Logbooks

The University of Chicago Library conserves, catalogs, and digitizes logbooks from Yerkes Observatory related to the Glass Plate Collection.

Just over 90 logbooks record information about the data on the glass plate negatives taken at Yerkes as well as information about the people who recorded and used this data.

The Preservation Department’s Conservation and Digitization Units conducted condition reviews on logbooks, performed treatments to stabilize items when necessary, and digitized the logbooks according to national guidelines and project standards.

The logbooks were digitized using high-resolution cultural heritage cameras and imaging equipment. The process involved reviewing images to ensure completeness and accuracy and generating master files for archiving and access copies for online viewing.

For this project, image files were created that will be used to produce print facsimiles for the collection. While use of the digital materials is wide-ranging, it is useful to have physical copies on hand as well.

Browse the logbooks

Digitized logbooks are available to download as individual PDFs. The logbooks are not yet transcribed or optimized for in-text searching. Associated plate series are available to search. The best way to open these .csv files and maintain formatting is to download them to your computer, then use the File> Open method in your spreadsheet program of choice (Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, etc.) Double-clicking to open will work, but formatting of special characters may display incorrectly. If you have additional questions about the logbooks, or the plates referenced, please contact the Yerkes Project Team.

Currently available logbooks are listed below. The series that are more extensive and from telescopes producing wider fields of view are listed first. Telescopes are Yerkes Observatory instruments, including those used at McDonald Observatory, unless otherwise indicated. In a few cases, specialized series from different telescopes are listed together, for example "Moon" and "Halley's Comet."

Support for this project comes from the National Science Foundation (Grant AST-2101781), University of Chicago College Innovation Fund, John Crerar Foundation, Kathleen and Howard Zar Science Library Fund, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, and Yerkes Future Foundation.