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Professional Self-Identification by the Women Astronomical Computers

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By Samantha Notick Every ten years when the census comes around, we have to figure out how to define what it is we do. For some, it’s as simple as one word: Nurse, Fisherman, Firefighter. For others, a one-to-three word summary can be quite challenging...

PHaEDRA Office Hour - Women Astronomical Computers

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Our September Office Hour will feature staff from the Plate Stacks here at the CfA, Samantha Notick and Elizabeth Coquillette, who will speak about the research they have been compiling on all of the women astronomical computers that have worked at the...

Terminology Recommendations: For Researchers, Journalists, and other Storytellers Writing About the Women Astronomical Computers

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Executive Summary This document provides guidance on how to accurately and fully describe the women who did astronomical research at the Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We recommend language that accounts for the...

Women at the Harvard College Observatory

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Williamina Fleming shown standing right of center. Harvard University Archives Harvard College Observatory began hiring women assistants as early as 1875, though women like Eliza Quincy volunteered their time even before that date. Some of the earliest...

The Williamina Fleming Collection of Astronomical Glass Plate Photographs

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Summary Information Repository: The John. G. Wolbach Library Identifier: HCO-FLEM Creator: Harvard College Observatory Title: The Williamina Fleming Collection of Astronomical Glass Plate Photographs Date: 1886-1973 Language: English Overview: The...

Women in Astronomy Bibliographies

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In support of women’s history research, Wolbach Library’s Curator of Women’s History created a bibliography covering major secondary and scholarly works written about women in astronomy, as well as a bibliography listing memoirs written by women in...

Her Luminous Distance

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The Harvard Plate Stacks is presenting a special exhibition, Her Luminous Distance: The Legacies of Women Astronomical Computers at Harvard, in the rotunda and dome of the Great Refractor at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Free and...

Further Reading

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Books: Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Observatory, 1856-1954. (Available in the Wolbach Library and digitized on archive.org). Bailey, Solon. The History and Work of Harvard Observatory 1839-1927...

Guides and Resources

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Women Astronomical Computers Find out more about Harvard's Women Computers and other early astronomers at the Harvard College Observatory.

Anna Winlock

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Anna Winlock (1857-1904) was the one of the first paid female staff member of the Harvard College Observatory, and she worked at the Observatory for 28 years from 1875-1903. She is best known for her extensive computation work with meridian circle...

Edith Frances Gill

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Edith Frances Gill (August 20th, 1871-September 28, 1928) worked as one of the Women Astronomical Computers at the Harvard College Observatory from 1889 until 1927. While working at the Observatory, Gill was one of the assistants to Annie Jump Cannon’s...

Glass Plate Collection News and Publications

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News and Press The following is a list of content highlighting the Collection and it's associated projects: " Williamina Fleming" PBS series Unladylike2020: Unsung Women Who Changed America, Aired May 6, 2020. Williamina Fleming, an astronomer who began...