Houghton Library opening gala photographs and other records
Overview
Records relating to the gala for the opening of the Houghton Library in 1942.
Dates
- Creation: 1941-1982
Creator
- Houghton Library (Organization)
Condition Description
In good condition.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.08 linear feet (1 box)Photographs, menus, guest lists, seating arrangements, and correspondence relating to the opening gala for the Houghton Library.
Biographical / Historical
In 1938 Keyes D. Metcalf, Librarian of Harvard College and Director of the Harvard University Library (1937-1955), proposed a separate library building for rare books and manuscripts. Through the generosity of Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., Harvard Class of 1929, Harvard became the first American university to construct a separate research facility for the housing and study of rare books and manuscripts. The Houghton Library, dedicated and opened in 1942, won major architectural awards and became a model for other such research libraries.
Arrangement
Arranged in folders by type of material.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2018M-123. Gift of Roger E. Stoddard, 2018 June 1.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2023)
Creator
- Houghton Library (Organization)
- Title
- Houghton Library. Houghton Library opening gala photographs and other records, 1941-1982 (MS Am 3461): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2023 October 25
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03610
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu