John Herschel discovered NGC 1956 = h2874 on 22 Jan 1836 and recorded "eF, S, R, gbM, 15"." On a second sweep he noted "eF, little elongated, 40 arcseconds, has a coarse double star n.f., 6' distant." His mean position (2 sweeps) is accurate. DeLisle Stewart described this galaxy as a "vF, hazy * inv in nebula" (Harvard College Observatory correction list).

600/800mm - 24" (4/4/08 - Magellan Observatory, Australia): excellent, fairly large edge-on at 200x, ~2.0'x0.6'. Sharply concentrated with a small, round bright core and much fainter extensions WSW-ENE. A faint star is just beyond the SW tip. This galaxy has an absorbtion lane (dust) along the north side, although this feature was not noted.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb