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(2017) The science of time 2016, Dordrecht, Springer.
Drawing upon the exquisite collection of sundials and time-finding instruments at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago—currently being catalogued by the author—this essay offers examples of sundials made of silver, gilt brass, ivory, wood, and stone between 1500 and 1900. They were designed to be portable or fixed, pocket-sized, or monumental, but all did more than tell the time. By critically examining them, we can see the influence of the cultures in which they were made and used. These material objects tell stories of race, empire, labor, religion, fashion, and politics. And by so doing, the sundials exhibit the relationship of time in these concerns.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-59909-0_8
Full citation:
Schechner, S. J. (2017)., These are not your mother's sundials: or, time and astronomy's authority, in E. Felicitas arias, L. Combrinck, P. Gabor & C. Hohenkerk (eds.), The science of time 2016, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 49-73.
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