Henrietta Hill Swope Papers: Finding Aid
Processed by Huntington Library staff. Initial encoding by Xiuzhi Zhou and updated
by Diann Benti in June 2017.
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San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
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The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Overview of the Collection
Title: Henrietta Hill Swope Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1923-1979
Collection Number: mssSwope papers
Creator:
Swope, Henrietta Hill,
1902-
Extent:
Approximately 2,400 items in 10 boxes and 1 oversize folder
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of American astronomer
Henrietta Swope (1902-1980), who spent most of her career developing techniques to measure distances in space.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Henrietta Hill Swope Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Provenance
Deposit Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1988.
Approximately fifty additional separate collections form the Mount Wilson Papers of the Observatories of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington and are available for research.
Biographical Note
Henrietta Hill Swope (1902-1980), the daughter of General Electric president Gerard Swope
and the niece of journalist Herbert Bayard Swope, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in October
1902 and raised in Ossining, New York, where she began stargazing in her backyard. After
receiving her A.B. in mathematics from Barnard College and her master's degree from
Radcliffe, she joined the staff of Dr. Harlow Shapley at the Harvard University Observatory.
Swope spent most of her career developing techniques to measure distances in space. During
WWII, Swope worked on radar experiments at MIT and at the Navy's Hydrographic Office. After
which she spent 16 years refining the cepheid measuring system at the Mount Wilson and
Palomar Observatories in California. In 1962 she announced that the distance between the
Milky Way and Andromeda, our nearest galactic neighbor, is 2.2 million light years. In 1962
she donated funds to the Carnegie Institute of Washington towards the construction of the
Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, which now contains a 40-inch telescope named in her
honor. She was awarded the Annie Jump Cannon Prize from the American Astronomy Society in
1968. She died in Pasadena, California in November 1980.
Scope and Content
This collection contains correspondence (Parts 1 and 2), which has been grouped together
alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondence includes letters from a variety of
astronomers from around the world as well as general astronomy questions from members of the
public. The correspondence also deals with women in astronomy and in the Beverly T. Lynds
folder is a list of women members of the Astronomical Association of America. The majority
of the letters written by Swope are retained copies. The arrangement of her astronomical
working papers, however, mirrors that of the collection when it was obtained by the
Huntington. The folder titles for the working papers are, for the most part, those of
Henrietta Swope herself. The majority of the working papers deal with Swope's research and
work on the Milky Way, M31 (Andromeda Galaxy), variable stars, cepheids, Magellanic Clouds,
and the Draco System (these folders include notes, photographs and charts.) There are also
four black and white photographs that may be of Swope receiving the Annie Jump Cannon Prize
in 1968 and several miscellaneous manuscripts, reprints, articles by Swope and others,
journals, bulletins, notes, pieces of ephemera and several hundred IBM cards. Notable
participants include: Helmut Abt, Gonzalo Alcaino, Joseph Ashbrook, Robert Atkinson, Walter
Baade, Horace W. Babcock, Ludwig Biermann, Bart J. Bok, Ira Sprague Bowen, Frederick Brasch,
Laszlo Detre, Armin Deutsch, David H. DeVorkin, Laurence Fredrick, Cecilia and Sergei
Gaposchkin, Helen Gilberts, Otto Heckmann, Arthur and Helen Hogg, Roberta Humphreys, Alfred
H. Joy, Zdenek Kopal, Gerald E. Kron, Arlo U. Landolt, William Liller, Beverly T. Lynds,
George C. McVittie, Donald H. Menzel, Delo Mook, Jan Hendrick Oort, L. Plaut, George
Preston, Vera Rubin, Allan Sandage, Jan Schilt, T. Schmidt-Kaler, Martin Schwarzschild,
Harlow Shapley, Elske Smith, Hyron Spinrad, Sidney Van den Bergh, Alexander Vyssotsky, Merle
F. Walker, Sir Richard Woolley, American Institute of Physics, Astronomical Journal, Popular
Astronomy, Royal Astronomical Society and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Arrangement
The Swope Papers have not yet been fully organized. The correspondence has been grouped
together alphabetically by correspondent. The arrangement of her astronomical working
papers, however, mirrors that of the collection when it was obtained by the Huntington. The
folder titles for the working papers are, for the most part, those of Henrietta Swope
herself.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Baade, Walter,
1893-1960.
Swope, Henrietta Hill,
1902-.
Carnegie Institution of
Washington.
Mount Wilson and Palomar
Observatories -- History -- Sources.
Mount Wilson Observatory --
History -- Sources.
Astronomers -- United States --
Archives.
Astronomical observatories -- California --
Wilson, Mount (Mountain)
Astronomy -- Photographs.
Astronomy -- Research.
Astronomy -- United States -- History -- 20th
century -- Sources.
Galaxies.
RR Lyrae stars.
Variable stars.
Women astronomers -- United States --
Archives.
Andromeda Galaxy.
Magellanic Clouds.
Milky Way.
Forms/Genres
Letters (correspondence) -- United States --
20th century.
Manuscripts -- United States -- 20th
century.
Papers (document genres) -- United States --
20th century.
Photographs -- United States -- 20th
century.
Research (document genres) -- United States --
20th century.
Alternate Authors
Abt, Helmut A.
Alcaino, Gonzalo, 1936-
Ashbrook, Joseph, 1918-1980.
Atkinson, Robert d'Escourt,
1898-1982.
Baade, Walter, 1893-1960.
Babcock, Horace W.
Biermann, Ludwig, 1907-1986.
Bok, Bart J. (Bart Jan),
1906-1983.
Bowen, Ira Sprague, 1898-1973.
Brasch, Frederick E. (Frederick Edward),
1875-1967.
Detre, László.
Deutsch, Armin J. (Armin Joseph),
1918-
DeVorkin, David H., 1944-
Fredrick, Laurence W.
Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia,
1900-1979.
Gaposchkin, Sergei, 1898-
Gilberts, Helen, 1909-
Heckmann, Otto, 1901-
Hoag, Arthur Allen, 1921-1999.
Hogg, Helen.
Humphreys, Roberta M.
Joy, Alfred H. (Alfred Harrison),
1882-1973.
Kopal, Zdeněk, 1914-1993.
Kron, Gerald E.
Landolt, Arlo U. (Arlo Udell),
1935-
Liller, William, 1927-
Lynds, Beverly T.
McVittie, George C. (George
Cunliffe)
Menzel, Donald H. (Donald Howard),
1901-1976.
Mook, Delo E., 1942-
Oort, Jan Hendrik.
Plaut, L.
Preston, George Worrall, 1930-
Rubin, Vera C., 1928-
Sandage, Allan.
Schilt, Jan, 1893-
Schmidt-Kaler, Th. (Theodor),
1930-
Schwarzschild, Martin.
Shapley, Harlow, 1885-1972.
Smith, Elske v. P. (Elske van Panhuys),
1929-
Spinrad, Hyron, 1934-
Van den Bergh, Sidney, 1929-
Vyssotsky, A. N. (Alexander N.),
1888-
Walker, Merle F.
Woolley, Richard van der Riet,
addressee.
Corp Author American Institute of
Physics.
Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Popular astronomy.
Royal Astronomical Society.
Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory.
Astronomical journal.
Box 1
Correspondence, Manuscripts, Notes, and Bibliographies
American Institute of Physics
Baade, Johanna "Muschi" Bohlmann
Baade, Wilhelm Heinrich Walter
Gascoigne, Sidney Charles Bartholomew
Minkowski, Rudolph Leo Bernhard
Royal Astronomical Society
Manuscripts, Notes, and Bibliographies
Classical Cepheids within 12° of the Galactic Center, by H. H. Swope
(ca. 1939).
Variable Stars Towards the Galactic Nucleus, by H. H. Swope. Unpublished,
presented at Puebla, Mexico, Feb. 26,
1942.
A Study of the Magnitudes and Colors of the Globular Cluster NGC6397, by H.
H. Swope & Irving Greenbaum. Published in
Astronomical
Journal
57 (1952):
83.
The Palomar Survey of Variables in M31 (First Results), by Walter Baade
& H. H. Swope. Presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting,
Princeton, New Jersey, Apr. 6,
1955.
The Draco System, by H. H. Swope. Presented at a colloquium, May, 1958.
Variables in the Andromeda Galaxy -- Fields I and III, by Walter Baade
& H. H. Swope. Published in
Astronomical
Journal
70 (1965):
212.
Three Weeks of Symposia, by Bart Jan Bok (1953).
Future of Milky Way Research, part of the thesis, "A Variable Star Survey
in an Intermediate Latitude Field -- M.W.F. 376," by Walter J. Miller, S.J.,
May 1, 1943.
Notes on Cepheids [including some by Otto Struve?].
Notes on the ellipsoidal distribution of light [by James Hopwood
Jeans?].
Bibliography of the Magellanic Clouds, Jan. 20, 1948.
Bibliography of H. H. Swope.
Walter Baade's Papers -- list.
Astronomical Working Papers
Box 2
Variable stars; Globular clusters; Milky Way
Variable stars -- Cepheids & notes.
