Houghton Library at Harvard has an incomparable set of materials relating to Edward Lear—the largest, most diverse collection in the world: his natural history illustrations, thousands of landscape paintings, travel journals, diaries, letters, nonsense books and manuscripts, and personal documents including musical scores. This is the first of four blogs by Matthew Bevis, Professor of English Literature Read More
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Solar Eclipses and Citizen Science
As you’ve probably heard, a solar eclipse will be visible in the U.S. today from coast to coast. The PBS television program NOVA will air a special episode tonight including live footage of the eclipse, and talking about the history and scientific significance of solar eclipses. Back in April, a film crew visited Houghton in Read More
A century of John Milton Ward
Today, John Milton Ward, the donor of the Harvard Theatre Collection’s Ward Collection, would have been 100 years old. Having spent most of my formative Harvard years working with him, I’d like to take a moment to share some thoughts on this auspicious occasion. I began working for John Ward in 2002, so his professor Read More
Climbing that career ladder
Ah, patronage. That special arrangement, in which a composer or author contacts someone in High Places, and asks them to lend their name (and/or their money) to a publication. No less a luminary then Blackadder has struggled with its complexities. Scholars today are particularly interested in those little dedications often found at the head of Read More
Nineteenth-Century Bound Sheet Music Volumes Part II: Souvenir of the Confederacy
Most bound volumes in our collection that are about one inch thick contain between thirty and forty individual pieces. This volume, unassuming as it is, contains ninety three.