Houghton Announcements

Excellence in Service Award Winners Recognized

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:59:24 GMT

Selfless co-workers, prolific catalogers, technology experts and excellent service providers – all were recently recognized as winners of the 2009 Excellence in Service Awards, a merit-based honor established to recognize employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to support of the mission and values of Harvard College Library.

Letters to “Bright Star” on Exhibit at Houghton

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:54:08 GMT

It is unlikely that many students, faculty members or researchers visit Houghton Library, Harvard’s primary repository for rare books and manuscripts in search of material relating to contemporary films. A new exhibition at the library, however, is sure to be of interest to fans of the film “Bright Star,” the big screen version of the love affair between then-unknown poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne.

Curator’s Tour Highlights Johnson Collection

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:02:59 GMT

One of the world’s most important collections of 18th century literature, the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson and Early Modern Books and Manuscripts is comprised of thousands of letters, manuscripts, first editions, portraits and even includes Johnson’s silver teapot. More than a dozen Harvard College Library staff members recently got the chance to examine some of those treasures as part of a curator’s tour through Houghton Library’s exhibition devoted to Johnson.

HCL Staff Team Up to Go Green

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:26:47 GMT

Long before there was an established University sustainability program, Harvard College Library had made increasing sustainable practices around the library a priority. To continue that commitment, HCL Operations last month convened the HCL Green Team to assist the unit in identifying ways in which the libraries can contribute to the University’s sustainability goals.

Houghton Library Holiday Hours

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:07:12 GMT

Houghton Library will be closed from noon on December 24 – January 3. The library will be open M, F 9 am – 5 pm; T-W-Th 9 am – 7 pm; Sat. 9 am – 5 pm January 4 – 24, with the exception of Monday, January 18, when it will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day. Harvard Depository deliveries will be made January 4-24 during regular business hours when the libraries are open.

New Houghton Library Blog Launched

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:19:25 GMT

See the new Houghton Library Blog featuring general updates about Harvard's primary rare book and manuscript depository. It joins two other Houghton blogs: Modern Books and Manuscripts and Hyde Collection Catablog.

The Philip and Frances Hofer Lecture: "Cutting Remarks: The Preparation of Woodcuts, 1400-1600”

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:02:10 GMT

Richard S. Field, Curator Emeritus of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Yale University Art Gallery, will present a lecture, entitled "Cutting Remarks: The Preparation of Woodcuts, 1400-1600” on December 13, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in the Edison and Newman Room of Houghton Library.

The "history" of the physical craft of cutting woodblocks for the printing of woodcuts has remained almost unstudied. This talk will rely on detailed slides of a number of anonymous fifteenth-century blocks in order to sketch the early development of the cutter's technique. The ultimate achievements of Dürer, Altdorfer, Cranach, Burgkmair, Bruegel will round out a picture that remained mostly unchanged until ca.1800. At the conclusion, the audience will be asked to consider its opinions about a series of blocks that most scholars regard as forgeries, two examples of which are at Harvard.

Online exhibition: A Monument More Durable Than Brass: The Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:40:17 GMT

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is widely known for his Dictionary (1755), but was a writer of the first order in a dazzling variety of genres: poetry, drama, literary criticism, biography, and the essay. The Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson contains copies of virtually all of Johnson’s published works, more than half of his surviving letters, authorial manuscripts, works of art, and personal artifacts. It likewise documents the life and work of many of Johnson’s friends, particularly James Boswell and Hester Thrale Piozzi, and indeed the whole of the period now known as the Age of Johnson.

Exhibition Celebrates Roosevelt's Pigskin Library

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:24:35 GMT

After leaving the presidency in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt began preparing for a long-promised safari to British East Africa. Along with the usual tents, provisions and hunting gear, Roosevelt also traveled with a sixty-pound aluminum case, which carried more than 80 of his favorite books. Dubbed the Pigskin Library after their pigskin bindings, the famous literary collection this year celebrates its 100th anniversary with an exhibition opening September 1 in the Theodore Roosevelt Gallery of Pusey Library.