Helen J. Popkavich worked at the Harvard College Observatory from approximately 1931-1933.¹

Popkavich served as the assistant for Leon Campbell, the first recording secretary of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), which at that time was housed at the HCO. While she did not have a formal background in astronomy, she helped Cambell with his weekly lectures to school children and gave one of the lectures herself.¹

After leaving the observatory, Popkavich became the feature writer for the women’s column of the Boston Post newspaper.³ She later became the assistant press secretary in the executive department of the State House in Boston.⁴

Popkavich graduated from Radcliffe College.⁵

Written by Elizabeth Coquillette, 2022

Citations:

^{1-Lindsay Smith Zrull, “Women in Glass: Women at the Harvard Observatory during the Era of Astronomical Glass Plate Photography, 1875-1975,” Journal of the History of Astronomy, vol. 52, no. 2 (2021), p. 135.↩
2- Dorrit Hoffleit, “Four Helens,” in “70th Anniversary of the AAVSO,” Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, vol. 10 (1981), p. 103-104. Bibcode: 1981JAVSO..10…98M↩
3- Ibid.↩
4- “Letter from Helen Popkavich, Assistant Press Secretary, Executive Department, State House, Boston MA,” June 22, 1960. Found in Helen Keller archive: https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-03-B051-F30-069 ↩
5- Hoffleit, “Four Helens.”↩}