Houghton Library

Houghton Library Home to Harvard’s rare books and manuscripts, literary and performing arts archives, and more.

What You Can Do At Houghton
• Research rare books
• Attend free exhibits & events
• Tour our historic building
• Teach with primary sources

What We Do
• Provide access to special collections
• Perform reference and research consultations
• Teach with primary sources
• Acquire, catalog, process, and preserve rare books, manuscripts, archives, and more
• Digitize collection materials to preserve an

d make them more widely accessible
• Support research at Harvard and beyond through four fellowship programs
• Organize and host dynamic public programs, including exhibitions, lectures, poetry readings, and symposia
• Publish scholarly and literary journals: Harvard Library Bulletin and Harvard Review
• Maintain an active national and international loan program
• Conduct tours of the building every Friday

It’s officially summer! 🌹🪻🌷🌻⛲️For our gardeners and garden enthusiasts, here’s a selection of gorgeous garden designs fr...
06/22/2026

It’s officially summer!

🌹🪻🌷🌻⛲️

For our gardeners and garden enthusiasts, here’s a selection of gorgeous garden designs from "Colour in My Garden" by American gardening writer and designer Louise Beebe Wilder. These exquisite plates were painted by her friend and neighbor, Anna Winegar, over the course of a year as a visual chronicle of Wilder’s garden from “the chancy flight of young spring along the languorous road of Summer to Autumn’s shining house.”



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Louise Beebe Wilder (1878–1938) and Anna Winegar (1867–1941). Colour in My Garden. New York, 1918. Lowell 4225.95. From the library of Amy Lowell.

1) The Half Moon Pool (June 28th)
2) Hollyhocks and Delphinium (July 7th)
3) Summer Moonlight (August 10th)

Houghton Library will be closed tomorrow in observance of Juneteenth.Currently on view in our "War of Words" exhibition:...
06/18/2026

Houghton Library will be closed tomorrow in observance of Juneteenth.

Currently on view in our "War of Words" exhibition: "Liberty Further Extended," a civic sermon written by Lemuel Haynes, the first ordained African American minister, who recognized at once the contradiction between the Declaration’s pronouncement that “all men are created equal” and the ownership of enslaved people by its principal author and many of its signers. Addressing colonial slaveholders, he writes “It is Strange that you Should want the Least Stimulation to further Expressions of so noble a Spirit. Some gentlemen have Determined to Contend in a Consistent manner: they have Let the oppressed go free.”

Explore our "War of Words" exhibition anytime through Houghton’s Bloomberg Connects guide: https://bit.ly/3SdENGF



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Lemuel Haynes (1753–1833). Liberty Further Extended. Unpublished, 1776. MS Am 1907 (608). Gift of J. J. Higginson, 1989.

Matthias Darly capitalized on an English fashion for large hairstyles in the 1770s with a series of comic prints that sh...
06/17/2026

Matthias Darly capitalized on an English fashion for large hairstyles in the 1770s with a series of comic prints that showed women with impossibly tall and elaborate coiffures. Perhaps the most outlandish of those is this one, showing British and American encampments battling atop a woman’s head.

On view in the Edison and Newman Room through August 7, 2026.



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Matthias Darly (1720–1778). Bunkers Hill, or America’s Head Dress. London, 1776. MS Eng 1900 (1.14). Gift of William B. Osgood Field, 1942.

"Beschrijving eener ongemeen groote electrizeer-machine" (Description of an Exceptionally Large Electrical Machine) by D...
06/15/2026

"Beschrijving eener ongemeen groote electrizeer-machine" (Description of an Exceptionally Large Electrical Machine) by Dutch scientist and Teylers Museum director Martinus van Marum features spectacular engraved plates, including this fold-out plate depicting a long spark generated by his large electrostatic generator ⚡.

Van Marum was influenced by Benjamin Franklin’s earlier experiments on electricity, building off of them with his own and seemingly proving Franklin’s one-fluid theory of electricity. He also met Franklin during a trip to Paris in 1785 and presented him with a copy of his treatise.

Franklin probably gifted a copy to Havard of his "Experiments and Observations on Electricity," which includes this fold-out plate with diagrams on how to replicate his experiments. This copy is among the books that survived Harvard’s 1764 fire.



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Martinus van Marum (1750–1837). Beschryving eener ongemeen groote electrizeer-machine, geplaatst in Teyler’s museum te Haarlem, en van de proefneemingen met dezelve in ’t werk gesteld. Haarlem, 1785. NC8.M3684.785b. Gift of David Pingree Wheatland, 1971.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). Experiments and Observations on Electricity. London, 1751–1754. AC7.F8545.751e pt.1/2. Probably the gift of the author to Harvard College Library.

