Collection Development

Actively collect primary and secondary materials related to the people who created and worked with our collection. Primarily focusing on Women Astronomical Computers and other individuals whose work has remained underrepresented in the field of astronomy. This includes members of the local community in countries like Peru and South Africa, where Harvard established foreign observatories. The Harvard Plate Stacks is most interested in materials that fall out of the scope of other Harvard repositories’ collecting policies. 

Selectively collect significant astronomical photographic materials external to the HCO. Passively collect complementary and supplementary materials that tell the broad history of astronomical photography. Actively seek out instruction manuals, catalogs, and pedagogical materials related to using photography for astronomical work. 

Actively collect materials relating to the manufacturing processes, preservation, and other uses of dry plate photography as an interdisciplinary medium, with a particular focus on manufacturing dry plates used in our collection vis-à-vis Speed Ball, Eastman, and Eastman-Kodack. This acquisition priority is closely related to the collecting of Ephemera (see section 2.22). 

Specialized Film refers to the film created by large manufacturers, including Kodak, in collaboration with the Havard College Observatory and Astronomers. We are particularly interested in acquiring and preserving documentation related to the Super Film and Schmidt Telescope program, as well as non-visible spectrum films used by astronomers from the 1970s to 1990s.

The Harvard Plate Stacks aims to continue to document all published materials referencing our collection. This is accomplished through active reference research performed by curatorial staff and external individuals requiring research assistance or sharing their completed work. When possible, the Harvard Plate Stacks aims to ensure that these materials are kept by at least one of Harvard’s repositories, including libraries, archives, and museums. If appropriate, the Plate Stacks will accession materials. The Plate Stacks will continue to publish and expand our bibliographic materials both in ADS, StarGlass, and through other accessible databases and online formats.

The strength of much of the Harvard Plate Stacks collection is often from the conscious and passive collecting of ephemera. The meaning and interpretative potential of these materials often arise from their context within the larger collection. Ephemera is actively sought out to describe our collection’s use and selectively collected to bring forward underrepresented materials with secondary or tertiary value to our collection and its histories. This ranges from the gendered work of women in astronomy and space to the use of glass plate negative photography in scientific research.

The Harvard Plate Stacks seeks to preserve, document, and disseminate the numerous ways that researchers, scholars, and creatives have utilized the Harvard Plate Stacks collections in their work. Many different fellowships, residencies, and research visits allow people to make works that are drawn from our collection. We seek to actively acquire and collect materials around these deeper interactions with the collection. As a part of Harvard University, it is our responsibility to foster intellectual exploration, including through purchasing works and acquiring them for our collection.

The Harvard Plate Stacks selectively collects popularly available diverse materials that document the ongoing legacies and influences of the collection and its related astronomers. We are interested in tracing these effects as interdisciplinary occurrences, including but not limited to literature, toys, performance, art, and holloware.