Henry M. Parkhurst

Henry Martyn Parkhurst (March 1, 1825 - January 21, 1908) was an American stenographer who served as Chief Official Court Reporter for the US Senate, an astronomer with pioneering work in Photometry, and an author. Parkhurst was an advocate of "Dianism".

Stenographer While typical stenographers record the words spoken, Parkhurst became a "phonographic recorder", writing not the words but rather the sounds which were spoken. Parkhurst devised a modification of Pittman's phonography which Parkhurst called "Stenophonography". From 1848 to 1854, Parkhurst was the Chief Official Court Reporter for the US Senate.

Astronomy At a young age, Parkhurst observed the Great Comet of 1843. In the 1870s, he published a journal article describing a new photometric mapping device that could record the location and magnitude of stars. In 1893, ten years of his observations were published in the Harvard Annals. From 1883 to 1907, he conducted research into long period variable stars. Beginning in 1887, he conducted a survey of asteroids.

Dianism In 1887, Henry M. Parkhurst anonymously published 'Diana', a pamphlet that taught the practice of Dianaism. The pamphlet was written in "reform spelling". Parkhurst named his practice after the goddess of chastity. She was arrested under obscenity laws. Parkhurst briefly took the stand in her defense at her trial. The stenophonographer. Upon the basis of Pitman's phonography, with the circular vowel scale of July, 1851. (New York : H.M. Parkhurst, 1870)