All the Names — The Glass Universe

05.26.2021 Lindsay Smith Zrull serves as the current Curator of Astronomical Photographs at the Harvard College Observatory, a title originally created in 1899 for Williamina Fleming, and long held by Annie Jump Cannon. Lindsay’s daily activities differ from theirs, but she still bears responsibility for valuing and organizing the several hundred thousand glass plates to keep the collection accessible to astronomers. She plays a major role in the ongoing project to digitize the plates for desktop reference, and also in selecting and preserving plates of particular historical importance, often because of handwritten annotations in colored ink by the likes of Henrietta Swan Leavitt. As the public face of the plate stacks, Lindsay is the person who allows visitors a look through a loupe at galaxies captured in photo emulsion on glass a century ago.

Recently Lindsay published her first peer-reviewed article in the Journal for the History of Astronomy [2021, Vol. 52(2) 115–146] called “Women in Glass: Women at the Harvard Observatory during the Era of Astronomical Plate Photography, 1875-1975.” It describes, as promised in the title, the efforts of the many women who worked at the Observatory between those dates, mostly in Cambridge, but also at the satellite stations in Arequipa, Peru, and Bloemfontein, South Africa. At the end of the article, Lindsay lists all their names, arranged in alphabetical order – by first name. The choice is justified by the fact that three of the Peruvian helpers appeared in Arequipa records by first name alone. The majority of entries on Lindsay’s long (six pages) list do include a last name, along with a description of duties and, where known, the dates of affiliation.

As I read down the columns, my initial surprise at discovering the first-name order changed to a sense of “Look how many there were!” and yet, sadly, “How briefly most of them held their places.” Here’s a taste of the list’s unique flavor:

Adelaide Ames 1923–1932 Pickering Fellow, Student, Computer/Researcher

Adele (Del) Crowne c.1960–c.1968 Plate Librarian

Agnes M. Hoovens 1925–1926 Pickering Fellow

Alena Kopal c.1939–c.1952 Researcher, Computer/Assistant (possibly Volunteer)

Alice H. Campbell 1911 Unknown (was employed by Harvard [as opposed to the Harvard Observatory])

Alice Marguerite Risley 1937–1942 Student

Alice Swain Carlston c.1943–c.1945 Computer/Assistant

Alide (Piiri) Öpik 1933–1934 Computer/Assistant (possibly only at the Estonian Computing Bureau)

Allison C. Rogers 1915–1916 Unknown (was employed by Harvard)

Alta M. Carpenter 1906–1920 Computer/Assistant

Amy J. McKay 1891–1906 Computer/Assistant

Ann B. Hearn c.1941–c.1955 Computer/Assistant