From 25 Birch Street ...

On August 6, 1986, the AAVSO formally opened its new Headquarters at 25 Birch Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The building was dedicated as the Clinton B. Ford Astronomical Data and Research Center in honor of the AAVSO's long-time Secretary. This was the fulfillment of a dream--especially after 30 years of renting office space--that one day the AAVSO would own its Headquarters site.

As the AAVSO's operations and staffing grew through the 1970s and 1980s, the rooms at 187 Concord Avenue became more crowded. Fears of fire damage and loss of data and other records became very real in that old wood-framed structure.

The AAVSO Council and Director Janet Mattei decided that it was time to find a new location. Then-Second Vice-President Keith Danskin went on a search for suitable office space that might be leased--and in 1985 he found it, right next to the Sky Publishing Corporation offices (which had also moved away from HCO by then). Here is where Secretary Clint Ford stepped in: after intensive deliberations with the owner, Clint persuaded him to sell the Birch Street property to the AAVSO, with Clint generously providing the necessary funding for the purchase.

The building was purchased October 30, 1985. The hard-working Headquarters staff had two months to prepare for the move, but the actual packing of books, records, and office equipment and materials was accomplished in just ten days. There was also time spent at the new HQ by staff and volunteers to paint, clean, and make things ready, including the construction of shelving and work areas by a carpentry crew consisting of AAVSO members Ed Halbach, Roy Lee, Keith Danskin, and Mike Mattei. The move was made in 1-1/2 days, on Saturday, January 25, and on Tuesday, January 28, 1986. The entire staff helped the professional movers at both ends of the journey, with Janet overseeing operations at 187 Concord and Elizabeth and Mike at 25 Birch. Sadly, on Tuesday the joy of the move was diminished on hearing the news of the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

It took the entire spring to settle into the new office space. The staff were not only kept busy with unpacking and setting up shop (particularly the 500-plus boxes of computer cards), they also had to attend to the daily business of the AAVSO.

Things gradually took shape: the first Council and Financial Committee meetings were held at the new HQ in March 1986, and the HQ staff smoothly shifted gears from coping with the labor and disarray of the move to making preparations for the 75th Anniversary Meeting. A succession of visitors came to see and take delight in the new building over the next few months, including former Director Margaret Mayall, astronomers Helen Sawyer Hogg, George Wallerstein, Dorrit Hoffleit, and Frank Bateson, Director of the Variable Star Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, and former AAVSO staff assistant Florence Campbell Bibber (AAVSO Recorder Leon Campbell's daughter). The parade of professional astronomers and legendary amateur observers coming to Headquarters grew as the meeting date drew near--perhaps the most noteworthy of these was the amateur-turned-professional who was then the last living charter member of the AAVSO, Dr. Willem J. Luyten.

Everyone, especially the staff, marvelled at how much more room was now available for storage and work areas; these well-lighted, open spaces were a welcomed contrast to the dingy, dark, and cramped store-front HQ with the sagging wood-floors. There was even space for a full-size refrigerator, a microwave oven, and a dining table! There were now separate storage/stock rooms, a separate mail/copy room, more library shelf space than could be filled, a computer room, an archive room, a large, open, meeting room, and three restrooms.

In August 1986, the AAVSO felt on top of the world with a bright future ahead. Indeed, the new Headquarters saw a quick succession of important technical improvements, new astronomical research and educational opportunities like Hipparcos, Astro-1 and Astro-2, and Hands-On Astrophysics, and the fast growth of the International Database, including the computerization of 1.8 million observations from the earliest years of the association.

Read the "Another New Era..." article

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