Annie Jump Cannon
Annie Jump Cannon (December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was a deaf American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of the Harvard Classification Scheme, which was the first serious attempt to organize and classify stars based on their temperatures and spectral types. During her 44-year career, women in science won grudging acceptance, partially due to her exemplary work. She received many “firsts” (first female recipient of an honorary doctorate from Oxford, first elected woman officer of the American Astronomical Society, etc.). In 1911 she was named Curator of Astronomical Photographs at HCO. In 1938, two years before retirement, she finally obtained a regular appointment from Harvard as William C. Bond Astronomer.
To learn more about Cannon, read about her astronomical work at the telescope and spectroscope, and her mentoring of the observatoy staff.
Here are some useful archival, and then non-archival, sources to further research.
Substantive Archival Results
Within Harvard
A search of “Annie Jump Cannon” in Hollis for Archival Discovery, limited to ‘Collections’ (filtering by type of result):
The Papers of Annie Jump Cannon
COLLECTION Identifier: HUGFP 125
“The collection documents both the personal and professional life of Annie Jump Cannon, the first astronomer to systematically classify the stars. It contains diaries, autobiographical writings, correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs, relating to her life and career.”
Relevance and Research note: Includes her Guest Book for the visitors of the HCO and Plate Stacks who came to Tea. Includes diaries and correspondence with and by her mother, Elizabeth Jump Cannon.
Margaret Mayall personal archive
COLLECTION Identifier: HUM 294
“This collection contains 35 black and white photographs, which depict the Harvard College Observatory staff camping in southeastern Maine to watch the total solar eclipse on August 31, 1932. Also includes Mayall’s 1957 G. Bruce Blair Award and a copy of Mayall’s 1970 Manual for Observing Variable Stars, revised edition.”
Relevance Note: Mayall was one of Cannon’s assistants on the Catalogue and first extension, and prepared the second extension for publication following Cannon’s death.
Papers of Dorrit Hoffleit, 1902-2005
COLLECTION Identifier: MC 529
“Papers of Dorrit Hoffleit, astronomer at Harvard and Yale Universities and at the Maria Mitchell Observatory in Nantucket.”
Relevance Note: Listed among the subjects for this collection is “Cannon, Annie Jump, 1863-1941”. The two women overlapped at Harvard for about 14 years.
Records of the Harvard College Observatory Director Edward Charles Pickering
COLLECTION Identifier: UAV 630.14
“Pickering’s records as Observatory Director, consisting chiefly of correspondence, document the research activities and administration of the Harvard College Observatory from 1854 to 1926.
Relevance Note: Present in the search results because Annie Jump Cannon is mentioned in the Historical Note for the Collection. She’s also in Related Archives for her Papers collection. They overlapped at HCO for 14 years.
Papers of Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin, 1924, circa 1950s-1990s, 2000
COLLECTION Identifier: HUGB P182.XX
“Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979), Phillips Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University (1956-1966) was a pioneer in astrophysics and a leading authority on variable stars.”
Relevance Note: Present in search results because Payne-Gaposchkin won the inaugural Annie J Cannon Prize, recognizing women in Astronomy, in 1933. She and Cannon overlapped at HCO for about 17 years. She is mentioned a few times in Payne-Gaposchkin’s autobiography.
Records of Harvard College Observatory Director Harlow Shapley
COLLECTION Identifier: UAV 630.22
The records document Shapley’s tenure as director and primarily consist of his incoming and outgoing correspondence files. The letters, including three volumes of outgoing correspondence, relate to Observatory operations, research, and activities. Also letters to many women scientists and students, many of whom Shapley hired to work at the Observatory.
Relevance Note: Present in search results because Annie Jump Cannon is mentioned in Historical note. However, they overlapped at HCO for about 19 years and several objects in his collection relate to a Memorial for her.
External
Alumnae Class of 1884 - Alumnae: Annie Jump Cannon, 1977-1990
From the Collection: Records of the Class of 1884, dating from 1879 to 2009, consisting of correspondence, clippings, notebooks, photographs, photograph albums, programs, and scrapbooks; concerning class meetings and the social and academic activities of members of the class as undergraduates, and information on reunions, careers and activities of members of the class as alumnae.
Box 1 Folder 8
Two letters - Autographed letters Collection
Cannon, Annie Jump to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lathrop (Mary Emerson Lathrop), 1921 May 21-1941 February 3
Box: 2, Folder: 4
Cannon, Annie Jump to Edith S. Tufts, 1920 November 10
Box: 2, Folder: 5
Photographs of Her, including groups, listed chronologically
Photographic views of the Harvard College Observatory
Group Photograph - 1910
ITEM — Box: 2, Folder: 26 Identifier: HUV 1210
*Also present/notable in photograph - Williamina Fleming, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Margaret Harwood, Florence Cushman, Mollie O’Reilly, Sarah F. Whiting Solon Bailey, E.C. Pickering, Edward Skinner King.
1913, Standing with Henrietta Swan Leavitt
1916, Meeting of the AAVSO
*Also notable in photograph: Ida Wood, Leon Campbell, and E.C. Pickering.
1925 Group Photo, Women Astronomical Computers
*Also present in photograph: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Leon Campbell, Donald Menzel, Fred Whipple
Wellesley University - JSTOR
Cannon, while at school, looking at Telescope
Cannon, while at school, in Sarah F. Whiting’s physics class -
Cannon, while at school, Portrait
The Portrait (oval)
AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers)
Group Photographs which include Cannon.
Phaedra Notebooks at Wolbach Collection
Harvard College Observatory observations, logs, instrument readings, and calculations
Annie Jump Cannon Notebooks, 1896-1940.
SUB-SERIES Identifier: KG11365-6
Cannon’s scientific logbooks can be viewed as part of project PHaEDRA.
The Annie Jump Cannon Prize in Astronomy
For more on the Annie Jump Cannon Prize in Astronomy, and a list of all previous recipients.
Secondary Sources
The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and other Recollections - Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Ed. Katharine Haramundanis
Miss Leavitt’s Stars by George Johnson:
Women in the history of variable star astronomy. - Essay by E. Dorrit Hoffleit
Pg. 3
This essay discusses several notable women, including Cannon, in the field of variable star observing. It was written in 1993 by Dorrit Hoffleit for the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).
The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839 to 1927 : An Outline of the Origin, Development, and Researches of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College Together with Brief Biographies of Its Leading Members - Solon I. Bailey 1931
Full text avaible on NASA/ADS.
Bibliographic and Encyclopedic sources
Smithsonian Learning Lab: Biographical Digital Resources
Galactic Gazette, Wolbach Library
National Women’s History Museum
Tragedy And Illness Brought Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon Back To The Stars - Forbes
Popular Media and Commemoration,
Children's Book - Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer by Carole Gerber- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annie_Jump_Cannon_Astronomer/Z45v7R...
Moon Crater named in her honor.
Her likeness on a 1$ Coin.
COSMOS Episode, and Wonder Women of History Article.
An Exhibit at the Harvard University Archives, 1978:
Highlights of an Exhibit to Honor Annie Jump Cannon
Written by Welther, B. L.
Published in The Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers,vol. 7, no. 2, p. 85-87
She published a book of prose and pictures after her trip to Spain in 1893. It was used as promotional material for the camera, the Blair Kamaret, at the 1893 World's Fair.
In the Footsteps of Columbus by Annie J. Cannon.
Pub. 1893