The Matter of the Sky: Glass Plate Photography and Colonial Data in the quest for Andromeda; Carnegie Observatories, Mt Wilson Observatory, Huntington Library, Harvard Plate Library
Outer Space
Andromeda
Research
Archives
Outer Space
Andromeda
Research
Archives
RKE Research Costs Award
£1000, Feburary 2025
Reserach Trip: The Matter of the Sky: Glass Plate Photography and Colonial Data in the quest for Andromeda
Los Angeles and Boston, 27 March - 5 April 2025
Funding to visit Carnegie Observatories, Mt Wilson Observatory, Huntington Library, Harvard Plate Library
This reserach award is for travel to conduct archival research at four sites in the USA central to my ongoing research project ‘Andromeda’ – and specifically around the data stream of glass plate photography from around the US and the world (Peru, then South Africa) for star classification at the Harvard Observatory by women like Henrietta Leavitt, and then using that data, the discovery of the Andromeda galaxy by Edwin Hubble at the Mount Wilson Observatory. First, I am seeking
to visit the Carnegie Science Archives in Pasadena, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, and the Mount Wilson Observatories.
Working with resident Archivist Kit Whitten at Carnegie Science, we have mapped out a plan to access the glass plate photographic archive and papers at Carnegie Science, the Hubble Papers at the Huntington, and access to the Mount Wilson Observatories historic premises between 27 March and 2 April. Mount Wilson is where the glass
plate photograph collection concerning Andromeda (galaxy M-31) are held. Next, I’ll travel to the Harvard College Observatory to work with Thomas Burns, Curator of the Astronomical Plat Collection. There I’ll explore more plate photography, and working archivally with the papers and correspondence of Edward James Pickering (director of the HCO between 1877-1919) whose leadership led to the development of the Boyden Station in Arequipa Peru (named after philanthropist Uriah A. Boyden who bequeathed a $238,000USD donation to the HCO on his
death in 1879).
£1000, Feburary 2025
Reserach Trip: The Matter of the Sky: Glass Plate Photography and Colonial Data in the quest for Andromeda
Los Angeles and Boston, 27 March - 5 April 2025
Funding to visit Carnegie Observatories, Mt Wilson Observatory, Huntington Library, Harvard Plate Library
This reserach award is for travel to conduct archival research at four sites in the USA central to my ongoing research project ‘Andromeda’ – and specifically around the data stream of glass plate photography from around the US and the world (Peru, then South Africa) for star classification at the Harvard Observatory by women like Henrietta Leavitt, and then using that data, the discovery of the Andromeda galaxy by Edwin Hubble at the Mount Wilson Observatory. First, I am seeking
to visit the Carnegie Science Archives in Pasadena, the Huntington Library in Pasadena, and the Mount Wilson Observatories.
Working with resident Archivist Kit Whitten at Carnegie Science, we have mapped out a plan to access the glass plate photographic archive and papers at Carnegie Science, the Hubble Papers at the Huntington, and access to the Mount Wilson Observatories historic premises between 27 March and 2 April. Mount Wilson is where the glass
plate photograph collection concerning Andromeda (galaxy M-31) are held. Next, I’ll travel to the Harvard College Observatory to work with Thomas Burns, Curator of the Astronomical Plat Collection. There I’ll explore more plate photography, and working archivally with the papers and correspondence of Edward James Pickering (director of the HCO between 1877-1919) whose leadership led to the development of the Boyden Station in Arequipa Peru (named after philanthropist Uriah A. Boyden who bequeathed a $238,000USD donation to the HCO on his
death in 1879).
Postcard images of Mt. Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, USA.