Lick Northern Proper Motion Program. I. Goals, Organization, and Methods

The Lick Northern Proper Motion (NPM) program determines absolute proper motions, measured with respect to an extragalactic reference frame, for selected stars in the blue magnitude range 9-18, north of declination -23 deg. Positions and photographic photometry are also measured. The final NPM catalog will contain some 300, 000 stars, whose motions are referred to some 70,000 galaxies. This paper, the first in a series presenting the NPM results, describes the history and goals of the NPM program, the photographic survey, the selection of stars and galaxies, the plate measurements, the reduction procedures for positions, proper motions, and photometry, and the tests of the accuracy and precision of the NPM data. The present status of the NPM program is detailed and the work remaining for the future is outlined.