The Library shares news on its world-class collections, talented staff and informative events.
Find more events by visiting the Harvard Library calendar.
Phone-a-Poem
From 1976-96, Harvard Square pedestrians entered the Phone-a-Poem installation, dialed and heard poems read by Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman and others recorded on an answering machine.
News
Alpha, Beta, Zeega
Zeega is a Harvard Library Lab project that revolutionizes interactive storytelling by allowing users to harness text, images and audio from the Web.
Portraits of a Vanished Indian Life
Two photo albums at Harvard's Tozzer Library contain more than one thousand rare images of 19th century Native Americans.
A Tuned-In Savior
Harvard graduate student Rachel Vandagriff "discovered" a treasure trove of materials related to new music champion Paul Fromm and created an exhibit at Loeb Music Library.
Biodiversity Heritage Library Receives Computerworld Laureate Award
The Biodiversity Heritage Library, co-founded by Harvard's Botany Library and Ernst Mayr Library, was named a 2013 Laureate by the Computerworld Honors Program.
Hidden Treasures
More than 400 glass models of marine creatures in the Library collection are so delicate that they rarely, if ever, go on public display.
Harvard Library Quirky Collections
Bathing trunks, breathable chocolate, musket balls: read about odd acquisitions in the Harvard Library collection.
Poetic Greetings
From 1976-96, Harvard Square pedestrians entered the Phone-a-Poem installation, dialed, and heard poems read by Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman and others recorded on an answering machine.
Arresting Images
A Harvard Law School Library Exhibit demonstrates America's appetite for tawdry and salacious crime, long before O.J. or Oscar.
Library's New Page Delivery Service Optimizes Tablet Display
Read about the Harvard Library's tablet version of the Page Delivery Service, designed to provide significant benefits to Harvard's researchers.
Valentine's Day in the Harvard Library Collection
"Be mine, you nasty and ugly and crabbed old scold," states a rare 19th century hand-drawn valentine--explore (and enjoy!) Valentine’s Day through the Harvard Library collection.
The Emancipation Proclamation Now
On the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, read about its ongoing impact and the rare miniature version, printed for freed slaves, in the Houghton Library collection.
A Remembrance of Things Proust
Read about a semester-long exhibit at Houghton Library, "Private Proust: Letters and Drawings to Reynaldo Hahn," on the 100th anniversary of the publication of Proust's Swann's Way.
Harvard Film Archive Films Now Searchable Through Library Catalog
The majority of the Harvard Film Archive's records--representing more than 23,000 films and videotapes--are now searchable through the Harvard Library catalog, HOLLIS.
Harvard-Yenching Library Joins Borrow Direct
More than 400,000 items from the Harvard-Yenching Library collection are now accessible to Harvard's Borrow Direct partners, in addition to the approximately 6.5 million items from Harvard's collections previously made available to Borrow Direct partners.
Note Taking in a Clickable Age
Read about the Take Note Symposium, which included tours to see items in several Harvard libraries.
Girls Who Rock Out
"She likes death metal and bunnies at the same time." Read about Girls Rock!, a documentary that follows girls attending the Girls Rock Camp, screened at a Schlesinger Library Movie Night.
Library Lab Puts on a Show
Read about the Harvard Library Lab's Showcase, a campus-wide exhibition of 28 Library Lab projects that make original contributions to the way libraries work.
Battle Cries of Freedom
Read an article about a Countway Library Center for the History of Medicine exhibit that explores how the Civil War challenged paradigms of death, medicine and mourning.
Libraries Re-Imagined: Harvard Opens a Pop-Up Labrary in Cambridge
BostonInno stops by the Labrary, a pop-up storefront space that explores how innovations in design can help libraries evolve.
The Publishing Industry Isn't Doomed
Fast Company quotes University Librarian Robert Darnton on the democratization of publishing.
A Place to Put All Those Curiosities
The New York Times reviews an exhibit at New York's Grolier Club which features several items from the Houghton Library collection.
Cookbooks Echo with the Wisdom of Chefs Past
The New York Times writes about marginalia in cookbooks, inlcuding those of Julia Child in the Schlesinger Library collection.
