Harvard Plate Stacks FAQ
The term "Plate Stacks" is both historical and still used. Depending on the time period and context, the term can refer to the department, including the staff who have cared for and studied the collection, most notably the Women Astronomical Computers. It can also refer to the current and historical physical storage locations of the collection. The collection, as well as the department, has been referred to as the Plate Stacks for much of its history, along with other terms. Currently, we use the term Harvard Plate Stacks to refer to the department, staff, and the entirety of the collection. Other terms, like "the Harvard College Observatory's Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection," the "Henry Draper Memorial Collection", and other terms are still in use; they often refer to specific subsets of the collection, while the term Harvard Plate Stacks is the broadest and most overarching term.
Since its opening in 1931, the collection has been stored in the purpose-built Plate Stacks in Observatory Building D at 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA. Previously, what is now known as Observatory Building C, was created to house and store the collection when it was designed in 1892 and first called the Astrophotography Museum or the Astro Photographic Museum. This building was also expanded to increase storage and expand the plate stacks in 1902. All three of these building campaigns were funded by Anna Palmer Draper, whose legacy continues to shape the home of the CfA and care for the Harvard Plate Stacks. Finally, in various parts of the original 1844 Harvard College Observatory building, plates were stored from the beginning of glass-plate photography. Various segments of the collection were also known to have been stored in rooms among the old Observatory building until the mid-20th century. In its current iteration, the Plate Stacks collection is stored across three floors in cabinets designed to hold the 165 tons of glass, and even with seismic isolation.
Our online database StarGlass provides access to image files of over 400,000 glass plate negatives. This includes images of the plates, jackets, as well as FITS files for scientific use. By creating an account and signing into StarGlass, anyone can have access to the largest resolution files in the database, individually or through an API. StarGlass also lists and displays individual pages of notebooks used by Women Astronomical Computers and others that are a part of Project PHaEDRA. Full scans of Project PHaEDRA materials, along with transcriptions, are available on the platforms listed on our Project PHaEDRA page.
We are constantly imaging and digitizing our collection and may have files that are not yet accessible through our various databases. This is particularly relevant for objects in the Williamina Fleming Collection. Feel free to email us if you cannot find an image online or are hoping for a different file format or resolution. We might have existing files or can make new ones to fit your needs.
The Harvard Plate Stacks follows the Harvard Library Policy on Access to Digital Reproductions of Works in the Public Domain. In line with that policy, we provide free use of openly available digital reproductions of items in the Harvard Plate Stacks collection when the underlying works are in the public domain. Since we provide this open access, we do not charge permission or usage fees for such reproductions, and we do not issue licenses or grant or deny permission to publish, reproduce, or otherwise distribute them. For undigitized materials and new photography, there may be a cost to related to imaging the object for the first time.
As a matter of good scholarly practice, we kindly request that you include an appropriate credit line to the Harvard Plate Stacks when you use our images, but no additional permission from us is required. Visit our recommended citation and credit guide is available on our website.
The Harvard Plate Stacks keeps various bibliographies and records related to the use and discussion of our materials and histories. You are more than welcome to share any forthcoming publications or uses with us by contacting us.
We offer regularly scheduled tours of the collection as well as individualized tours when possible. Go to the Visiting the Plate Stacks page to learn more about our schedule and tours.
The Harvard Plate Stacks are open to researchers by appointment. Consult our Visiting the Plate Stacks page to learn more.
More information is available through our continuously updated list of Women Astronomical Computers. You can also contact us for research support.
Wolbach Library closed permanently on March 22, 2024. The library services have been absorbed by the larger Harvard Library system. For most circulating materials, they now appear in HOLLIS once again. To ask about any other library resources, contact Harvard's Cabot Science Library.
Materials central to the Harvard Plate Stacks's history and mission, such as the collection of historic Astronomical Photographs at Harvard, have been retained or returned under the preview of the Plate Stacks. This includes the Project PHaEDRA Collection, the Williamina Fleming Collection, the Harvard College Observatory's Daguerreotype Collection, the Eclipse Expedition Plates Collection, and Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH).
Other materials might be inaccessible temporarily during this transition. Items that are accessible will be viewable in HOLLIS as being held in their new repository. Please contact asklib@fas.harvard.edu for help in locating any items listed as "John G. Wolbach Library: Temporarily unavailable" to find out if or when the materials will be available.