This biography of Alta M. Carpenter was sourced from the Harvard Plate Stacks website on January 14, 2024. It was written by Samantha Notick, Curatorial Assistant at the Harvard Plate Stacks, in 2023. Please note that this information may have been updated since it was added to our database; for the most current information, check their website at https://platestacks.cfa.harvard.edu.
Born: 8 June 1878, United States
Died: 1945
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Alta Goodrich
Alta May Carpenter (June 8, 1878 – 1945) worked as one of the Women Astronomical Computers at the Harvard College Observatory from 1906 until 1920.
While at the Observatory, Carpenter was one of Annie Jump Cannon’s assistants. She worked to ascertain the position and magnitude of stars, record Cannon’s classifications from the Glass Plates, and proofread for the Henry Draper Catalogue’s publication. In this, she worked with Louisa Wells, Mabel Stevens, Edith Gill, and Eveland Leland, among others.1
Carpenter was born June 8, 1878 in Whitingham, Vermont to Whitman and Lydia Carpenter (neé Winters).2 Sometime between 1880 and 1900, Carpenter’s father passed away. By 1900, Alta was living with her mother and teaching, and her siblings, two brothers and a sister, had moved out of the family home.3 Her sister Florence had moved to Somerville and was working as a Stenographer.4 By 1910, Alta was living with her sister on Oxford street in Cambridge, and she was working at the Observatory.5 She continued to work at the Observatory until 1920, when she left and married Howard F Goodrich of Haverhill Mass.6 He was a widower, and worked as a Cemetery Superintendent.7 She lived in Haverhill until her death in 1945. She and her husband are interred at Linwood Cemetery in Haverhill. 8
Works cited
1-Dava Sobel, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took Measure of the Stars (New York: Viking, 2016), 171.
2-Vermont Vital Records, 1871–1908, Vermont Vital Records through 1870. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
3-1900 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
4-Ibid.
5-1910 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
6-1920 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023. ; Massachusetts, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901-1955 and 1966-1970. Department of Public Health, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
7-1920 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
8-U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.
9-1930 United States Census, Characteristics of Population. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. digital images. Ancestrylibrary.com. Accessed 2023.