The Library shares news on its world-class collections, talented staff and informative events.
Find more events by visiting the Harvard Library calendar.
Sarah Thomas Appointed Vice President for the Harvard Library
News
Undergraduate Book Collecting Award Winners Recognized
This year's winners of the Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting were recognized at a reception in Widener Library. The Prize is awarded annually to recognize and encourage book collecting by Harvard undergraduates.
Library Acquires Original Star Trek Writers' Guide
The original, photocopied handbook from 1967, part of Houghton Library's large science fiction collection, includes intriguing details on the original TV show's ethos, characters, terminology and spaceship.
Spring Exams 2013: Library Hours & Services
Cramming at 2am? Lamont is open 24/7. Prefer a fireplace? Go to Gutman. Study break? Borrow a bike from the Law School Library. Freaking out? Check out Cooper, a therapy dog, from Countway.
Hofer Prize Winners Announced
The annual prize, named for Philip Hofer ’21, a former curator of Houghton Library, is given to students whose collection of books or works of art fulfill “the traditions of breadth, coherence and imagination” exemplified by Hofer.
Gutman Library Renovation Certified LEED Platinum
The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2012 renovation of Gutman Library’s first and second floor was recently recognized by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), receiving LEED Platinum certification.
Mirror With a Memory
The Harvard University Archives' exhibit displays photographs and other artifacts spotlighting Harvard in the Civil War era.
HLS and the Road to Marriage Equality
The Caspersen Room in the Harvard Law School Library is currently displaying an exhibit documenting the involvement of HLS students, faculty and alumni in the long road to marriage equality.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Stepping Stones for New Americans
This exhibit, which runs from April 15 through September 18, 2013, features material from collections in the Schlesinger Library of four Boston-area organizations founded to support immigrant groups. The documents and memorabilia of Denison House, the Lebanese Syrian Ladies' Aid Society, the North Bennet Street School, and the Window Shop showcase the diversity of the immigrant experience in Boston and the changing socio-political context in which the groups operated.
Tour of Houghton Library
Public tours of Houghton Library are offered every Friday at 2 pm. Attendees receive a general introduction to the library, followed by a tour of the Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell and John Keats rooms, as well as the suite devoted to the Donald & Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Those wishing to take the tour should meet in the Houghton Library lobby. Reservations are not required.
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.
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.
EndNote Essentials Workshop
A hands-on session on how to build and manage EndNote libraries, manage journal titles and write with EndNote in MS Word. Take advantage of EndNote's ability to harvest and manage full-text documents.
Tour of Widener Library
Tours of Widener Library are offered every Thursday for all currently affiliated Harvard faculty, staff, students and visiting scholars. Conducted by research and reference librarians, the tour includes an introduction to Widener's collections, orientation to the facilities, including the reading rooms and the stacks and an explanation of services available to researchers. All tours begin just beyond the Security Desk at the main (Yard) entrance of the building.
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.
Still Lives: Two Films By Susana de Sousa Dias
Portuguese filmmaker Susana de Sousa Dias has been using the images photographed and filmed by the Salazar dictatorship, which lasted nearly half a century, to provide a history of those years. In Still Life, she juxtaposes official propaganda and footage from everyday life to illuminate the control that authoritarian regime exerts over every facet of human existence. 48 displays the photos of imprisoned dissidents taken by the state police to create a vivid sense of oppression at work directly on the body and mind of its subjects. Susana de Sousa will attend both screenings.
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.
Librarians' Assembly Ice Cream Social
Join colleagues from across the Harvard Library for ice cream, friendly conversation and a chance to win raffle prizes, organized by the Librarians' Assembly Communications and Orientation Committee.
The Science of Placebo
The Program in Placebo Studies in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation presents The Science of Placebo. Speakers include Fabrizio Benedetti (Turin), Tor Wager (Colorado), Predrag Petrovic (Karolinska) and Ted Kaptchuk (Harvard). Co-sponsored by Countway Library's Center for Medical History.
