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Harvard College Observatory

 Organization

Found in 13 Collections and/or Records:

Papers of Annie Jump Cannon

Collection Identifier: HUGFP 125
Overview:

The collection documents both the personal and professional life of Annie Jump Cannon, the first astronomer to systematically classify the stars.  It contains diaries, autobiographical writings, correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs, relating to her life and career.

Papers of Leo Goldberg, 1933-1987

Collection Identifier: HUGFP 83
Overview:

Leo Goldberg (1913-1987) was an American astronomer with appointments to the University of Michigan, Harvard, the United States National Observatory at Kitt Peak, and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Materials document Goldberg's career, chiefly post-1960.

Harvard College Observatory Blueprints from Oak Ridge Observatory

Collection Identifier: hsi-00002
Overview:

The Harvard College Observatory was founded in 1839 in Cambridge, MA. During the 20th century research expanded with observatories in New Mexico, Peru, and South Africa using telescopes ranging from 1” to 61” in diameter. This collection contains technical drawings collected at Oak Ridge Observatory relating to many of the observatory buildings and telescopes.

Harvard College Observatory observations, logs, instrument readings, and calculations

Collection Identifier: KG11365-6
Scope and Contents: This collection contains over 2500 logbooks and notebooks produced by the Harvard Computers and early Harvard astronomers, many of which feature datasets and processing observations relating to the HCO’s collection of astronomical glass plate photographs. The Harvard Computers were a team of women who worked for the Harvard College Observatory under the supervision of Director Edward Charles Pickering (1877-1919). Notable women include: Annie Jump Cannon, Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury,...

Records of Harvard College Observatory Director Joseph Winlock

Collection Identifier: UAV 630.10
Overview: Joseph Winlock (1826-1875) was an astronomer and mathematician who served as the third director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1866 until his death on June 11, 1875. The records document Joseph Winlock's tenure as director, and primarily consist of Winlock's incoming and outgoing correspondence files. The letters relate to Observatory publications, relationships with other scientific institutions, and discussions of astronomical and meteorological information. The records also...

Records of the Harvard College Observatory Chronometric Expedition

Collection Identifier: UAV 630.349
Overview: In the mid-nineteenth century, the Chronometric Expedition was carried out by the Harvard College Observatory, under the direction of William Cranch Bond and in conjunction with the United States Coast Survey. The expedition used chronometers that were made by William Bond & Son, the Bond family's private business, to determine differences of longitude between the observatories in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Liverpool, England. The records primarily consist of notebooks, data sheets,...

Records of Harvard College Observatory Director George Phillips Bond

Collection Identifier: UAV 630.6
Overview: The Records of Harvard College Observatory Director George Phillips Bond, consisting of correspondence and subject files, manuscript drafts, and astronomical data, chiefly document the research activities of the Harvard College Observatory from 1859 to 1865. Chronicled are observations of planets, including Mars and Jupiter; efforts to determine the brightness of stars; and the detection of comets, eclipses, and other astronomical phenomena. George Phillips Bond (1825-1865), an astronomer,...

Records of Harvard College Observatory Director William Cranch Bond

Collection Identifier: UAV 630.2
Overview: The Records of Harvard College Observatory Director William Cranch Bond document the founding, growth, and scientific research of the Harvard College Observatory primarily from 1840 to 1859. Also chronicled is the Observatory’s participation in advances made in astronomy, stellar photography, meteorology, continental exploration, and technological improvements in astronomical instruments in the early nineteenth century. William Cranch Bond (1789-1859), American astronomer and instrument...

Records of the Harvard College Observatory Time Service

Sub-Fonds Identifier: UAV 630.377
Overview: In 1872, under Director Joseph Winlock, the Harvard College Observatory established the world’s first public time service, which it provided as a commercial service until 1892. The Observatory sold its time service to railroads and businesses by sending hourly signals over Boston’s fire alarm system and distributing time across the region via Western Union telegraph lines; this work eventually resulted in the establishment of the country's first time zone. The Records of the Harvard College...

Margaret Mayall personal archive

Collection Identifier: HUM 294
Overview: Margaret Walton Mayall (1902-1995) was an American astronomer. After receiving her MA from Radcliffe College in 1928, she began working at the Harvard College Observatory. This collection contains 35 black and white photographs, which depict the Harvard College Observatory staff camping in southeastern Maine to watch the total solar eclipse on August 31, 1932. Also includes Mayall’s 1957 G. Bruce Blair Award and a copy of Mayall’s 1970 Manual for Observing Variable...

