Harvard College Observatory.
Harvard College Observatory plate collection, 1885-1989.
The world's largest collection of astronomical plates, and the only plate collection that provides complete coverage of both northern and southern hemispheres. These glass plate negatives capture the sky from 1885-1989 from telescopes in Massachusetts, Peru, South Africa, and New Zealand, and represent 25% of the total of astronomical plates in the world. This unique record of astronomical change over a long time scale provides a rich background for discovery. Among the contributions are Annie Cannon's 225,000 stellar spectral classifications which form the Henry Draper Catalog, Henrietta Leavitt's Cepheid Period-Luminosity Correlation, Harlow Shapley's distance measurements, and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin's PhD thesis on stellar composition and temperatures.
The Astronomical Observatory was established in 1839, and is now known as the Harvard College Observatory. The Massachusetts stations are in Cambridge and the George R. Agassiz Station (Oak Ridge) in Harvard, Mass. The Boyden Station of the Observatory was originally located in Arequipa, Peru until 1927 when it was transferred near Bloemfontien in the Orange Free State, South Africa. This station closed about 1966.
Astronomical observations -- 19th century.
Astronomical observations -- 20th century.
Photographic plates. aat
Cannon, Annie Jump, 1863-1941
Leavitt, Henrietta Swan, 1868-1921
Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia, 1900-1979-
Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972.
AIP-ICOS
Harvard College Observatory. 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.