PHaEDRA is an initiative by the Wolbach Library, in collaboration with many partners, to catalog, digitize, transcribe, and enrich the metadata of over 2500 logbooks and notebooks produced by Women Astronomical Computers and other early astronomers at the Harvard College Observatory. Our goal is to ensure that this remarkable set of items, created by a remarkable group of people, is as accessible and useful as possible.
PHaEDRA
PHaEDRA Full-Text
We are working with the Smithsonian Transcription Center’s Digital Volunteers program to crowdsource transcriptions of the PHaEDRA notebooks. Helping us transcribe the notebooks makes them full-text searchable on the NASA Astrophysics Data System.
Click here to start transcribing notebooks!
Star Notes
We are now using the Zooniverse to find astronomical sketches, graphs, and other non-textual items. Phase 1 (identifying plate numbers) of our project on the Zooniverse concluded in August 2022, and will be used to build a bridge to the original source material: over 500,000 glass plates!
Click here to start finding sketches and other figures on the Zooniverse!
Project Partners
Project PHaEDRA has been made possible through a cross-institutional collaboration led by the Wolbach Library. Our digitization workflow relies on our astounding project partners at the Astrophysics Data System, Harvard Library Imaging Services, and the Weissman Preservation Center. PHaEDRA also wouldn't be possible digital volunteers at the Smithsonian Transcription Center and on the Zooniverse. Thank you!
