Houghton Library Blog

Not all the objects in Houghton Library’s collections have such illustrious, proud histories as a Shakespeare First Folio or Gutenberg Bible.  Objects of less reputable association can provide just as striking of an encounter as these treasured relics, however. During the behind-the-scenes tour of Houghton on my first day of work at the library, I encountered one such item in the Harvard Theatre Collection: an actor’s promptbook of Richard III, belonging to one John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln.

Fly-leaf inscribed by John Wilkes Booth. ‘Shakespeare’s historical tragedy of Richard III: Adapted to representation by Colley Cibber,..’ (New York: Samuel French, [between 1857 and 1862]) pp. 16-17. TS Promptbook Sh154.322. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Promptbooks like this allowed actors to note specific stage directions and performance minutiae alongside the text itself. ‘Shakespeare’s historical tragedy of Richard III : Adapted to representation by Colley Cibber,..’ (New York: Samuel French, [between 1857 and 1862]), pp. 16-17. TS Promptbook Sh154.322. Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Houghton Library is pleased to announce the following collections are now described online and accessible in the reading room.

Collection of Anderson Entertainment Bureau Printed Ephemera, circa 1900-1910 (MS Thr 1844) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Boyle Family Papers, 1657-1903 (MS Eng 218) – processed by Michael Austin

British Prompt Book Collection and Theatrical Manuscript Collection, circa 1680-2000 (MS Thr 1816) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine Drawings, circa 1891-1922 (MS Thr 1823) – processed by Betts Coup

Rodney G. Dennis Poems and Related Papers, circa 1997-2012 (MS Am 3187) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Collection of Prints and Proofs by John DePol (MS Typ 1225) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Lyonel Feininger Papers, 1883-1960 (MS Ger 146-146.3) – additions processed by Adrien Hilton

David Gascoyne papers, 1941-2005, undated (MS Eng 1745) – processed by Rachel Parker

Nikos Gatsos Papers, circa 1930-1993 (MS Gr 40) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Men with Dwarfism (TCS 5) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Women with Dwarfism (TCS 6) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Men in “Freak Shows” (TCS 7) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Women in “Freak Shows” (TCS 8) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Popular Entertainment (TCS 10) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Scenes (TCS 11) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Photographic Portrait Postcards, circa 1870-2010 (TCS 14) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cartes-de-visite Photographs of Men, circa 1854-1879 (TCS 18) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cartes-de-visite Photographs of Women, circa 1854-1879 (TCS 19) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Popular Entertainment Playbills, Posters, Prints, and Clippings, 1618-1979 (inclusive), 1805-1895 (bulk) (MS Thr 1835) – processed by Betts Coup

Houghton Library Collection of Printing Ephemera, 2008-2018 (MS Typ 1222) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Houghton Library Collection of Printed Material Designed by Fré Cohen, 1922-1938 (MS Typ 1226) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Donald & Mary Hyde Collection of Realia Related to Samuel Johnson, circa 1748-1957 (MS Hyde 105) – processed by Michael Austin

Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library Poster Collection, 1840-2011 (MS Am 3135) – processed by Rachel Parker

Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library Real Free Press collection, 1965-1980 (MS Dutch 24) – processed by Susan Wyssen and Rachel Parker

National and World’s Peace Jubilees And Music Festivals Collection, 1869-1872 (MS Thr 1837) – processed by Betts Coup

Printed Ephemera Relating to Theatricals at Strawberry Hill House, 1801-1804 (MS Thr 1843) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane Contracts, 1834-1867 (MS Thr 616) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Houghton Library is pleased to announce the following collections are now described online and accessible in the reading room.

Dyke Benjamin Collection of John Ruskin and His Circle, 1815-1916 (MS Eng 1812) – processed by Magee Lawhorn

José María Castañé Collection of 20th Century War-related Manuscripts, Photographs, and Objects, circa 1898-1990 (MS Span 185) – processed by Michael Austin

José María Castañé Collection of Manuscripts from the Spanish Civil War and Early Francoist Spain, Circa 1923-1982 (MS Span 188) – processed by Michael Austin

Joseph D. Everingham Collection, 1956-1981, undated (MS Thr 1822) – processed by Betts Coup

William Friedkin Autograph Manuscript, Audio Recordings, and Research Materials for the Memoir The Friedkin Connection, circa 2009-2013 (MS Am 3183) – processed by – Magee Lawhorn

Alfred Frueh caricatures (MS Thr 1818) – processed by Betts Coup

John and Carol Garrard Collection for Russian Orthodoxy Resurgent, circa 1959-2005 (MS Russ 147) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet Photographs of Groups of Performers (TCS 3) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Cabinet photographs of European operetta performers (TCS 4) – processed by Sarah Mirseyedi

Harvard Theatre Collection Original Drawings (MS Thr 1810) – processed by Betts Coup

Harvard Theatre Collection Shakespeare fantasy prints (MS Thr 1821) – processed by Betts Coup

Harvard University Student Theatre Posters, Designs, and Photographs, circa 1905-2017 (MS Thr 1809) – processed by Betts Coup

