Thanks to the efforts of Longfellow's descendants, the collections at the Longfellow National Historic Site (Longfellow's former residence) constitute one of the most complete records available of the intellectual, cultural, and social interests of a prominent nineteenth-century New England family. In 1950, the Trustees of the Longfellow House transferred Longfellow's personal papers as well as many of his books to Harvard's Houghton Library. All items in the exhibition are from this source unless otherwise noted. Fifty-one years later, Houghton Library also purchased, with the Bayard Livingston and Kate Gray Kilgour fund, the largest modern private collection of Longfellow items (books, manuscripts, and artifacts) formed by Victor Gulotta, a bibliophile of Newton, MA.
"Public Poet, Private Man" combines the extensive Longfellow holdings of Houghton Library with highlights from the collections of the Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge, MA.
Public Poet, Private Man: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200, is accompanied by an exhibition catalog by curator Christoph Irmscher that provides a more extensive commentary on Longfellow and the items in this exhibition. Copies are available for purchase at $30; orders should be addressed to Monique Duhaime, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 (email: duhaime@fas.harvard.edu).