Lamont Library is a pillar in almost any undergraduate’s time at Harvard, and last year Lamont celebrated its 75th birthday. On February 5, there was a gathering in Lamont Cafe to celebrate.
Students mingled in the cafe over the course of a couple of hours, some studying, some talking with friends, all of them excited to enjoy complimentary cupcakes and hot chocolate made to order. The cafe was a cozy mix of students, library staff, and faculty members.
The crown jewels of the celebration were two intricate projections: one on the west face of the library’s entrance where its name is engraved in the brick, and one inside Lamont Cafe. Both projections displayed computer animations of large, rotating bricks whose sides were decorated with photos and scenes from Lamont over the decades.
Photos gathered by librarians decorated the animated bricks: everything from Instagram photos of Lamont events to archival, black-and-white photos from Lamont’s early days, and photos its construction in 1949. Photos of Lamont in the snow or framed by flowers in full bloom, candids of hardworking students, a Lamont flashmob, and even photos of Lamont during the Occupy Harvard movement all cycle through the vivid projections.
The most stunning detail: carefully aligned, neon-blue detailing illuminated “Lamont Library” where it was carved in the real stone as well as “75” in the upper corner.
Lamont has Devon Bryant to thank for these beautiful installations. Bryant is a projection mapping artist and mentor for Cabot Library’s tech loan program. He has been working at Cabot for the past two years and given his expertise in projection installation and digital art, he was the ideal creative lead for the project.
It wasn’t easy to bring the walls of Lamont to life. While librarians gathered all the featured images, Bryant paid a visit to Lamont and took measurements alongside carefully framed pictures. Importing these into Photoshop and working with a Cinema 40 receiver, Bryant created an exact digital replica of the Lamont walls out of thick, 3D-animated bricks. With the simulated wall constructed, Bryant “placed” the camera roughly where it would sit at the physical site and used a program called MadMapper to pull on the corners of the image and “zhuzh the geometry a little bit.” This careful work yielded the stunning projections that graced Lamont’s walls.
Though it sounds complicated, this process Bryant specializes in called projection mapping is completely accessible to students. From multiple high-quality projectors to laptops with the software already installed, students who have completed the proper training can borrow out all of the equipment used at the Lamont celebration.
Beyond just equipment, students can even “borrow” Bryant as a mentor to guide them through the projection mapping process, from start to finish. This is what Bryant loves, he wants students to know that whatever they want to do is possible. “This position at Harvard has been wonderful because I get to share what I know,” Bryant said. It’s definitely worth it: Bryant’s projections brought the history of Lamont to life in a whole new way.
Lamont’s history is rich and complex. Built in 1949 to alleviate the strain on the Widener stacks from Harvard’s growing library collections, Lamont was the first freestanding library at a research institution in the nation that was dedicated to undergraduate students. Susan Gilroy, Librarian for Undergraduate Writing Programs, has worked at Lamont for nearly 25 years and has seen over half of its deep history. "It has always adapted to what students need.” For example, during her time at the Harvard Law School, Ruth Bader Ginsburg couldn’t enter Lamont Library, but in 1967, Lamont admitted women into its stacks. In 2005 the library shifted to its now well-known 24-hour schedule.
This 24-hour schedule is partly what makes Lamont so well-known among undergraduates. With lights on 24 hours, Lamont is a home to those studying into the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning. Some students even go so far as to make pseudo-homes in Lamont: these students are affectionately dubbed lamonsters. “The lamonster is an affectionate term, someone for whom Lamont is this third space,” Gilroy said.
Lamont Library has always been more than just a study space—it’s a living, evolving part of student life at Harvard. From its history as the first undergraduate-focused library at a research institution to its role today as a late-night haven for lamonsters, Lamont continues to adapt to the needs of the students who fill its alcoves.
Whether it’s through celebrations like its 75th anniversary, the return of the bustling cafe, or innovative projects like Bryant’s stunning projections, Lamont remains a space shaped by and for the Harvard community. As it moves into its next chapter, one thing is certain: Lamont will continue to be a place of discovery, connection, and inspiration for generations of students to come.
by Primo Lagaso Goldberg ’25, Harvard Library Communications Intern