This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the exhibition Open House 75: Houghton Staff Select on display in the Edison and Newman Room from May 8 – August 19, 2017. In 1746, a consortium of London publishers approached Samuel Johnson, a rising star in the literary world, with a proposal: write…
Most Creative: John Lithgow’s Harvard Years
It’s been a year of milestones for actor and Harvard alum John Lithgow, who this week celebrates his 50th class reunion. Last April, he was fêted with the 2017 Harvard Arts Medal at the kick-off of Arts First, the annual festival of student creativity he helped launch 25 years ago. Self-portrait as Winston Churchill in…
Open House 75: Houghton Library Staff Select
The 75th anniversary of Houghton Library has provided an occasion to reflect on the library’s founding and history, to connect with friends and supporters old and new, and to consider the challenges and opportunities that will shape our future. Throughout our 75th year, we have carried out a series of events, publications, and other…
Julian I. Edison in Memoriam
Houghton Library is saddened to learn that Julian I. Edison (AB ’51, MBA ’53) of St. Louis, Missouri, passed away on Monday, May 8, 2017. With Mr. Edison’s death, both Houghton and Harvard University have lost one of their most distinguished and generous supporters. Julian was the former CEO and chairman of Edison Brothers Stores,…
John Lithgow: Actor as Artist
Exhibit opens showcasing ‘Trial & Error’ star’s talent for drawing as well as drama. Halfway through his freshman year, John Lithgow set his sights on a summer residency at the artist colony in Skowhegan, Maine. Hoping to give his son’s application an edge, John’s father arranged a private interview with the painter Ben Shahn, a formidable…
“Fuel for the fire of learning”: Houghton Library Opens its Doors
On this day seventy-five years ago, 3 January 1942, library staff and their families attended a private celebration to mark the opening of the new Houghton Library. As the Second World War raged in two theaters, William A. Jackson, the new Library’s first director, and Philip Hofer, the founding curator of its Department of Printing…
Undergraduates at Houghton, Part I: Consolidating Works on Manuscripts
This coming fall will see the opening of Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections, an exhibition of medieval and Renaissance books from local institutions. The Houghton Library will loan the vast majority of the manuscripts on display, and the library will also act as one of three venues for the exhibition. Preparations are not…
Babar Comes to Houghton Library
Houghton Library is pleased to announce two important new acquisitions associated with the iconic children’s book character Babar the elephant. The first of these, thanks to a generous gift from Laurent de Brunhoff and his wife Phyllis Rose, is the complete archive of preparatory materials for the book ABC de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff,…
A library for a stage, students to act
Last night, within the girdle of Houghton’s walls, Harvard’s own Hyperion Shakespeare Company worked on our imaginary forces, staging five scenes from Shakespeare on four unworthy scaffolds throughout the library. Visitors jumped o’er time, from room to room, to behold the swelling scene! Thank you Hyperion!…
Caliban inspires Klingon makeover
“You have never experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.” At least that’s what Klingon chancellor Gorkon tells Spock in The Undiscovered Country, the last installment of the original Star Trek film series. Like self-serious English majors, Klingons quote the Earth-poet Shakespeare more than any other author—yes, sometimes even in their…