Papers of Donald Howard Menzel, 1931-1986

Collection Identifier: HUG 4567
Overview: Donald Howard Menzel (1901-1976) taught astronomy at Harvard, and was director of the Harvard College Observatory from 1952 to 1966. According to the National Academy of Sciences' Biographical Memoir, "Menzel was one of the first practitioners of theoretical astrophysics in the United States and pioneered the application of quantum mechanics to astronomical spectroscopy." These papers chiefly document Menzel's professional life of research, writing, and participation in professional...

Papers of Dorrit Hoffleit, 1906-2005

Collection Identifier: MC 529
Overview:

Papers of Dorrit Hoffleit, astronomer at Harvard and Yale Universities and at the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket.

Photographs of Boyden Station in South Africa

Collection Identifier: HUY 178
Overview: Boyden Station was established by Harvard University in 1889 to allow for observations from the Southern Hemisphere. The observatory was originally located in Arequipa, Peru, but was relocated to a spot near Bloemfontien in the Orange Free State, South Africa in 1927 due to better weather. The collection includes 182 photographs, which probably date from the 1930s to 1950s. The images depict Boyden Station, as well as its surrounding areas, including employees, equipment, and local South...

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Subject
Astronomy -- Research. 6
Astronomers -- United States. 5
Astronomy. 5
Harvard University -- Astronomy 5
Telescopes. 5
∨ more
Astronomy -- 19th century. 4
Correspondence. 4
Longitude -- Measurement -- History. 4
Photographs 4
Time measurements. 4
Astronomical observatories -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge. 3
Astronomy -- History. 3
Chronometers. 3
Diaries 3
Financial records. 3
Solar eclipses -- Observations. 3
Amateur astronomy. 2
Astronomical clocks -- United States. 2
Astronomical instruments -- Design and construction. 2
Astronomical photography. 2
Astronomical photometry. 2
Astronomy -- Observations. 2
Boyden Station (Bloemfontein, South Africa) 2
Chronograph. 2
Manuscripts (documents) 2
Observatories. 2
Occultations. 2
Photoprints. 2
Scientific apparatus and instruments. 2
Stars -- Clusters. 2
Surveying -- Geodetic. 2
Variable stars. 2
Women astronomers--United States 2
Women in astronomy -- History. 2
Aberdeen Proving Ground (Md.) 1
Account books. 1
Aging--United States 1
Albums. 1
American Association of Variable Star Observers. 1
Annual reports. 1
Asteroids--Orbits. 1
Asteroids. 1
Astrometry 1
Astronomers 1
Astronomers -- Archives. 1
Astronomers. 1
Astronomical observatories -- South Africa. 1
Astronomy 1
Astronomy -- Societies, etc. 1
Astronomy -- Study and teaching. 1
Astrophysics. 1
Auroras--Spectra. 1
Auroras. 1
Autobiographies 1
Autobiographies. 1
Black-and-white photographs 1
Black-and-white photographs. 1
Comets--Orbits. 1
Comets. 1
Contracts. 1
Cryptography. 1
Diplomas. 1
Donati comet. 1
Drawings 1
Eclipses, Solar -- 1973. 1
Emigration and immigration 1
Geodesy -- Observations 1
Geodesy. 1
Glass plate negatives 1
Harvard College Observatory (Cambridge, MA) 1
Harvard College Observatory -- Photographs. 1
Harvard University -- Finance. 1
Harvard University -- Women. 1
Horology. 1
Immigrants' writings, German 1
Lantern slides. 1
Lecture notes 1
Letterpress copybooks. 1
Letters (correspondence) 1
Letters. 1
Magnetic fields -- Measurement 1
Magnetic fields. 1
Magnetism. 1
Maine. 1
Manuscripts for publication 1
Maps 1
Medals 1
Memoirs 1
Meteorology 1
Meteorology -- Observations 1
Meteorology. 1
Meteors -- Orbits 1
Meteors. 1
Mothers and daughters--United States 1
Motion pictures. 1
Nantucket (Mass.) 1
Nebulae. 1
Negatives. 1
Obituaries 1
Older women--United States 1
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