American Philosophical Society

     This is a picture of Cornelius Varley's Patent Graphic Telescope (PGT), which he patented in 1811. It is made of brass with glass lenses inside and is part of the exhibit "Through the Looking Glass" at the American Philosophical Society (APS). It is part of this exhibit because  he used it to make exquisite drawings of places and plants. Having the opportunity to see the PGT is important to people who want to know more about Cornelius Varley or his work.
     The Franklin Institute loaned the PGT to the APS. As an important piece of the exhibit, it is situated in the front center in an enclosed glass circular case, surrounded by Varley's paintings at the outer edge of the exhibit. Surrounding the PGT in the enclosed case are informative descriptive texts, letters from Charles Varley, and other ephemera regarding the PGT. The exhibit makes it clear that not only was Varley an inventor and a painter, he was also a traveler, and he ran his own business.
     If I wanted to expand my field of study on the PGT, I could research who else used the PGT besides Varley, the history of the changes that Varley made to the PGT, its popularity (or lack of it) in the early nineteenth century, or what else it was used for besides drawings. People who are not interested in nature, Cornelius Varley, or early nineteenth century inventions would not be interested in this object. An opposing point of view could be that someone explains why the PGT is not important, specifically because drawings were made from the naked eye during the early nineteenth century and because it was superceeded by the camera about thirty years after Varley invented the PGT. One way to engage the public with the PGT would be to let them try to copy a picture while using it, as the APS lets visitors do, or to see which way of drawing is better for them - with the naked eye, the PGT, or taking a picture and then copying it from that.