Antonia Maury collection of publications and astronomical photographs
Overview
Three offprints by American astronomer Antonia Maury with three glass-plate astronomical photographs owned by her.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1889-1933
Condition Description
In excellent condition.
Conditions Governing Access
Restricted: fragile; consult curatorial staff (astronomical photographs).
A portion of this collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff for retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.1 linear feet (4 boxes)Maury's bound copies of three of her offprints, Spectra of Bright Stars, The Orbit of the Spectroscopic Binary Centauri, and The Spectral Changes of Beta Lyrae, bound by The Atelier Bindery for Charles Scribner's in half blue morocco lettered in gilt. With three glass-plate astronomical photographs, one depicting the binary star, Beta Aurigae, discovered by Maury. Also with a letter dated November 1933 from Maury's sister Carlotta, suggesting that the binding of the offprints serve as her Christmas present.
Biographical / Historical
Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury (March 21, 1866 – January 8, 1952) was an American astronomer who was the first to detect and calculate the orbit of a spectroscopic binary. She published an early catalog of stellar spectra using her own system of stellar classification which was later adopted by the International Astronomical Union. She also spent many years studying the binary star Beta Lyrae. Maury was part of the Harvard Computers, a group of female astronomers and human computers at the Harvard College Observatory, and she was the first woman astronomer to be published by the Harvard College Observatory.
Arrangement
Arranged as received.
Custodial History
The offprints and photographs were given to Maury by her paleontologist sister, Dr. Carlotta Maury.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2024M-34. Purchased from The Second Shelf with the Will Andrewes Book Fund, Horblit Fund for Photography, and Margaret F. Cowett Book Fund, 2023 November 10.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2023)
Source
- Maury, Carlotta Joaquina, 1874-1938 (Person)
Subject
- Harvard College Observatory (Organization)
- Title
- Maury, Antonia C., 1866-1952. Antonia Maury collection of publications and astronomical photographs, circa 1889-1933 (MS Am 3465): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2023 December 6
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03624
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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