Bruce, Catherine Wolfe (1816–1900)

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Bruce, Catherine Wolfe (1816–1900)

American astronomy patron. Born Jan 22, 1816, in New York, NY; died Mar 13, 1900, in New York; dau. of George (printer and type founder, died 1866) and Catherine (Wolfe) Bruce; cousin of Catharine L. Wolfe (1828–1887, philanthropist); educated privately; never married; no children.

Donated $50,000 (1887), for the George Bruce Branch of New York Free-Circulating Library (later New York Public Library); translated and printed edition of Tommaso da Celano's Dies Irae; began career as patron of astronomical and astrophysical research with 1st gift ($50,000), at age 73, to finance construction of photographic telescope for Harvard College Observatory (1889); made contributions which benefited many astronomers at important stages in their careers; endowed a gold medal for distinguished services to astronomy awarded by Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1897).

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