Kelly E. Laukemann Research Collection on the Boston Opera House, circa 1970-2003 (MS Thr 1812) – processed by Magee Lawhorn

Lear family correspondence, 1847-1873 (MS Eng 1826) – processed by Michael Austin

Marilyn Miller Scrapbooks, 1891-1918 (MS Thr 1811) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions Records, circa 1833-1911 (MS Am 3173) – processed by Ashley Nary

Winifred Coombe Tennant Papers, circa 1911-1945 (MS Eng 1825) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Watermark Tracings from the Topkapi Palace Museum Archives (MS Typ 1215) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Woodberry Poetry Room Records, circa 1827-2000 (MS Am 3170) – processed by Ashley Nary

This post continues the series, “Behind the Scenes at Houghton”, giving a glimpse into the inner workings of the library’s mission to support teaching and research. Thanks to Magdaline Lawhorn, Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Resident & Project Archivist, for contributing this post.

Library and information professionals love developing workflows! Workflows make our work more manageable by increasing efficiency through step-by-step procedures that accommodate different scenarios. Houghton’s Born-Digital team is also Houghton’s accessioning team. We are fluent in accessioning manuscript collections. But does accessioning change when dealing with born-digital materials? Should it? Given the relative fragility of born-digital media, there are different elements we have to capture and account for in order to achieve a base level of physical and intellectual control of born-digital materials. Putting policies and systems in place to create records that track the handling of born-digital materials allows us to provide a higher level of service to our patrons. Our accessioning workflow is the first step in providing access to materials that are presently inaccessible to interested researchers and scholars.

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Announcing the Summer Spotlight Series    

I am a recent graduate of Harvard College, and I began working as a library assistant at Houghton in May.  Mostly, that means I hunt down books for patrons and return them to the shelf when they’re done.  An indelible part of my subterranean stack-roaming has been a whole lot of gawking (and a nonzero number of bona fide gasps, I’ll inform you).  Safeguarding and delivering the material in the stacks requires a certain amount of day-to-day tedium, true—but nothing prevents fatigue like arriving at the end of a long trail of call-number crumbs to find a case containing a lock of Byron’s hair.  And then remembering that it’s your job to bring that hair to someone upstairs, perhaps igniting some researcher’s last deposit of fan-club devotion buried by years of wrangling with a monstrous monograph.  It’s this excitement lurking behind every unassuming call number that makes the job a treasured rarity, a true first edition in a world of reprints.  Yes, working in a place that is this genuinely cool will make you start saying corny stuff like that—and maybe even believe it.

This post is the first in a two-part series called “Summer Spotlight,” in which I will feature some of the more interesting or peculiar items I encounter in the stacks.

-Mitchell Edwards, Harvard College ’18, Houghton Student Library Assistant

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In surveying our collections for born-digital materials while also committing two staff to processing backlog collections and providing access at point of accession, we are excited to announce the following 22 collections are now more fully described and discoverable online.

Russell Ball Photographs, circa 1920-1930 (MS Thr 1792) – processed by Betts Coup

Lucia Berlin Papers, circa 1955-2004 (MS Am 3095) — processed by Magee Lawhorn

Elizabeth Bishop Poetry Reading and Commemorative Lectures with Related Material, 1976 (MS Am 3180) – processed by Melanie Wisner

José María Castañé Collection of War Photographs by Soviet Photojournalists, 1941-1946 (MS Russ 145) — processed by Irina Klyagin

Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials : photographs, 1937 (MS Russ 146) – processed by Magee Lawhorn

Anna Erskine Crouse Theatrical Portrait And Scene Photographs, 1933-1938, undated (MS Thr 1790) — processed by Betts Coup

Dance in Art : Reproductions of Works of Art in Various Media, circa 2002 (MS Thr 1804) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Harry C. Phibbs Goodman Theatre Production Photographs, circa 1925-1928 (MS Thr 1791) — processed by Betts Coup

Edward Hoagland Papers, circa 1936-2017 (MS Am 3176) — processed by Melanie Wisner

Collection of Promotional Material, Photographs, and Periodicals Relating to Sir Lady Java (MS Thr 1777) — processed by Melanie Wisner

Leo and Louise Kerz Papers and Designs, circa 1920-1996 (MS Thr 1796) — processed by Melanie Wisner

Dorothy Coit King-Coit School And Children’s Theatre Collection, circa 1922-1979 (MS Thr 1795) — processed by Betts Coup

Frederick R. Koch Photographs Of Modern And Ballet Dancers (MS Thr 1797) — processed by Betts Coup

Towards the Meaning of James Laughlin : Transcripts, 2001 (MS Am 3179) – processed by Melanie Wisner and Magee Lawhorn

Little, Brown and Company Medical Division Book Covers, 1963-1982 (MS Am 3171) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Milton Morris Pinkus Photographs and Papers Concerning World War I Ambulance Corps Service, circa 1914-1918 (MS Am 3182) – processed by Melanie Wisner and Magee Lawhorn

