[Thanks to Andrea Cawelti, Ward Project Music Cataloger, for contributing this post.] John Milton Ward, William Powell Mason Professor of Music emeritus at Harvard University, recently donated to Houghton a large collection of full opera scores, primarily of French origin. While cataloging a printed score of Rodolphe Kreutzer’s Jadis et aujourd’hui, I discovered nestled within…
Byron exhibition now online
The online version of the Houghton Library exhibition “Let Satire Be My Song”: Byron’s English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, is now live on the HCL web site. The exhibition is a paratextual excursion through this vitriolic satire in verse, written in part as a response to a hostile review of the poet’s first book, Hours…
Paul Needham visits Houghton in October
Houghton Library is pleased to announce two events for the fall term. On Monday, October 24th, 5:30 p.m., Paul Needham, Scheide Librarian at Princeton University, will deliver the 94th Winship Lecture in the Lamont Library, Forum Room. Dr. Needham’s topic will be: “The Gutenberg Bible from Past to Present” He will include an overview extending…
A different Good Friday accord
[Thanks to recent Houghton reader Derek Miller, a PhD candidate in Drama at Stanford University, for contributing this post.] Exploring the Harvard Theatre Collection’s rich trove of correspondence among nineteenth-century American theater managers and performers makes clear how small this community was. Letters in the HTC capture managers negotiating contracts for star performers, haggling over…
Handle With Care
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new video tutorial, Handling Harvard’s Special Collections, which demonstrates basic handling procedures for bound, unbound, and oversized collection materials. The video is a collaboration between Houghton Library, the Weissman Preservation Center, and HCL Communications. It is intended for use university wide and is a wonderful resource…
Theatre Buffs Take Notice!
[This post comes from Alison Harris, Processing Assistant, Houghton Library] The Fredric Woodbridge Wilson Collection of Theater, Dance and Music (Harvard Theatre Collection) has an immense amount of programs from theatrical, musical and film productions. Recently cataloged materials include 20th and 21st century souvenir programs from traditional musical fare like Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your…
New on OASIS in September
Finding aids for 14 newly cataloged collections, and preliminary box lists for two recent acquisitions, have been added to the OASIS database this month, including drawings by Edward Lear and papers of the utopian Transcendentalist community Brook Farm….
Isadora Like You Never Saw Her
[Thanks to Karen Nipps, Head of the Rare Books Team, for contributing this post.] European graphic artists of the early 20th century clamored to distance themselves from the decorative excesses of Art Nouveau. In Germany, the poster style “plakastil” was particularly popular, with its emphasis on stark combinations of flat colors enhanced with simple, bold…
Romancing the Stone
[Thanks to Ward Project Music Cataloger Andrea Cawelti for contributing this post.] Alois Senefelder (1771-1834), actor and enthusiastic playwright, became consumed with finding a cheaper method of printing his own plays after discovering the expense of letterpress and engraving processes. He experimented with various kinds of etching on stone, which he later abandoned in favor…
New on OASIS in August
Finding aids for 14 newly cataloged collections, and a preliminary box list for one recent acquisition, have been added to the OASIS database this month, including photo albums of Virginia Woolf and the papers of the Baker Street Irregulars….