#  Special Collections 

 



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 ![Glass plate photograph of the Small Magellanic Cloud on lightbox](/sites/g/files/omnuum2761/files/wolbachlibrary/files/_c4a8766.jpg)

 

Plate A8766 showing the Small Magellanic CloudThe Harvard Plate Stacks Special Collections include both archival materials and other specially curated content. Please see our [Collections Access Policy](/collection-access "Collection Access") for comprehensive information about accessing archival materials.



 



###    Archival Collections  expand\_more  

 

### [Harvard College Observatory Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection](/our-collection "Our Collection")

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.

### [The PHaEDRA Collection](/project-phaedra "PHaEDRA")

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.

### [Williamina Fleming Collection](https://platestacks.cfa.harvard.edu/plate-stacks/williamina-fleming-collection)

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](https://library.harvard.edu/collections/daguerreotypes-harvard).

### 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.



 

 

 



###    Other Special Collections  expand\_more  

 

### Curated Bibliographies

- [CfA Historical Bibliography](https://docs.google.com/a/cfa.harvard.edu/spreadsheets/d/1gMWssji0TpftOrZe781-1sczvW47eBvLw2o9c8-Ohr8/edit#gid=0): A collection of highlighted resources about the CfA's history
- [Women in Astronomy Bibliography](/women-in-astronomy-book-collection "Women in Astronomy Book Collection"): A collection of works by and about women in astronomy

### [Historical Literature - A Collaboration with the ADS ](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/help/legacy/#historical-literature)

Publications scanned from high-resolution 35mm film and made available via a simple page-turning interface.

### [CfA Newsletters](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1311889)

A digitized and searchable online collection of CfA Newsletters, also accessible through the CfA Intranet. SAO NEWS (1961-1973), CenterLine (1974-1981), CfA Almanac (1982-2000).

### [Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard (DASCH)](/dasch "Digital Access to a Sky Century at Harvard ")

An on-going effort to digitize the majority of the Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection's 550,000 glass plate negatives and to produce full photometry results for the entire sky.