  5. ↑ Cima, Gay Gibson (24 April 2014). Performing Anti-Slavery: Activist Women on Antebellum Stages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139917247 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Ernest, John (1 August 2017). The Oxford Handbook of the African American Slave Narrative. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199731480 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Garrison, Wendell Phillips; Garrison, Francis Jackson (1 August 1894). William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: The Story of His Life Told by His Children... Houghton, Mifflin. p. 149 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ "The Phonographic Magazine". The Institute. 1 August 1890 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Williams, Thomas R.; Saladyga, Michael (26 May 2011). Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139496346 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Observatory, Harvard College (1 August 1893). "Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College". Hetcalf and Company – via Google Books.
  11. 1 2 3 "Popular Astronomy". Goodsell Observatory of Carleton College. 1 August 2017 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ "The Arena". Arena Publishing Company. 1 August 1895 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Laurence, Lauron William De (1 August 2017). "Clairvoyance and Thought-transference". De Laurence – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Hammond, William Alexander (1 August 1879). Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology. Library of Alexandria. ISBN 9781465549709 – via Google Books.
  15. 1 2 3 Schmidt, Leigh Eric (26 September 2016). Village Atheists: How America's Unbelievers Made Their Way in a Godly Nation. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400884346 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ Brumberg, Joan Jacobs (1 August 2017). Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780375724480 – via Google Books.
  17. 1 2 3 Passet, Joanne Ellen (1 August 2017). Sex Radicals and the Quest for Women's Equality. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252028045 – via Google Books.
  18. 1 2 3 Chappell, Vere (1 December 2010). Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock. Weiser Books. ISBN 9781609252960 – via Google Books.
  19. ↑ "SEX RADICALS IN AMERICA'S HEARTLAND : REDEFINING GENDER AND SEXUALITY, 1880-1910" (PDF). Mospace.umsystem.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  20. ↑ Craddock cites: "The Christian Life", a journal edited and published by Rev. J.D. Caldwell, Chicago
  21. 1 2 "Parkhurst, Henry M. (Henry Martyn), 1825- - The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu.
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