Lillian L. Hodgdon, (February, 1870- 1939) worked as one of the Women Astronomical Computers at the Harvard College Observatory from 1889 to 1939, a time span of approximately 50 years.
While at the Observatory, Hodgdon performed several jobs. She was appointed assistant to the curator of the photographic plate library.1 She replaced the paper sleeves of the plates when they became tattered or damaged, including rewriting the crucial astronomical information and notes, and she did mathematical calculations in support of astronomical observations.2 She, along with Margaret Harwood, Marion Michaelis, Katharine Searle, and Louisa Winlock, assisted Arthur Searle in the revision of the Southern Durchmusterung (a star catalog out of Germany).3 In addition, she was involved in a calculations capacity with the Meridian Circle projects.4 Hodgdon is present in some of the most famous photographs of the Women Astronomical Computers.
Lillian Hodgdon was born Lydia Lillian Hodgdon, in February of 1870, in Somerville, MA, to Alexander and Lydia B. Hodgdon (neé Sawyer), both of Maine.5 She had two older brothers, and one older sister. On the 1870 Federal Census her father’s profession is listed as “Ship Chandler” and later he was referred to as a “Sea Captain”.6 Her mother passed away in 1883.7 She came to work at the Observatory in 1889, at the age of about 18 or 19, the same year her father passed away in hospital.8 Hodgdon continued to live in Somerville until 1890, afterwards moving to Cambridge.9 She passed away in 1939, and is interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery with her sister and family.10
Written by Samantha Notick, May 2023
Lillian Hodgdon referred to her profession in multiple ways. On city directories between 1890 and 1937, she used “Assistant” or a variation of. On the 1900 Federal Census she uses “Mathematician”. On the 1920 Census, ”Computer” at “Observatory Harvard College”, and on the 1930 Census, “Research worker” at “College Observatory”.
For questions on any particular Women Astronomical Computer’s titles please consult their bio page. If no terminology information is listed, feel free to email us!
Citations:
1-Dava Sobel, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took Measure of the Stars (New York: Viking, 2016). 244.↩2-Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections, ed. Katherine Haramundanis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 141.↩
3-Solon I. Bailey, The History and Work of Harvard Observatory, 1839-1927. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1931), 111-112.↩
4-The Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College: Second Thousand. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1904.↩
5-1870 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2022.↩
6-Ibid. : Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Accessed via Ancestrylibrary.com, May 22, 2023.↩
7-Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988. Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts.Accessed via Ancestrylibrary.↩
8-Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915. Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Accessed via Ancestrylibrary.com, May 22, 2023.↩
9-"U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995;" Cambridge, Massachusetts. Digital images. Accessed via Ancestrylibrary.com, May, 2023↩
10-U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current. Find a Grave. Accessed via Ancestrylibrary.com, Accessed May 22, 2023.↩
