Lewis Swift discovered NGC 5969 = Sw. II-37, along with NGC 5971, on 5 Aug 1885 and logged "eS; R; stellar." His position is accurate.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/22/93): very faint, very small, round, 0.3' diameter, very small slightly brighter core, small very faint halo. Located 9' NE of mag 8.2 SAO 29575. In a group with NGC 5971 6' ENE, NGC 5963 14' NW and NGC 5965 16' NNW.

600/800mm - 24" (7/8/13): at 375x appeared fairly faint, small, slightly elongated 4:3 ~N-S, 20"x15", very small bright nucleus. NGC 5971 lies 6.4' ENE. Also in a low power field are bright galaxies NGC 5963 and NGC 5965.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb