The Harvard Gazette

Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library

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Black and white photo of Abele.

Shining a light on a genius

Recognizing prominent architect Julian Abele and his role in designing Harvard’s Widener Library

Campus|

DateFebruary 26, 2020

Dunster House, the first undergraduate House to be completely renewed, opened its doors to students in August 2015.

Going forward, a look back

The University in 2015-16 saw milestones related to diversity, scientific advances, and the renaming of the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Campus|

DateMay 26, 2016

Many items in general circulation at Widener would anywhere else only be found in special collections. Vulnerable items still in the stacks come to light because of alert library users. “They’re targeting the items we most want to find,” said Todd Bachmann, associate head of imaging services at Widener.

Treasures hiding in plain sight

A collaborative Widener Library program rescues vulnerable books

Campus|

DateApril 19, 2012July 9, 2019

First-class Titanic passenger Harry Elkins Widener, a 27-year-old Philadelphia businessman and book collector who had graduated from Harvard College in 1907, perished in the boat's sinking along with his father, George D. Widener. His mother, Eleanor Elkins Widener, survived, floating to safety aboard lifeboat No. 4. Not long after the Titanic went down, the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library went up at Harvard, thanks to a $2 million donation from his grieving mother.

Widener Library rises from Titanic tragedy

Ship disaster prompted memorial gift that led to book repository

Arts|

DateApril 5, 2012March 14, 2019

Leslie Morris, the curator of modern books and manuscripts, helps oversee the John Updike Archive at Houghton Library. Once cataloged, his papers will be ready for researchers in the summer of 2012.

Treasure island

How Houghton Library saves and serves famed authors’ work

Arts|

DateNovember 9, 2011May 16, 2019

There are also a few common sense restrictions on archival materials, “in many cases because of fragility,” said Houghton assistant curator Heather Cole. That includes items that predate Christ, like the extensive collection of documents on papyrus. It also extends to the John Keats manuscripts and to the Emily Dickinson family books that are printed on brittle stock.

The history at Houghton

A tour of Harvard’s modernized ‘Treasure Room’

Arts|

DateNovember 9, 2011May 16, 2019