New Web page guides users through Santo Domingo Collection

Harvard’s recently acquired Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection centers on art, literature, and popular culture artifacts related to the chief avenues to altered states of mind: sex and drugs.  It is the largest collection of its kind in the world, and since its arrival at Harvard, this collection has sparked great interest.

A new page has been created on the Houghton Library website, helping to guide users in the exploration of this unique collection.

Including rare books, manuscripts, posters, photographs, audio material, and popular and underground cultural ephemera of all kinds, the 50,000-plus item collection will support teaching and research in many fields across the University.

The collection was formed by Julio Mario Santo Domingo Jr., an investment adviser who resigned his business interests to devote himself to collecting. His acquisitions followed his wide-ranging personal interests.

The Santo Domingo Collection is not physically together in one location. Materials are housed in the Botany Libraries; the Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library; the Fine Arts Library; and Widener Library, as well as in Houghton Library. Readers can browse the collection “virtually” through the HOLLIS catalog.