University buildings and grounds
In Chapel Hill. 6 dated events, 1945–1956.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
Books, articles, records and pictures in the index about Morehead Planetarium, found by its names in titles, catalog subjects and the index’s descriptions, and read one by one. Those held at OCPL come first.
A picture book for children about Tony Jenzano, 1919 to 1997, the Morehead Planetarium director who trained the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts in celestial navigation at Chapel Hill. Michael G. Neece's account, published in Chapel Hill in 2020, covers astronaut training, the teaching of astronomy and the planetarium itself for young readers.
Donald S. Hall's 1965 booklet on the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, published by the university. Illustrations, floor plans and a portrait fill its twenty eight pages. Topics include planetariums in Chapel Hill and the building itself, so it reads as a guide to the facility.
A guide to the meeting rooms and services of the Morehead Building at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, issued by the university in 2000. It concerns convention facilities in Chapel Hill. A short promotional piece for groups booking space on campus, and a record of what the building offered visitors at the turn of the century.
Marguerite E. Schumann's booklet on the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, printed in 1976 by the university print shop, with her authorship noted on the cover. Planetariums in Chapel Hill is the subject given, and the booklet is a published guide to one of the campus landmarks.
Richard S. Knapp applies central place theory, a geographer's model of how service centers draw from surrounding areas, to planetariums as nonprofit institutions. It includes the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill and astronomical observatories in the United States. Written in 1975, with a bibliography on leaves 65 to 69.
Billy Arthur's article on the Morehead Planetarium, detached from the February 1958 issue of Tarheel Wheels and published by the North Carolina Motor Carriers Association in Raleigh. Topics include planetariums at Chapel Hill and the Morehead Planetarium itself, so a trucking association magazine carried a popular account of the campus planetarium to readers across the state.
An article centered on Frank Porter Graham's speech at the ceremony where John Motley Morehead, who lived from 1870 to 1965, presented a sundial to the University of North Carolina, published in 1956. It also touches on sundials in Chapel Hill and the Morehead Planetarium.
Material about the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Canopy from a Mercury training simulator used in astronaut instruction at the Morehead Planetarium, UNC-Chapel Hill. Photographed 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.
Photographs and documents on the planetarium's astronaut training, shown in the permanent collection exhibit area on the ground floor beside the theater at Morehead Planetarium. North Carolina ECHO photograph, Chapel Hill, 30 May 2002.
Original instruments from the Caldwell Observatory, UNC's first observatory, dating to about 1838, on exhibit at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. Photographed 30 May 2002 for North Carolina ECHO.
Exhibit text on Joseph Caldwell, founder of the Caldwell Observatory at UNC and the university's first president, photographed at the Morehead Planetarium on 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.
Autographed photograph marking the 25th anniversary of the Mercury astronauts, with signatures including Alan Shepard, Scott Carpenter and John Glenn, as shown at the Morehead Planetarium. North Carolina ECHO photograph, 30 May 2002.
A portrait from the Morehead personal collection, now shown in the rotunda of the Morehead Planetarium at UNC-Chapel Hill. Photographed 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.
Model of the solar system kept in storage at the Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill. North Carolina ECHO photograph taken 30 May 2002.
Astronaut training exhibit at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. NASA trained most of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts in the planetarium's facilities. North Carolina ECHO photograph, 30 May 2002.
Close view of the exterior sign across the planetarium's facade at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in Chapel Hill, taken 30 May 2002 for North Carolina ECHO.
Exterior of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, photographed 30 May 2002 for the North Carolina ECHO project.
Dwane Powell's News and Observer cartoon of 22 December 1982 takes up the Morehead Planetarium, church and state, and UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor Christopher C. Fordham III. Kept in folder 1982-09 of his syndicate copies and clippings.
Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor of UNC-Chapel Hill stands before the sundial at Morehead Planetarium in June 1973, on a color slide by Hugh Morton.
Sundial and flowers in the foreground of the Morehead Planetarium on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, photographed by Hugh Morton sometime between the 1970s and the early 1980s. Color sheet film negative, 4 by 5 inches.
Rose bushes and the sundial in front of the Morehead Planetarium at UNC-Chapel Hill, a 35 mm color slide by Hugh Morton from the late 1970s or early 1980s.
