Records of the Harvard College Observatory: records kept by Administrative Officer Robert G. Reed
Overview
The records in this series, kept by Harvard College Observatory Administrative Officer Robert G. Reed, including correspondence, memoranda, agreements, and reports, document the management and research program of the Harvard College Observatory, chiefly from 1966 to 1982. The records highlight the financial challenges of maintaining an astronomy program at Harvard, the astronomical work conducted at the Harvard Radio Astronomy Station at Fort Davis, Texas, Boyden Station in South Africa, and the George Agassiz Station in Harvard, Massachusetts, and the relationship between the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Dates
- Creation: 1955-1985, bulk 1966-1982
Creator
- Harvard College Observatory (Organization)
Researcher access
Open for research with the following exceptions: Harvard University records are restricted for 50 years. Personnel and student records are closed for 80 years. Specific restrictions are noted at the folder level. Requires review by archivist.
Extent
2.26 cubic feet (8 document boxes)9 photographs
The records in this series, kept by Harvard College Observatory Administrative Officer Robert G. Reed, including correspondence, memoranda, agreements, and reports, document the management and research program of the Harvard College Observatory, chiefly from 1966 to 1982. Many records detail the financial challenges of maintaining an astronomy program at Harvard. Highlighted are the astronomical work conducted at the Harvard Radio Astronomy Station at Fort Davis, Texas, the construction of the Richard Scott Perkin Laboratory for Astrophysics of the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the founding of the Center for Astrophysics, the Observatory's participation in the Solar Maximum Mission Program sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and interactions between the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The series also documents the Observatory's relationship with the Boyden Observatory in South Africa and the George R. Agassiz Observatory in Harvard, Massachusetts. The day-to-day management of the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, including personnel management, budgeting, appointments, fellowship awards, and the implementation of the Observatory's affirmative action program in the 1960s is also detailed in this series.
This series also demonstrates Reed's decision-making and his duties as the Harvard College Observatory Administrative Officer (1967-1980), concerning long-term planning, the coordination and upkeep of administrative and financial services, accounting and budget forecasting, program evaluation, procurement, proposal preparation, and personnel administration. Additionally, the records document Reed's relations and collaboration with Observatory directors Donald H. Menzel (1953-1966), Leo Goldberg (1966-1970), and George B. Field (1973-1982).
Historical note on the Harvard College Observatory
In 1839, the Harvard Corporation appointed William Cranch Bond, the first Astronomical Observer, to the University, thereby taking the first step in establishing the Harvard College Observatory, after which the first telescope was installed in 1847. Scholars and students had studied astronomy at Harvard since the seventeenth century, but it wasn't until a large comet sparked public interest in 1843 that donors began donating funds to build an observatory. During the tenure of the Harvard College Observatory's first three directors, William Cranch Bond (1839-1859), George Phillips Bond (1859-1865), and Joseph Winlock (1866-1875), the Observatory's research focused on lunar photography and chronometric activities. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, under the direction of Edward C. Pickering (1877-1919), research shifted from celestial mechanics and positional astronomy to astrophysics. As a result, the Observatory developed into a major research institution, focusing on photographic star surveys and spectroscopic analysis, culminating in the publication of the Henry Draper Catalogue, with spectroscopic classifications for 225,300 stars. During Pickering's tenure, many women astronomers, including Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, and Williamina Fleming, performed essential research at the Observatory.
During the next several years, the Observatory became an important astronomical training and research center. Harlow Shapley, director from 1921 to 1952, inaugurated a graduate study program in astronomy. Mandating that public education be a part of the Observatory's mission, Shapley required students in the Harvard program to present lectures on astronomy to public school children. Donald H. Menzel (1952-1966) arranged a cooperative relationship with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (founded in 1890) and its relocation to Cambridge in 1955. Financial support for the Observatory expanded under Leo Goldberg (1966-1970), and in 1973 George B. Field (1972-1983) created an administrative umbrella organization, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to coordinate the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory's programs. Today, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics continues studies in astronomy, Earth and space sciences, and science education, while the Harvard College Observatory supports Harvard's Department of Astronomy.
Biographical note on Robert G. Reed
Robert Gould Reed (1913-1983) served as Administrative Officer of the Harvard College Observatory from 1968 to 1980. Earlier, he worked for the Escambia Chemical Corporation (Wilton, Connecticut) and the National Research Corporation (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Reed received his AB from Harvard College in 1936.
Arrangement
The records are arranged in three series:
- Records chiefly related to the Harvard Radio Astronomy Station in Fort Davis, Texas, 1960-1982, bulk 1974-1982
- Records chiefly related to the construction of the Perkin Building, 1955-1985, bulk 1966-1980
- Records related to the formation of the Center for Astrophysics, Boyden Station, and the Solar Maximum Mission Program, 1966-1980
Acquisition Information
- Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, May 1, 1985; Accession 10407.
- Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, September 2, 1986; Accession 10835.
- Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, January 6, 1987; Accession 10997.
- Transferred from the Harvard College Observatory, January 12, 1987; Accession 10998.
Processing Information
Records of the Harvard College Observatory: correspondence, memoranda, reports, and other records kept by Administrative Officer Robert G. Reed was processed in February 2024 by Dominic P. Grandinetti.
Processing included rehousing materials in appropriate containers and creating this finding aid.
Dates and titles supplied by the archivist appear in brackets.
This series contains a contemporary term that is now considered derogatory and racist.
Creator
- Harvard College Observatory (Organization)
- Title
- Harvard College Observatory. Records of the Harvard College Observatory: records kept by Administrative Officer Robert G. Reed, 1955-1985, bulk 1966-1982: an inventory
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hua03024
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
Pusey Library
Harvard Yard
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2461
archives_reference@harvard.edu