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Biographical Information

Gordon Harkness Gliddon was born on December 9, 1894 the son of Charles and Mary Gliddon of Rochester, New York. He attended college at the University of Rochester and graduated in 1915 with a degree in physics. Also in 1915, he became a Science Instructor at East High School in Rochester until 1916. In the fall of that year, he again attended the University of Rochester for graduate studies and was an Instructor in Physics from then until he received his M.S. degree in 1918. Mr. Gliddon worked at the Eastman Kodak Company Hawk Eye Division in Rochester as a lens designer from 1918 to 1923. During this same time he served as Instructor of Physiological Optics and was a student at the Rochester School of Optometry from 1920 to 1923. He enrolled as a graduate student in Physiological Optics at Dartmouth College in 1923, serving also as Professor of Physiological Optics at Rochester School of Optometry from 1924 to 1926. His Ph.D. was awarded from Dartmouth in June of 1926, and in the fall of that year was appointed Research Fellow in Physiological Optics. He became an Assistant Professor in Physiological Optics at the Dartmouth Medical School and an Associate Professor in 1937.

Because of the magnitude of the work that Mr. Gliddon did with Adelbert Ames, Jr. in the fields of physiological optics, binocular vision, binocular space perception and refraction after his arrival at Dartmouth in 1923, the Department of Physiological Optics was transformed by the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth into the Dartmouth Eye Institute (DEI) in 1935. Gliddon published several papers with Ames and other early members of the DEI covering the newly discovered eye anomaly aniseikonia, its measurement and treatment. His lens design experience was key in the development of instruments to detect and correct the disorder. He also initiated for the DEI the collection and translation of hundreds of foreign ophthalmological articles published from the turn of the century through 1946.

Over time, Mr. Gliddon became less active in research at the DEI and entered into more of an administrative capacity. As the DEI began to lose funding from Dartmouth College and outside sources, and approached the eventual severing from the College voted by the President and Board of Trustees, Gliddon began to expand his administrative roles to include a position as Business Officer of Baker Library. He assumed that office on July 1, 1946. He also continued instructional responsibilities in the Dartmouth College Physics Department. Mr. Gliddon would hold both of these positions until his retirement in 1962, after 39 years of involvement with Dartmouth. In 1938, Mr. Gliddon had been elected into town government as Precinct Commissioner to the Town of Hanover, N.H. and served in that office for 21 years (17 years as Chairman of the Board of Precinct Commissioners). He also served as the Precinct Board representative of the Hanover Town Water Works Company for 17 years (the last seven years as Water Works President). He retired from town government in 1959. Mr. Gliddon died at his home in Hanover, N. H. on March 14, 1962.

Scope and Content Note

The Gordon Harkness Gliddon Papers, 1941 - 1959 [1947 - 1957],.5 linear feet, contain some correspondence with former Dartmouth Eye Institute members, correspondence related to a translations project carried out for Tulane University, lists of articles translated for the DEI and the Tulane project, bibliographies of translated articles on the topic of the labyrinth of the inner ear, and bulletins of the Aniseikonic Forum published by the American Optical Company (written by Robert E. Bannon). Of interest are two letters dated from April of 1957 between Mr. Gliddon and Leo F. Madigan, former DEI member, which discuss the fate of the Eye Institute clinical records.

Related materials in Dartmouth College Library Special Collections include the following: Dartmouth Eye Institute Records, 1917 - 1952 [1930 - 1945] (Collection Number: DA-35); the Blanche B. Marshall McLane Bruner Papers, 1946 - 1956 (Collection Number: MS-768); the Wendell Triller Papers, 1934 - 1988 [1940 - 1945] (Collection Number: MS-779); and Publications by the Members of the Staff of the Dartmouth Eye Institute (call number: D.C. History RE-14-.D37). Other related items may be electronically searched through the Dartmouth College Library Online System.

History of the Papers

The Papers were given to the Dartmouth College Archives in April of 1976. There are no restrictions on their use.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

November 1994

Hanover, New Hampshire

Folder Listing

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