“There’s no place like home” – and for many people home is incomplete without a pet dog or cat. Spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, the items in this display delve into the powerful relationship between pets and the idea of home, and its associations of belonging and security, safety and acceptance, and obedience and propriety. They also explore the fine line between tameness and wildness, and the limits of the human social order.
Curated by Mitch Nakaue, Interim Head of Scholarly and Public Programs and Editor, Harvard Library Bulletin, with thanks to Keren Tran, Peter X. Accardo, Susi Barbarossa, Laura Larkin, Carie McGinnis, Sara Powell, and Molly Schwartzburg (Houghton), and Rebecca Martin (Gutman Library).