Kenneth Rogers photograph for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of the control panel and show instructions at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, 18 July 1962, made for a story by Andy Sparks that ran on 26 August 1962. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographs.
Outside view of the Morehead Planetarium at UNC-Chapel Hill, taken by Kenneth Rogers for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 18 July 1962 for an Andy Sparks story printed 26 August 1962. The accompanying caption names Richard Dodson, a retired New York editor who lectured there three times a week.
Director Anthony Jenzano beside the Zeiss projector of the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, photographed by Kenneth Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 18 July 1962 for a story by Andy Sparks published that August.
Kenneth Rogers photographed Richard Dodson guiding the 'You on the Moon' show at Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill on 18 July 1962 for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dodson, a retired New York editor, lectured at the planetarium three times a week. The picture ran with Andy Sparks's story on 26 August 1962.
Richard Dodson, a Morehead Planetarium lecturer, leads the show 'You on the Moon' in Chapel Hill on 18 July 1962. Kenneth Rogers took the picture for an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story by Andy Sparks that ran on 26 August 1962.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution photograph by Kenneth Rogers of the Morehead Planetarium projector casting an image of the moon, taken in Chapel Hill on 18 July 1962 for Andy Sparks's story on the planetarium's moon trip show, published 26 August 1962.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution news photograph from 18 July 1962 of the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Director Anthony Jenzano stands before the dome, which carries a 30-foot image of the moon, beside the two-ton star projector that could put 9,000 stars in the sky. Part of the newspaper's photograph collection.
Aerial view by Hugh Morton of Morehead Planetarium and its sundial on the Chapel Hill campus, taken in the 1960s or 1970s. Color sheet film transparency.
Color transparency by Hugh Morton of the sundial in front of Morehead Planetarium, with shrubbery and a parking lot full of cars. The date, about 1957, was worked out from the style of a Tennessee license plate on one of the vehicles.
Hugh Morton's black-and-white negative of the sundial, shrubs and parking lot before Morehead Planetarium on the UNC campus, about 1957. As with his color version, the date rests on the style of a Tennessee license plate on a car in the foreground.
Morehead Planetarium on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, photographed by Hugh Morton about 1950. A cropped print ran on the cover of The State magazine for 17 June 1950. Black-and-white sheet film negative.
Hugh Morton's color transparency of the Morehead Planetarium at UNC-Chapel Hill, made about the 1950s on 4 by 5 1/4 inch sheet film. The building was a gift of John Motley Morehead III.
Morehead Planetarium on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in the 1950s, a color sheet film transparency, 4 by 5 1/4 inches, by Hugh Morton. The planetarium opened in 1949.
John Motley Morehead at the cornerstone ceremony for what became the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, dated 1949. From the UNC Faculty and Administration photographs in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.
The John Motley Morehead Foundation issued this account of the Morehead Building at Chapel Hill in 1947, twenty two unnumbered pages with illustrations, portraits and plans. Copies carry an attached program and invitation to the exercises at the laying of the cornerstone. Subjects include John Motley Morehead III and the Morehead Planetarium along with the college buildings of the university.
Seventeen photographs of the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill from 1947 to 1988, beginning with the cornerstone laying ceremony. Others show an event outside the building and its front and rear. Part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection, CHHS.002.
Schell Lewis's 1937 conceptual drawing of the Morehead Planetarium at UNC, reproduced as a graphite print on beige paper. It shows the building from the southwest, students on the steps and trees in front, and is framed in black wood with a white mat, about 67 by 48 cm.
Fifteen linear feet of papers from John Motley Morehead III (1870-1965), approximately 8,000 items covering 1914 to 1988, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 70156. The papers concern the Morehead Planetarium, the John Motley Morehead Foundation, Union Carbide Corporation and buildings and structures in Chapel Hill.
Morehead Planetarium at Chapel Hill in newspaper clippings, photocopied articles, a magazine article and notes. An undated folder in box 37 of the UNC series in the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection.
The sundial at Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, issued as a photographic postcard by the North Carolina News Company of Durham. No photographer is credited and the entry carries no date.
