Timeline
1953
Lawrence Braymer hires a number of salespersons and distributors to promote the Questar telescope (mid-1953).[1] See details.
1954
First Questar booklet is printed (May).[2] See details.
First Questar advertisement (June).[3] See details.
1955
For the first time in its magazine advertising, Questar uses the term De Luxe or Deluxe to refer to what is today known as the Standard Questar (December).[4] See details.
1956
Lawrence Braymer does a series of field tests in Colorado using a Questar telescope and a Hexacon camera and produces numerous photographs that he would use later in Questar advertising (summer 1956).[5] See details.
Announcement of a twelve-month installment payment plan (December).[6] See details.
1957
First appearance in an advertisement of an image by longtime photographic contributors Ralph and Dorothy Davis (March).[7] See details.
Announcement that every new Questar ships with a high-quality copy of the National Bureau of Standards Microscopy Test Chart and that each Questar resolves to 0.9 seconds of arc (November).[8] See details.
1958
Questar partners with Dry Dock Savings Bank in New York to place its telescopes in conspicuous public view (March).[9] See details.
For the last time in its magazine advertising, Questar uses the term De Luxe or Deluxe to refer to what is today known as the Standard Questar (September).[10] See details.
An revised and expanded Questar booklet is printed (October).[11] See details.
First advertisement in Natural History magazine (November).[12] See details.
1959
First advertisement in Scientific American magazine (June).[13] See details.
1960
First advertisement appearing on inside front cover of Natural History magazine (February).[14] See details.
Lawrence Braymer writes an essay entitled “Telescopic Photography” (June).[15] See details.
Questar announces that it is a Nikon franchised dealer (September).[16] See details.
1961
First advertisement appearing on inside front cover of Sky and Telescope magazine (July).[17] See details.
1962
First appearance in an advertisement of the “Greek goddess” and the ancient Greek motif as a metaphor for Questar’s pursuit of perfection (June).[18] See details.
First advertisement in Modern Photography magazine (September).[19] See details.
1963
First appearance in an advertisement of the cut-away Questar illustration (December).[20] See details.
1964
First Questar advertisement printed in color (March).[21] See details.
The third major update to the Questar booklet is printed with eight pages of color photography included (July).[22] See details.
The first separate Questar price catalog appears.[23] See details.
1968
First appearance in an advertisement of an image by longtime photographic contributor Hubert Entrop (February).[24] See details.
The fourth major update to the Questar booklet is announced (February).[25] See details.
1972
The fifth major update to the Questar booklet is announced (March).[26] See details.
Questar splits the content of its price catalog into two separate pieces of literature, more detailed six-page Instruments and Accessory brochure and a brief two-page Price Catalog.[27] See details.
1974
Announcement of Q Camera in Daytona Beach, Florida (April).[28] See details.
Questar merges the content of its more detailed six-page Instruments and Accessory brochure and its brief two-page Price Catalog into a single Instruments and Accessory brochure.[29] See details.
1976
Questar publishes its first issue of the Questar Observations newsletter (spring 1976).[30] See details.
1977
Questar publishes the six major update to its booklet.[31] See details.
1978
Questar publishes two brochures entitled “The Unique Questar” and “When You Choose Questar.”[32] See details.
1979
First advertisement in Astronomy magazine (September).[33] See details.
1980
Questar publishes “The Questar Almanac” for 1981 (November).[34] See details.
1981
Final Questar advertisement in Natural History magazine (July).[35] See details.
Questar publishes “The Questar Almanac” for 1982 (November).[36] See details.
Questar publishes “The Questar Moon.”[37] See details.
1983
Questar publishes the seventh major update to its booklet.[38] See details.
1991
Final Questar advertisement in Scientific American magazine (February).[39] See details.
1992
Questar revives its Observations newsletter (spring 1992).[40] See details.
Rodger Gordon authors a brochure for Questar entitled “Choosing a Telescope.”[41] See details.
Early 1990s
Questar opens numerous international sales offices.[42] See details.
1993
Questar publishes its last advertisement on the inside front cover of Sky and Telescope (February).[43] See details.
Questar publishes its last advertisement in Sky and Telescope until 1997, breaking a chain of advertisements in that publication that lasted over 39 years (October).[44] See details.
1997
An advertisement appears in Sky and Telescope magazine after a gap lasting nearly four years (April).[45] See details.
1998
Questar indicates a website address for the first time (September).[46] See details.
2003
Questar’s last distinct advertisement series appears (August).[47] See details.
Notes
1 Jim Perkins, email message to author, November 11, 2020.
2 Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, May 1954.
3 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, June 1954, 272-273.
4 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, December 1955, 96-97.
5 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, December 1956, 98; Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, July 1964, 7.
6 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, December 1956, 98.
7 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, March 1957, 249.
8 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, November 1957, 23.
9 Jim Perkins, email message to author, November 12, 2020.
10 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, September 1958, 591.
11 Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, October 1958.
12 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, November 1958, 528.
13 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Scientific American, June 1959, 82.
14 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, February 1960, inside front cover.
15 Lawrence Braymer, “Telescopic Photography” (unpublished manuscript, June 1960), typescript.
16 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, September 1960, 151.
17 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, July 1961, inside front cover.
18 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, June 1962, inside front cover; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, June-July 1962, 3.
19 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Modern Photography, September 1962, 96.
20 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, December 1963, inside front cover.
21 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, March 1964, outside back cover.
22 Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, July 1964.
23 Questar Corporation, price catalog, 1964.
24 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, February 1968, 73; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Scientific American, February 1968, 137.
25 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, February 1968, inside front cover; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, February 1968, 73; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Scientific American, February 1968, 137.
26 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, March 1972, inside front cover.
27 Questar Corporation, Instruments and Accessories catalog, 1972; Questar Corporation, price catalog, 1972.
28 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Scientific American, April 1974, 121.
29 Questar Corporation, Instruments and Accessories catalog, 1972, revised 1974.
30 Questar Corporation, Questar Observations (Spring 1976).
31 Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, 1977.
32 Questar Corporation, “The Unique Questar,” 1978; Questar Corporation, “When You Choose a Questar,” 1978.
33 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Astronomy, September 1979, 3.
34 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, November 1980, 451; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Astronomy, November 1980, 79.
35 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Natural History, July 1981, 74.
36 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, November 1981, 509.
37 Questar Corporation, “The Questar Moon,” 1981.
38 Questar Corporation, Questar booklet, 1983.
39 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Scientific American, February 1991, 141.
40 Questar Corporation, Questar Observations (Spring 1992).
41 Questar Corporation, “Choosing a Telescope,” 1992; Rodger Gordon to the author, September 23, 2020.
42 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, July 1991, inside front cover; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Astronomy, January 1992, 109.
43 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, February 1993, inside front cover.
44 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, October 1993, 50.
45 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, April 1997, 81.
46 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, September 1998, 97.
47 Questar Corporation, advertisement, Sky and Telescope, August 2003, 65; Questar Corporation, advertisement, Astronomy, August 2003, 111.