Among the more than 150 objects from Blue Hill now housed at Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments are kites and apparatus used with them. A partial list of this holding, as compiled by John Conover in his book on the observatory, follows: -E D. Archibald’s kite. Cloth, employed in experiments with anemometers, 1882-84 -Kite meteorograph. Pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. Made by S.P. Fergusson. -Dines kite meteorograph, 1902. Pressure and temperature. Wooden case, cloth cover. -Automatic camera used to take pictures from kites. Made for A.L.

The technical aspects of flying kites to obtain meteorological records in the upper air at Blue Hill Observatory remain fascinating. Following are facets of this pioneering scientific work, as outlined by director A.L. Rotch in a paper for the 1903 St. Louis Exposition: -The height of the kite was obtained by attaching a barometer to it and by taking trigonometrical measurements when the upper kite in the train was visible. -Kites were flown of steel music wire having a tensile strength up to 650 pounds. -The steam powered windlass used at Blue Hill was designed by S.P.

At the turn of the last century, meteorology became an important new science around the world and kites played a major role in the compilation of data for this work. A major research center was the Blue Hill Observatory at Milton, Massachusetts, established in 1885 on the highest point of land near Boston.

The use of kite to catch fish is very old technique, possibly dating back to the Stone Age, but can still be seen in selected regions of Southeast Asia where it remains a daily activity. Kite fishing occurs across 65 degrees of longitude, from Singapore and Java in the west to the Santa Cruz islands near the Solomons in the east, and it straddles the equator over that length of large and small islands.

Kites are well known for fun and games. Their ceremonial significance in Asia and elsewhere is also clear. What is less understood is their ancient and continuing utilitarian use.

One of the richest and most rewarding kite adventures ever experienced is that of a trip into the heart of India to be a participant in the living heritage of Indian fighter kiting. Members of The Drachen Foundation were guests of the Indian government in January of 1998 and traveled extensively through this Asian country exploring India’s passion for and development of the fighter kite. Foundation staff discovered that India is not difficult, but one of the last honest and accessible kite adventures to be explored.

After four trips to China, even I was surprised at my own reluctance to travel to India. I just couldn’t convince myself that the positive experiences would outweigh the negative. Horror stories of other group tours did nothing to persuade me that the kites of India were worth the trouble of travel to India.

You have to forgive me; every time I pick up a book by Tal Streeter, before reading a word, I turn first to the photographs. I followed this prescription for success with, "A Kite Journey through India" and knew that this was book to rival Streeter’s, "The Art of the Japanese Kite". A glance at the book’s portfolio of show kites dispelled the notion that all Indian kites were the same, and the intricate geometric paper cuts inspired the patchworker buried within me.

Because kites were flown extensively in the Indian subcontinent down through the centuries, references to them in literature are frequent, and often piquant. Following is a squib from a section on mid-19th century sports and pastimes in , "Two Kings of Awadh"(a region in the north), by Dr. Safi Ahmad of the Aligarh Muslim University:

After 10 storied years, the international kite retreat at Junction, Texas, has become instant kite legend. Sophisticated, varied kite workshops conducted in a quite rustic setting, the annual retreat is now history. Perfectionist organizers Betty Street and Bill Lockhart, faced with mandatory change of an almost perfect format, decided to end the gatherings at their peak. Altogether, it has been a golden decade for kiting, in the opinion of many. As it evolved, Junction was often viewed as a sort of utopian global kite community; at the least, it was surely the blueprint for one.