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Sources for A House Tried to Save Sunshine in Salt

Published Sep 26, 2026

Sources Used

  1. A Review of Solar House Heating

    Mária Telkes / 1949-09 / Primary technical source

    Contemporary explanation of solar-house heating, the central heat-storage problem and Telkes’s phase-change research.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  2. Storing Solar Heat in Chemicals—A Report on the Dover House

    Mária Telkes and Eleanor Raymond / 1949-12 / Primary technical source; bibliographic record

    Dover Sun House authorship, chemical heat-storage design and the intended operation of the Glauber’s-salt system.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  3. A Solar Life

    Axel Alfaro Hernandez, United States Patent and Trademark Office / 2024-04-02 / Secondary; government historical feature using archival records

    Telkes’s MIT work, conflict over Glauber’s salt, collaboration with Raymond and Peabody, residents, publicity, system failure, electrical demand, oil-furnace installation and cover-image provenance.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  4. Capturing the Sun Queen

    Kirstin Butler, PBS American Experience / 2023-03-27 / Secondary; documentary photo essay

    Christmas Eve 1948 occupancy, 18 south-facing collector panels, black absorber surfaces, phase-change mechanism, tours, media attention, stratification, corrosion and third-winter failure.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  5. The Sun Queen and the Skeptic: Building the World’s First Solar Houses

    Meir Rinde, Science History Institute / 2023-05-19 / Secondary; reported history

    MIT solar-research context, independent Dover collaboration, inhabited-house experiment, press reaction, visitors, electric-fan costs, cloudy-weather performance, portable heaters and leaking containers.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  6. SOLAR 7: History — Solar6

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology Solar Decathlon team / Date not stated / Primary institutional history

    Peabody’s sponsorship, Telkes’s Glauber’s-salt heating system, Raymond’s five-room house design, family occupancy and failure after three years.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  7. Eleanor Raymond and Maria Telkes, Dover Sun House, Dover Massachusetts, 1948

    Yale University Energy History / 2023; collection item dated 1948 / Secondary; academic image gallery

    Collector façade, three heat-storage bins, intended storage through sunless periods and the relationship between the visible upper wall and hidden heating system.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  8. The Rise of the Sun Queen: Mária Telkes’ Early Years in the United States (1925–1953)

    Soma Rédey / 2025 / Secondary; peer-reviewed historical research

    MIT rejection and reassignment context, Peabody’s financing and estate, Raymond’s architectural role, 1950 public attention and Telkes’s departure from MIT.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  9. High-Density, Low-Hysteresis Thermal Storage Using Hydrated Salts in Surface-Functionalized Hydrogels

    United States Department of Energy / 2022 / Primary; government research summary

    Continuing research interest in Glauber’s salt and the modern emphasis on cycling stability, heat-storage density and material performance.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

  10. Mária Telkes and Eleanor Raymond in front of the Dover Sun House

    Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design, via United States Patent and Trademark Office / Circa 1948–1949 / Image source

    Cover-image identity, depicted people, location, archival holder and credit language.

    Accessed 2026-09-26

Image Sources

  1. Black-and-white photograph of Mária Telkes and architect Eleanor Raymond holding plans in front of the Dover Sun House and its south-facing solar collector façade.

    Photographer unknown; Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design / Circa 1948–1949 / Permission needed; no reusable license is stated. The USPTO reproduces the image courtesy of the Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

    Permission contact: Frances Loeb Library Special Collections through Ask a Design Librarian; copyright guidance contact: areiskind@gsd.harvard.edu

    Original file: https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/joi0424_telkes_raymond.jpg