Albion College Celebrates 130 Years with an Alvan Clark Telescope

In 2013–2014, Albion College, an undergraduate liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan, will celebrate the 130th anniversary of its 8′′ Alvan Clark refracting telescope and observatory building. Dedicated in 1883 and completed in 1884, the observatory is one of two surviving examples of a nineteenth-century astronomical building in Michigan. Its instruments also include a Fauth and Company sidereal clock and transit telescope. Several times each year the telescope is open to the public and to the campus community for public observing events. Here we describe the history of our Alvan Clark telescope and the events that will take place in 2013–2014