Postcard by Hugh Morton of the Zeiss star projector at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. The caption calls it the first such instrument in the world owned by a university and says it could project 9,000 stars and planets as seen from anywhere on earth. Undated.
Credited to C. H. Ruth, this North Carolina News Company card from Durham shows Morehead Planetarium at Chapel Hill.
Morehead Planetarium on the Chapel Hill campus, credited to Jack Taylor and published by Photo Center of Fayetteville. Subjects include the modern form of the university's name.
Lee Shapiro, director of the Morehead Planetarium, in an informal undated photograph from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's UNC Faculty and Administration binder.
Aerial view of the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina, a postcard by C. H. Ruth for Aerial Photography Services of Charlotte. The caption credits the building to the engineer and industrialist John Motley Morehead and notes the Zeiss projector under its 68-foot dome. Undated.
Revised edition of the Morehead Planetarium's own guide to the building and its programs, issued by the Science Center in Chapel Hill in 1969, 24 unnumbered pages with illustrations, a portrait and plans. The planetarium opened on the university campus in 1949 as the gift of John Motley Morehead.
Roy K. Marshall's account of the Morehead Planetarium at Chapel Hill, published by the planetarium itself in 1949, the year it opened on the University of North Carolina campus. The building and its instrument are the subject, with material on college buildings and planetariums in Chapel Hill. An early description of what was then a rare facility in the South.
Program schedule for the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, covering the 1974 to 1975 season and listing what the planetarium offered the public that year. Printed on a single illustrated sheet with a map, folded to pocket size. The series also includes schedules for 1969 to 1970 and 1973 to 1974.
James William Batten's 1969 introduction to the planets and stars, associated with Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. Batten was a Johnston County author.
The program schedule of the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill for 1963 and 1964, listing the shows presented across those two seasons. Subjects include planetariums in Chapel Hill and the planetarium's own calendars. Issued in the town, it is a small piece of evidence for the public programming of the university's planetarium in the early 1960s.
The 1959 to 1960 program schedule of the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina, printed by the planetarium in Chapel Hill. Topics include planetariums in Chapel Hill and the planetarium's calendars, so the leaflet lists the shows and public programs offered across a single season on the campus.
Program for the ceremonies presenting the sundial and the sundial garden at the Morehead Planetarium, University of North Carolina, on June 3, 1956, published by the planetarium. Topics include sundials and the planetarium at Chapel Hill, so the booklet records the addition of a feature to the planetarium grounds and the speeches that marked it.
A folded schedule of shows and admission prices for the Morehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina, printed in 1954 on a single illustrated sheet. Slight as it is, the leaflet records what the planetarium offered the public a few years after it opened.
Published for the dedication of the Genevieve B. Morehead Memorial Art Gallery on May 10, 1949, in the Morehead Building at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Issued by the planetarium that shares the building, it concerns art museums in Chapel Hill and marks the opening of a gallery named for a member of the Morehead family.
Periodical connected with the Morehead Planetarium at Chapel Hill, carrying astronomy matter for North Carolina readers. It concerns planetarium and astronomy serials in the state.
A folded walking tour brochure of the UNC Chapel Hill campus, issued by the Morehead Planetarium in 1976 and billed as a tour of the first state university. One sheet of four unnumbered pages with a map and campus sketches by Vidy Johnson, printed with the compliments of Finely-Heffner, realtors. Topics include the university and tours of it.
Records of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at Chapel Hill from 1945 to 2002, numbered 70177 in the University Archives at UNC. Topics include planetariums and the teaching of astronomy in the town, and they attach the training of United States astronauts directly to the center. The material is in English.
Undated publication from Morehead Planetarium about the Morehead Building on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill, the building that houses the planetarium.
Undated publication issued by the Morehead Planetarium about itself. The planetarium opened on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill in 1949, the gift of alumnus John Motley Morehead III.
Morehead Planetarium publication, undated, on the Star of Bethlehem, the subject of the long-running Christmas season show at the planetarium in Chapel Hill.
Not about Morehead Planetarium alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.
Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.
M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.
M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.
Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.
Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.
These books don’t necessarily mention Morehead Planetarium, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.
Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.
Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.
A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.
Background from selected state and local sources
Maps, surveys, and the ground itself
Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time
Other catalogs, databases, and guides worth searching
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