Multimedia Immersion
Read about a Harvard Wintersession boot camp for faculty, students and librarians focused on using new media in research, teaching and learning.
The Rise, Ruin of a China Trader
Read about a Baker Library online exhibit on the earliest days of the China trade and the successes and ultimate failure of a New England trader.
Santo Domingo Collection Chronicles Cultural Backdrop of Sex, Drugs
The Santo Domingo Collection at Harvard features art, literature and popular culture artifacts related to achieving altered states of mind.
Chronicle: Harvard Library Innovation Lab
Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab projects featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Harvard to Contribute Special Collections Materials to Digital Public Library of America
The Harvard Library plans to share several collections with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)—becoming the first DPLA content hub.
The Art of Saving Art
Weissman conservators repair Le Corbusier and Miró works for the Carpenter Center.
Evidence of Greatness
Harvard Law School showcases the life and work of Joseph Story in an exhibit and digital suite.
Harvard Library to Adopt RDA
The Harvard Library plans to adopt Resource Description and Access (RDA), joining the three US national libraries—Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library and peers—in implementing the new code.
Edward Lear's Natural History
"The Natural History of Edward Lear," on display at Houghton Library, shows the famed nonsense writer’s early devotion to painting, and sketching.
Old Japan, Online
“Early Photography of Japan,” a virtual collection of more than 2,000 images from three Harvard University libraries, documents the early history of Japanese commercial photography, and reflects the Western image of traditional Japanese culture before the modernization that occurred during the Meiji period (1868–1912).
Guides to the Gallows
The Law School's "Dying Speeches and Bloody Murders" collection captures 19th century English trials and executions.
Widener’s Slavic Division Boasts Rich Collection from across the Region
Macedonian President Ivanov recently presented a gift of 130 books of Macedonia literature to the Slavic Collection during recent visit to Harvard.
Sensibly Saving Jane Austen
Two of her fragile letters, owned by Harvard, undergo painstaking repair at the Library's Weissman Preservation Center.
Provost Alan Garber on Harvard Library Launch
"I am confident that the remarkable strengths of our libraries, and particularly the people who bring them to life, will allow us to build a Harvard Library that will set the standard now and in the future."
Updike's Roots and Evolution
"John Updike: A Glimpse from the Archive" at Houghton Library explores how Updike, a boy from rural Pennsylvania, became Updike the international literary icon.
Boston Globe: Julia Child Turns 100 at Radcliffe
The Boston Globe features the Julia Child Collection at the Schlesinger Library on Child's centenary celebration.
A Julia-Worthy Feast
Materials from the Julia Child Collection at the Schlesinger Library highlight Julia's work, marriage and joie de vivre.
Harvard's Best Listeners
The Library's audio team makes high-end digital copies of audio artifacts, some in fragile or rare formats.
The New York Times: Harvard Releases Big Data for Books
The New York Times covers the Harvard Library's release of nearly 100% of its records—more than 12 million from 73 libraries.
US News and World Report: Is the Academic Publishing Industry on the Verge of Disruption?
US News & World Report explores academic journals and the Library Faculty Advisory Council's warning on their cost.
Events
Battle-Scarred: War, Death and Disability Since the Civil War
Running through June 1, 2012, "Battle-Scarred: War, Death & Disability Since the Civil War" commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and features Civil War-related documents, photographs, museum objects and other items items from the holdings of Countway Medical Library's Center for the History of Medicine and Warren Anatomical Museum.
Extra! Extra! A Tale of True Crime
Crime fascinates us and the public consumption of crime narratives has existed for centuries, from the dissemination of crime broadsides in the 18th century to today’s true crime television shows such as 48 Hours. Featuring materials from the Harvard Law School Library’s Historical & Special Collections, this exhibit examines a short chapter in the United States’ history of true crime narratives and runs through April 26. Topics include serialized true crime literature, crime photography in newspapers and the representation of family life in the media’s coverage of the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
A Fair to Remember: Mapping International Expositions
Ever since the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, millions of people have flocked to world’s fairs and their extravagant displays of invention and artifice. With their eclectic juxtaposition of edifying exhibits, exotic cultural tableaux and sideshow attractions, these celebrations of human ingenuity have had ramifications far beyond their restricted time and space. They have influenced aesthetic styles and promoted the adoption of new technologies. By reinforcing or challenging popular stereotypes, they have also shaped perceptions of gender, race and ethnicity. This exhibit explores the cartographic depiction of world’s fairs in London, Paris, Philadelphia, Antwerp, Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, and Osaka. The pictorial maps, views, and plans on display are accompanied by related artifacts such as trade cards, postcards, cane maps, photographs and booklets (incluing a guide to the contents of a time capsule). The exhibit runs from December 12, 2012 to May 14, 2013.
Harvard University Press: 100 Years of Excellence in Publishing
Celebrating the centennial of one of the premier university presses, Harvard University Press: 100 Years of Excellence in Publishing offers a history of the Press, viewed through its distinguished publications. From classic texts such as The Great Chain of Being; to series such as the Loeb Classical Library and the Norton Lectures; to Pulitzer Prize-winners and New York Times bestsellers; to new digital publications; this exhibition highlights the Press's important role in the creation and dissemination of scholarship and learning. Groundbreaking and enduring publications from the Harvard University Press list are enlivened by photographs and letters from its archive, illuminating both authors' and editors' preoccupations. This exhibit runs from January 28 to April 20, 2013.
Private Proust: Letters and Drawings to Reynaldo Hahn
Marcel Proust's letters to the composer Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) are a testament to their enduring friendship. Often accompanied by witty, irreverent drawings that Proust produced for no one else, they combine text and image in illuminating their close relationship. Proust also confided to Hahn his ambitions and difficulties in writing the novel that would become In Search of Lost Time. This exhibition, curated by François Proulx, lecturer on comparative literature at Harvard University, includes a generous selection of these illustrated letters, along with first editions and corrected proofs. This exhibit runs from February 4 to April 28, 2013.
Building the Foundation: Business Education for Women at Harvard University
Building the Foundation, which runs from February 20 to September 3, 2013, traces the early history of business education for women at Harvard University from the founding of the one-year certificate program at Radcliffe College in 1937 to the integration of women into Harvard Business School by 1970. Documents, such as photographs, interviews, reports and correspondence, reveal how program directors, faculty and administrators shaped business education for women at the University, preparing students to take their places in the business world. The pioneering graduates of these programs would go on to help open doors to formerly unattainable opportunities for generations of women who followed.
Mirror with a Memory: Harvard in the Civil War Through a Photographic Lens
Writing about stereographs in an article published in The Atlantic Monthly in June 1859, American physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (AB 1829) described the art of photography, then just 20 years old, as “the mirror with a memory.” Two years later, on the eve of the American Civil War, Holmes invented a handheld stereoscope for easier viewing of increasingly popular stereographs (photographic images mounted side by side). Photography’s popularity meant that soldiers were able to carry images of loved ones with them into battle and to send their own photographs home. These visual representations became especially important when a soldier died, providing a touchstone for remembrance of the individual and his service. This exhibit explores three aspects of Harvard’s Civil War—the home front, student and alumni engagement in the war, and commemoration of those who served—through the lens of the photographic processes that were developing into the 1860s.This exhibit runs from March 4 through June 5, 2013.
Road to Equality
In 1983, Harvard Law School student Evan Wolfson authored a prescient third-year paper titled “Samesex Marriage and Morality: The Human Rights Vision of the Constitution.” Thirty years and countless examinations of the constitution later, two cases regarding gay marriage, Hollingsworth v. Perry (challenging California’s Proposition 8 ) and United States v. Windsor (challenging the Defense of Marriage Act) were argued in front of the Supreme Court on March 26 and 27, 2013. Wolfson led a wave of Harvard Law School students and faculty members who fought for or participated in the discussion about gay marriage. Today the fight—with HLS involvement—continues. Come view this exhibit documenting the involvement of HLS students, faculty and alumni in the long road to marriage equality.
Chair Yoga for Librarians
Are you a librarian with stiff shoulders or a cataloger with kinks in your neck? Do you have a mid-afternoon slump every day? Have you heard that yoga and meditation are beneficial to well-being but have you procrastinated trying? If you’re looking to make positive changes in your health, life or outlook, you’re welcome to try Chair Yoga for Librarians. We’re an informal group that meets every Tuesday from 1:15-1:45 in the Wadsworth House conference room. The sessions incorporate very gentle, basic stretches, breathing exercises and meditative thought to help relieve tension and energize you for the rest of the day.
Into the Light: Salted Paper Prints at Harvard
Harvard has one of the world’s richest collections of salted paper prints, the earliest form of print photography. Harvard Library’s Weissman Preservation Center has been working on a multi-year initiative to enhance understanding of salted paper prints and to ensure their long-term preservation. At this session, discoveries Weissman has made during this project and highlights from collections that reveal the transformation of the salt print process from an experimental method to a practiced technique will be presented. A special guest, Dr. Dusan Stulik from the Getty Conservation Institute, will share new findings in his analysis of photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the salt print process. RSVP required.
The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death
Jill Lepore, the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History, Harvard College Professor, chair of Harvard’s History and Literature Program and a New Yorker staff writer, will discuss her book The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death. Lepore’s book talk is the last in the three-part Dean Evelyn Hammonds Book Talk Series.
Forging the Moon: Or, How to Spot a Fake Galileo
The 97th George Parker Winship Lecture, given by Nick Wilding, assistant professor in early modern history at Georgia State Univeristy. In the last decade, a number of forged copies of several titles by Galileo have appeared in private collections, in institutional libraries and on the rare book market. The most spectacular of these forgeries, known as the Martayan Lan Sidereus Nuncius, was authenticated in 2011 by a team of experts as Galileo’s autograph proof copy, and valued at $10 million. Evidence has since emerged that it was in fact supplied by Massimo De Caro, currently awaiting trial for the theft of several thousand books from various libraries in Italy. The 97th George Parker Winship Lecture, given by Nick Wilding, assistant professor in early modern history at George State Unversity, will examine what kinds of tests the copy passed and failed, and consider the role new technologies and methodologies play in making and unmaking modern forgeries.
Researching the Literature on Herbs and Dietary Supplements
This Countway Library class will discuss the cultural and demographics aspects of HDS use, safety and regulatory issues, and review the most popular HDS. Hands-on segments will explore evidence-based information sources available through Harvard and searching PubMed, EMBASE and other secondary databases will be discussed. Clinicians and researchers are encouraged to attend and bring questions and topics.
A Peculiar Facility for Imagining: Visual Strategies in the Early Royal Society
This lecture, by Roger Gaskell, an antiquarian bookseller based in the United Kingdom and a faculty member of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, will examine scientific illustrated books by early fellows of the Royal Society of London (and their European counterparts) published in the 1660's and 70's. Making the printed book the focus of attention shows that different ways of using images is dependent as much on the circumstances of production as on the author’s scientific message.
Catherine L. Morrissey Memorial Reading: Alice Notley and Eleni Sikelianos
As the finale event in the Woodberry Poetry Room's Poet's Voice series, a reading by two capacious creators of uncompromising works and worlds: Alice Notley (author of over 25 poetry collections, including Culture of One) and Eleni Sikelianos (author of The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead and The California Poem). This Poet's Voice reading also marks our first annual Catherine L. Morrissey reading, honoring the life and work of the poet and Harvard G'76 alum. A book signing will follow.
The Big Tent of US Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field
The Boston Seminar Series on the History of Women and Gender—cosponsored by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study—offers scholars and students an opportunity to discuss new research on any aspect of the history of women and gender in the United States, without chronological limitation. "The Big Tent of US Women's and Gender History: A State of the Field" brings together Cornelia H. Dayton, University of Connecticut; Lisa Levenstein, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Crystal Feimster, Yale University; Jane Gerhard, Mount Holyoke College; and and Betsy More, Harvard University.
