Among the letters collected in three morocco-bound autograph albums by Massachusetts senator, abolitionist, and bibliophile Charles Sumner is one from Lorenzo Da Ponte, best remembered as Mozart’s librettist for Le Mariage de Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, to England’s future “Prince of Librarians,” Antonio Panizzi. The letter was written on behalf of a…
New on OASIS in August
Finding aids for 10 newly cataloged collections have been added to the OASIS database this month, including the papers of the influential drama educator, Harvard’s George Pierce Baker….
You’ve Got Mail: Business as usual in the 2nd Century
Here is a letter, written on papyrus, from Apion, a man of property, to his son of the same name and also to Horion, either a close friend of the family or an unspecified relation. Apion’s concerns are those of any businessman: balancing debits and credits, keeping up with his civic duties, minding his real…
You’ve Got Mail: Equal to any figure ever painted by Audubon
When Edward Lear received a letter from the British ornithologist William Swainson in November 1831, he must have opened it with great trepidation. The nineteen-year-old artist had recently sent Swainson a portfolio of hand-colored lithographs of parrots and was eagerly waiting to hear his reaction. What a thrill — and a relief — he must have felt…
You’ve Got Mail: The enclosed Declaration of Independence
Exactly 236 years ago today, President of the Continental Congress John Hancock sent one of the just-printed copies of the Declaration of Independence to General Artemas Ward, commander of the Continental Army troops in Boston. Hancock’s letter came to Houghton as part of John Hubbard Collection of signers of the Declaration of Independence, previously mentioned…
Just wild about Henri
Seems like everywhere I look these days, I’m seeing Henri IV. The French king, that is. The sightings first began with a volume of dance tunes, printed in 1785 and after, including 16 vols. of the series Recueil de pot poury françois et contredanses … qui se dansent chez la Reine. Among the admittedly many…
Thumbs up, America!
Music has always played a major role in U.S. political campaigns – Sarah Palin had Heart’s Barracuda and Bill Clinton had Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t stop. However, long before television commercials, songs espousing a candidate’s platform were vital to spreading the candidate’s message and increasing their popularity. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes beat Samuel J….
New on OASIS in July
Finding aids for 11 newly cataloged collections have been added to the OASIS database this month, including sheet music relating to Charles Dickens and political candidates, sound recordings and movies from our Johnny Green collection, and papers about Octavio Paz….
You’ve Got Mail: The Hofers from Yale
Philip Hofer (1898-1984), founding Curator of the Department of Printing & Graphic Arts in Houghton Library, was in Oxford in June 1962 to deliver his six Lyell lectures on “The Artist and the Book in France.” He and Mrs. Hofer used this occasion to visit a number of friends and colleagues in England. On Sunday…
You’ve Got Mail: “Of what athority E. esteems this mutalated gospel?”
Theological disagreements between family members are not a new phenomenon, as evidenced in this week’s letter. Few families, however, contain one of the most prominent religious and philosophical thinkers of the last two centuries, a student of the founder of “higher criticism” and a self-taught woman who defied rigid theological and societal definition. Mary Moody…