enclosure made by Antler Editions in Easthampton, Massachusetts
enclosures made by Antler Editions in Easthampton, Massachusetts
Page 1 of 2 image reference lists typed on an electric Bulletin type Smith-Corona typewriter. These 2 pages, as well as a colophon, are included in the back of the portfolio's enclosure.
Each entry records the folder and box of the source photograph, the call number of the photograph, its date, and if available, the glass plate negative from which the photograph was made.
STAR DATA was created in 2023 after working with the Harvard College Observatory’s Astronomical Photographic Glass Plate Collection in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The project began by looking through 2 boxes of photographic prints dated 1890 -1919 of the North Polar Sequence and Harvard Standard Regions. Many of these celestial prints were dotted with exquisite handwritten marks - letters, numbers, symbols - by the Harvard Computers (a team of women astronomers), their coded inventories of the night sky. Choosing 7 photographs to work with, the hand-cut circles in each of the 8 resulting artworks represent the location of a Harvard Computer’s hand drawn notation.
STAR DATA is an homage to these pioneering women and to the importance and accessibility of the analog archive. The project is also a nod to the computer punch card -- a form of storage used in early 20th century data processing where information was held within punched out spaces.
-Victoria Burge
STAR DATA, 2023
8 hand cut artworks on digitally printed black paper measuring 8 x 10 inches each
housed within a linen clamshell box measuring 11 x 9 x 1.25 inches
Enclosure made by Antler Editions in Easthampton, Massachusetts