Variable stars -- Galactic Cepheids.
Variable stars -- Galactic Cepheids & reddening.
Variable stars -- Magellanic Clouds' Cepheids.
Variable stars -- Rotation of the apsides.
Variable stars -- Spurious periods.
Milky Way -- Miscellaneous.
Milky Way Fields -- Charts.
Milky Way Field 187 -- C (1943).
Milky Way Field 187 -- AK Sco.
Milky Way Field 187 -- BH Sco & Var C39
Milky Way Field 187 -- Excerpts.
Milky Way Field 187 -- EZ Oph & Var. 85.
Box 3
Milky Way Field 187; M31 Field I
Milky Way Field 187 -- Irregular variables.
Milky Way Field 187 -- Photographs, etc.
Milky Way Field 187 -- Sequence; Star chart of Henry Draper
stars.
Milky Way Field 187 -- Variables on SB plates.
Milky Way Field 187 -- YY Sgr.
M31 -- Cepheids, absolute and phase.
M31 -- Period-luminosity curve (Fields I-IV).
M31 -- Photometric scale in Fields I and III.
M31 -- Variable star light curves.
M31 Field I -- Amorphous field, south preceding nucleus.
M31 Field I -- Estimates and comparisons.
M31 Field I -- Light curves and graphs.
M31 Field I -- Magnitudes.
M31 Field III -- Quadrant I, south following.
M31 Field III -- Quadrant II, south preceding.
M31 Field III -- Quadrant III, north following.
M31 Field III -- Quadrant IV, north preceding.
M31 Field III -- Summary and traces of quadrants; Running graphs; Mean
light curve computations.
M31 Field IV -- B field corrections.
M31 Field IV -- B and V magnitudes.
M31 Field IV -- Color-magnitude diagram.
M31 Field IV -- Converting to intensities and back to magnitudes of mean
I.
M31 Field IV -- Eclipsing binaries I.
M31 Field IV -- Eclipsing binaries II.
M31 Field IV -- Irregular variables.
M31 Field IV -- Irregular variables working sheets.
Box 6
M31 Field IV; Draco system
M31 Field IV -- Luminosity.
M31 Field IV -- Magnitudes.
M31 Field IV -- Miscellaneous.
M31 Field IV -- Period-luminosity relation.
M31 Field IV -- Photoelectric results.
M31 Field IV -- Plate material.
M31 Field IV -- Population II variables.
M31 Field IV -- Pseudo-cepheids.
M31 Field IV -- UBV results.
M31 Field IV -- Variable plots.
M31 Field IV -- Variables with photovisual l.c.
M31 Field IV -- Working sheets.
Draco system -- Arp: Period-luminosity relation for giants and gap
stars.
Draco system -- Baade's material.
Draco system -- Color-magnitude chart.
Draco system -- Comparison to globular clusters, mostly in color-magnitude
diagrams; Statistics.
Draco system -- Comparison to globular clusters in period frequency and
spectra.
Draco system -- Composite color curves of variables.
Draco system -- Conversion of magnitudes to intensities and
back.
Draco system -- Corresctions to plates for color-magnitude
diagram.
Draco system -- Luminosity.
Draco system -- Magnitudes, 1957.
Draco system -- Magnitudes (Wallenquists's work).
Draco system -- Miscellanea.
Draco system -- Outer ring variables.
Draco system -- Paper; pertinent material.
Draco system -- Photovisual (V) and color index for variables.
Draco system -- Plate material and discovery record.
Draco system -- Revised magnitudes, 1959; Standard sequence.
Draco system -- Special variables (V134, V157).
Draco system -- Table for converting scale to magnitude.
Draco system -- Variables.
Draco system -- Variable V123.
Charts -- Information regarding IBM cards (in Box 10).
Charts -- Light curves for Type II cepheids.
Plates -- Baade's plate material.
Plates -- Baade's taken with the 48" Schmidt.
General -- Aids to find periods of cluster-type variables from running
graphs.
General -- Combined light of two stars.
General -- Corrections to heliocentric time for Milky Way
fields.
General -- Corrections for 200" radial distortions.
General -- Galactic charts of Right Ascension and declination.
General -- Intensities and magnitudes.
General -- International Astronomical Union (miscellaneous
information).
General -- Julian Day tables.
General -- Photographs [Milky Way fields and solar eclipses].
General -- Photometers and blink comparators.
General -- Sensitivity curves of filters for Ross corrector.
Box 9
Articles; Miscellaneous periodicals
Articles by Henrietta H. Swope (and co-authors).
Miscellaneous journals and bulletins.
M31 Field IV. Reddening in M31 by method of Arp.
