The Wolbach Library administers HCO's Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection located at the Observatory Plate Stacks. The Plate Stacks store over 550,000 direct photo and spectral images, covering both the northern and southern hemispheres. The Glass Plates make up over a century of irreplaceable scientific observations and represent the first full image of the visible Universe.
PHaEDRA stands for "Preserving Harvard's Early Data and Research in Astronomy." The PHaEDRA collection is composed of over 2,500 notebooks produced by Harvard's Women Computers and other astronomers from the early 19th and 20th centuries. These notebooks represent the evolution of observation methods and astronomy as a science.
The ink annotations in these glass plates demonstrate the many different types of scientific work and labor performed by women in the Plate Stacks from the late 19th through the early 20th century. They also represent the work of specific women astronomers who have now been recognized for their extensive contributions to our fundamental understanding of how the Universe works.
Daguerreotypes
The Harvard College Observatory experimented in early photographic techniques used for studying the sky. Wolbach's dagguerreotypes include the earliest extant images of the moon among other gems. You can learn more about Harvard's Daguerreotype collections here.
Eclipse Expedition Plates
The Harvard College Observatory participated in several eclipse expeditions in the 1800s and early 1900s. Many staff members used these opportunities to experiment with eclipse photography. The Glass Plate Collection is home to several sets of photographic glass plates featuring views of totality, Baily’s beads, and diamond ring effects. Many of these photographs were taken in Shelbyville, Kentucky (1869); Willows, California (1889); Japan (1887); Chile (1893); and Washington, Georgia (1900).
Skylab Film Reels
Digitized film-captured data made onboard the Skylab Space Station.