Digital Public Library of America Launch Event
On April 18-19, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) will celebrate the groundbreaking work of hundreds of librarians, innovators and other dedicated volunteers in a collective effort to build the first national digital library. The DPLA invites you to join them at the Boston Public Library for this historic event. Convened by the DPLA Secretariat at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and co-hosted by the Boston Public Library, the two-day DPLA Launch will include a brief working day on Thursday, followed by a formal reception featuring presentations and a series of interactive exhibits showcasing content from our many partners, including the Digital Hubs and Europeana. On Friday, the DPLA will convene a focused half-day plenary meeting highlighting the DPLA’s progress and potential. Registration is required and is free and open to all. The DPLA invites all those interested from the general public, the educational community, public and research libraries, cultural organizations, state and local government, the creative community, publishers and private industry to attend the launch.
Workshop: Grant Writing
Harvard Law Library and Grant Writing USA presents a two-day grants workshop in Cambridge. This training is applicable to grant seekers across all disciplines. Attend this class and you'll learn how to find grants and write winning grant proposals. Beginning and experienced grant writers from city, county and state agencies as well as nonprofits, K-12, colleges and universities are encouraged to attend.
Movie Night at the Schlesinger Library: No Secret Anymore
Directed by Joan Biren, No Secret Anymore (2003) chronicles the lives of two women who have been partners in love and political struggle for half a century. San Francisco icons Del Martin and Phylllis Lyon are known as pioneers in the modern lesbian civil rights movement. Accompanied by archival footage of Martin and Lyon from the Schlesinger’s collections.
Boston's Crusade Against Slavery
During the Civil War era, Boston led the national crusade against slavery and the struggle over emancipation and citizenship. Owing largely to activists in Boston, Massachusetts became one of the first states to end slavery. It soon granted black men full suffrage, ended the ban on interracial marriage and in 1855 became the first state legally to desegregate public schools. Bostonians were instrumental in convincing the Lincoln administration to turn a conflict fought chiefly to preserve the Union into a war for emancipation and black citizenship. This exhibition features objects from the extraordinary collection at Houghton Library to highlight the city’s role in the international fight for freedom. Each object constitutes an important marker in the crusade. Many are on display for the first time, and have rarely, if ever, been analyzed by scholars.
The FDA and the Remaking of Modern Clinical Research
Dr. Carpenter, author of Reputation and Power: Organizational Image and Pharmaceutical Regulation at the FDA, will discuss how the FDA cultivated a reputation for competence and vigilance throughout the last century, and how this organizational image has enabled the agency to regulate an industry as powerful as American pharmaceuticals while resisting efforts to curb its own authority. He will also share how FDA regulatory power has influenced the way that business, medicine and science are conducted in the United States and worldwide. Along the way, Carpenter will offer new insights into the therapeutic revolution of the 1940s and 1950s, the 1980s AIDS crisis, the advent of oral contraceptives and cancer chemotherapy, the rise of antiregulatory conservatism and the FDA's waning influence in drug regulation today.
When Doctors Don't Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests
Leana Wen, MD and Joshua Kosowsky, MD of BWH/MGH Emergency Medicine will discuss the subject of their new book, When Doctors Don't Listen. The skyrocketing cost of health care is in the news every day: $2.7 trillion spent on health care, 18 cents of every dollar, with up to a third of medical costs wasted. But the problem goes much deeper than cost. More than 100,000 Americans die from medical error every year, with the majority of error attributed to mistakes in diagnosis. Patients feel increasingly out of control and out of touch with their own health. Well-intended doctors try their best, but they, too, are trapped in a dysfunctional system, which, at least on the surface, appears to reward "cookbook medicine," which regards all individuals as alike, and punish good judgment. How can we move past this stalemate? We believe that patients hold the key—by taking control of their health care.
Reading Historic Cookbooks: A Structured Approach
Cookbooks are among the best sources for the study of food history, but they are complex documents that yield their secrets only to an attentive and systematic reader. Join scholar, writer and honorary curator of the Schlesinger Library’s culinary collection, Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, for a highly interactive, weeklong seminar in augmenting research skills in culinary history. The seminar will cover such themes as ingredients; the cook’s workplace, techniques, and equipment; meals; cookbooks; and the worlds of the publisher, the writer, the reader, the cook and the eater. Participants will examine selections from a number of English and American cookbooks ranging in date from the late fourteenth century to about 1910, as well as auxiliary sources such as inventories, architectural books and archaeological research.pplications accepted through May 1, 2013.