Skinner Family Papers (MS Thr 857) – processed by Betts Coup

Eleanor Steber Collection, circa 1920-1990 (MS Thr 1793) – processed by Betts Coup

Roger E. Stoddard Collection of Photographs of European Booksellers, 1997-1999 (MS Am 3169) — processed by Adrien Hilton

Theatrical organization photographs, circa 1860-1925 (TCS 41) – processed by Betts Coup

Theatrical Photographs By Photographer, circa 1915-1977, undated (TCS 42) – processed by Betts Coup

Wes Wallace Collection of Zines and Comics, circa 1990-2002 (MS Am 3178) – processed by Melanie Wisner

This post continues the series, “Behind the Scenes at Houghton”, giving a glimpse into the inner workings of the library’s mission to support teaching and research. Thanks to Magdaline Lawhorn, Administrative Fellow & Project Archivist, for contributing this post.

So far in this series, I have discussed Houghton’s first steps in the born-digital initiative, the burgeoning digital forensic workstation, allocation of physical space, and our strategy thus far. Let us take a few steps back in order to move forward and revisit the survey report we discussed in Blog Post #2. Through Cognos, a reporting tool, we surveyed our holdings by pulling a report from Aleph (the staff mode of our integrated library system) querying specific fields with a devised vocabulary (i.e. terms such as USB, flash drive, thumb drive, etc.). This tool has allowed us to search for and identify collections that have born-digital components.

Statistics from the Cognos report pulled from Aleph. Undetermined data represents inconclusive information.

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Houghton Library is pleased to announce that the following collections now have descriptive finding aids and are available for research in the library’s reading room.

José María Castañé Collection of German Wartime Propaganda Flyers in Russian, 1942-1944 (MS Russ 144) – processed by Irina Klyagin

Angna Enters Collection, 1929-1962, and undated (MS Thr 1784) – processed by Betts Coup

T.T. Gill Scene Designs, circa 1900-1930 (MS Thr 1779) – processed by Betts Coup

Father Michael J. Gillgannon Collection of Missionary Writings on Bolivia, circa 1976-2002 (MS Am 3172) – processed by Magdaline Lawhorn

David Hilberman “The Mother Of Us All” Designs, 1947-1965 (MS Thr 1781) – processed by Betts Coup

George Holland Papers, circa 1817-1869 (MS Thr 1786) – processed by Melanie Wisner

Joan Personette Costume Designs, circa 1940s (MS Thr 1782) – processed by Betts Coup

Daniel Rabel ballet drawings, 1625-1626 (MS Thr 1775) – processed by Betts Coup

Alekseĭ Remizov Letters to Boris Ungebaun with Related Papers, 1920-1963 (MS Russ 143) – processed by Magdaline Lawhorn

Theatrical Portrait Photographs (TCS 28) – processed by Betts Coup

Theatrical Scene Photographs (TCS 29) – processed by Betts Coup

Jo Ellis Tracy ballet drawings, circa 1990-1999 (MS Thr 1776) – processed by Betts Coup

Wulkan Family Theatrical Cabinet Cards, circa 1880-1900 (MS Thr 1773) – processed by Magdaline Lawhorn

This post continues the series, “Behind the Scenes at Houghton”, giving a glimpse into the inner workings of the library’s mission to support teaching and research. Thanks to Magdaline Lawhorn, Administrative Fellow & Project Archivist, for contributing this post.

A functional workstation is pivotal to every archivist’s work, especially when dealing with the born-digital environment that always appears to be in flux. Initially Houghton’s digital forensic workstation (DFW) was based on preliminary findings that reflected a small set of materials from a select number of collections. Presently the DFW toolkit is comprised of basic hardware and software with a few more advanced elements.

The first things every DFW needs are fundamental tools: computer, keyboard, mouse, and a suitable desk. Our workstation is outfitted with two tools that allow us to capture, store, and process our born-digital materials, the Mac Mini 2.3 and the G-Raid Mini. The Mac Mini 2.3 is an asset because it is a portable computer that has the capacity to run a virtual machine (an operating system or application environment that is installed with software, which imitates dedicated hardware). Likewise the G Raid mini is a portable device with a dual-drive storage system that acts as immediate but temporary storage.

Digital Forensics Workstation (DFW)

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Langdon Warner, 1908, during his first trip to Japan as a Harvard Sheldon Travelling Fellow.

In 2016, I stumbled across a surprising body of materials at Houghton Library while conducting research for my dissertation project on the establishment of East Asian art history as a discipline in the United States, circa 1900-1960. I had been aware for some time of the life and legacy of Langdon Warner (1881-1955)—the first curator of Asian art at the Harvard Fogg Museum. Like many others, I was cognizant of Warner’s involvement with two expeditions taken on behalf of the Fogg Museum in the 1920s to western China. Warner’s actions on these trips have long overshadowed a lifetime of study, teaching, and travel. However, my research concerned his role as an early American educator in the field of East Asian art history. Having already examined the Warner materials at other repositories across campus, I expected to find only a small body of letters and journals related to Warner’s expeditions in the Houghton collections.

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