Henry Ward Poole
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Henry Ward Poole | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | October 22, 1890 | (aged 62)
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Engineer |
Engineering career | |
Projects | topographic surveys |
Significant design | musical inventions |
Henry Ward Poole (1825–1890) was an American surveyor, civil engineer, educator and writer on and inventor of systems of musical tuning. He was brother of the famous librarian William Frederick Poole, and cousin of the celebrated humorist, journalist and politician Fitch Poole.
Biography
Poole was born 13 September 1825 in Salem, Massachusetts (renamed Peabody 1868), son of Ward Poole (1799–1864) and Elizabeth Wilder (1801–1864). He attended Leicester Academy, and Yale University in 1841 and 1842.[1]
He worked up to 1850 at
In 1851 and 1852 Poole assisted August A. Dalson under Pennsylvania state geologist Henry D. Rogers, based in Pottsville, on the state survey organized by Geological Society of Pennsylvania. He remained in Pottsville afterwards working as an engineer, surveyor and commercial property agent.
In 1856 he was engaged by the New York City based Mexican Pacific Coal and Iron Mines and Land Company to survey railway prospects between
Poole died 22 October 1890 and is buried at Mexico City National Cemetery.
Musical inventions
Poole appreciated "all musical
triple diatonic (9/8) (10/9) (16/15) (9/8) (10/9) (9/8) (16/15) C D e F G a b C ⓘ C D e (F7) G A b C ⓘ (9/8) (10/9) (21/20) (8/7) (9/8) (10/9) (16/15) double diatonic
The 1849 organ was described being capable of playing eleven musical
On the suggestion of
Poole outlined methods to increase the versatility of similarly arranged instruments, including a slightly tempered 78-tone scale, and a 106-tone scale with two cycles of
On April 6, 1871 an enharmonic reed organ constructed by Joseph Alley using more uniformly shaped keys was demonstrated at a meeting of the Society of Arts in Boston by
Publications
- "On the true natural diatonic scale of music, and its adoption in the euharmonic organ". (1848) Worcester
- "On Perfect Intonation and the Euharmonic Organ". (1850) New Englander and Yale review (May)
- Topographical map of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill-Haven Rail Road with its branches and extension to Ashland; (1854)
- "On Perfect Harmony in Music". (1867) The American Journal of Science and Arts (July) p. 1
- "On the Musical Ratios, and our Pleasure in Harmonious Sounds". (1868) American Journal of Science, vol. xliv, no. 135 (May) p19
- just intonation and za. (1913) Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. C. & G. Merriam Co., Springfield.
Patents
- US 6,565 Alley & Poole. Organ action. 03.07.1849
- US 73,753. H. W. Poole. Improved Enharmonic key-board for Organs, &c. 28.01.1868
Related Collections
- Henry Ward Poole collection of Mexican Documents, 1610–1857. Record Nr. b3414909. New York Public Library, Humanities - Manuscripts and Archives.
- Mexican Pamphlets. 233f.101-140, and 274b.18. Bodleian Library, London.
- Correspondence, 1857. misc. mss[permanent dead link]. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mss. Dept.
- Correspondence from Henry W. Poole, 18 October 1856. J. Peter Lesley Papers, 1826–1898. B L56. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia
- Tripod cylinder (pottery vessel ad.200-500) 79.55. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Everett Fund.
- Henry James Hudson Collection. SC1998.39 Archived 2006-02-11 at the Wayback Machine M2A 6,4. Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music. Rochester, NY
Notes
- ^ His brother William Frederick Archived 2012-07-17 at the Wayback Machine left Yale the same year due finances.
- ^ Joseph Alley (March 4, 1804-), originally from Kennebunk, Maine, worked at Brown's wharf, Newburyport, and included mention of the euharmonic organ in Newburyport directories around 1860. ("Organ-Building in New England" (1834) The New England Magazine, Vol. 6, March)
- ^ Poole served on the Committee of Judges on musical instruments at the exhibition but didn't contribute to the recommendation of this prize. The Sixth Exhibition of the Mass. Charitable Mechanics Association, (1850) Boston. p. 134
- ^ Church of Disciples; James Freeman Clarke preached at this chapel (The stranger's new guide through Boston (1869) A. Williams & Co., Boston)
Further reading
- Eliot, Samuel A. (1850) "The Euharmonic Organ". The Living Age, September 7. p473-479 ("This article was written for the Living Age, by the Hon. Samuel A. Eliot, our new member of Congress. He has gone to Washington, a place where he will not probably find perfect harmony.")
- "Quality of Musical Sounds". (1868) Scientific American, July 8. p25
- Bosanquet, R. H. M. (1874) "On the Theory of the Division of the Octave". Journal of the Royal Musical Association
- Lesley, J. P. (1876) Historical Sketch of Geological Explorations in Pennsylvania and Other States Board of Commissioners for the Second Geological Survey, Harrisburg
- Howe, Granville L. and W. S. B. Mathews (1889) A Hundred Years of Music in America. W. B. Conkey, Chicago.
- "One of the Lost Geniuses: Contributors Club". (1891) The Atlantic Monthly, January. p136
- S. Huntington Hooker (1897) "Joseph Alley's Enharmonic Organ" Music vol. 11. Music Magazine Publishing Co., Chicago
- Owen, B. (1987) "An enharmonic harmonium by Joseph Alley". Reed Organ Society Journal, Fall. p23
- Stanton, William. "Pennsylvania Geological Survey: 1836"; American Scientific Exploration, 1803-1860. (1991) American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia.
- Monzo, Joseph. (1999) "On the Poole Keyboard". Sonic Arts Gallery, San Diego
- "Joseph Alley - Organ, The First Religious Society, Newburyport, MA, 1834". "Pipe Organs of the Merrimack Valley". The Northeast Organist Magazine