🏆 To celebrate the kickoff of the FIFA World Cup, here’s a 16th-century engraving of a calcio game in Florence's Piazza ...
06/11/2026

🏆 To celebrate the kickoff of the FIFA World Cup, here’s a 16th-century engraving of a calcio game in Florence's Piazza Santa Croce.

This engraved plate comes from our first edition of the first book devoted to calcio, a distinctively Florentine pastime that’s generally considered to be the historical ancestor of football 🏈 and soccer ⚽.



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Giovanni de’ Bardi (1534–1612). Discorso sopra il givco del calcio fiorentino. Firenze, 1580. Typ 525 80.194. Gift of John Pierpont Morgan, 1927.

Pierre Belon was a French naturalist. His second book, "De aquatilibus," greatly expanded on his "L’histoire naturelle d...
06/08/2026

Pierre Belon was a French naturalist. His second book, "De aquatilibus," greatly expanded on his "L’histoire naturelle des estranges poissons marins" (Natural history of unusual marine fish) and included descriptions and illustrations of 185 fish, mollusks, and aquatic mammals. Its publication has been credited as the greatest single advance in the scientific study and classification of fish since Aristotle laid the foundation of modern ichthyology.

On view in the Houghton Lobby Gallery through August 21, 2026.



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Pierre Belon (1517–1564). De aquatilibus: Libri duo; cm [epsilon, iota] conibus ad viuam ipsorum effigiem, quoad eius fieri potuit, expressis. Paris, 1553. Ang 47.46*. Gift of John Bartlett, 1892.

06/05/2026

Catch "Celtic Art Across the Ages" at the Harvard Art Museums! It is the first major exhibition on this topic to take place in the United States and features some items from Houghton Library that illustrate modern views of ancient Celts, key moments in the study of Celtic languages, and the reception of Celtic art and myth.

On view through August 2, 2026.



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Folio from Julius Caesar, Gallic War (Venice: Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, 1519). OLC C116 519 (B). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ward M. Canaday, 1954.

Plate I from Thomas Harriot, Merveilleux et estrange rapport, toutesfois fidèle, des
commoditez qui se trouvent en Virginia (Briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia), with engravings by Theodor de Bry (Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1590). US 19095.88.14*. Peter Paul Francis Degrand Fund, 1941.

Edward Lhuyd, Archaeologia Britannica (Oxford: 1707). 3271.4*. Gift of Thomas Hollis, 1774.

Leabhar na cCath (Book of Battles) (Cork: Copied by Peattair Ó Longáin for Aindrias Ó Súilleabháin, 1828). MS Ir 12. Charles Minot Fund, 1912.

James MacPherson, Fingal, an ancient epic poem in six books (London : Printed for T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, in the Strand, 1762). EC75.M2414.761f. Gift of Miriam R. Small, 1964.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate (Dublin: Cuala Press, 1912[?]). Typ 983 12.675. Gift of William B. Osgood Field, 1949.

Oidhche Sheanchais (Storytellers Night). Directed by Robert Flaherty. London, 1935. MS Ir 36. Transfer from Widener Library, 1956.

Declaring independence was just the first step towards forming the United States. After more than a year of debate, the ...
06/01/2026

Declaring independence was just the first step towards forming the United States. After more than a year of debate, the Second Continental Congress, meeting west of Philadelphia due to the British occupation, adopted the Articles of Confederation as the first form of government for the fledgling U.S. To win the support of wary smaller states, the powers of the central government were minimized, and each state received an equal vote in Congress.

On view in the Houghton Library Lobby Gallery through August 27, 2026.



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Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Lancaster, PA: Francis Bailey, 1777. AC7 Un33C 777a. Friends of the Library Fund, 1941.

In honor today, we’re taking a moment to celebrate two of our graduating student workers and the important work they d...
05/28/2026

In honor today, we’re taking a moment to celebrate two of our graduating student workers and the important work they do to support Houghton!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT (2/2): Moqadas Rasul is completing her Master of Theological Studies at the Harvard Divinity School, with a concentration in Islamic Studies. She started working at Houghton in Fall of 2024.

📝 Most memorable experience of working at Houghton?
My most memorable experience has been working with Arabic manuscripts while assisting with digitization projects. As someone concentrating in Islamic Studies, it was fascinating for me to see manuscripts connected to the early Islamic period, including old hadith texts, works by early Islamic scholars, and Qur’an manuscripts. Being able to personally see these centuries-old manuscripts has been the most memorable experience for me, so I have attached a few photos of it as well.

📚 Favorite collection?
My favorite object was a Qur’an manuscript that I came across while paging in the stacks at Pusey (MS Arab SM6025). It looked very old and appeared to be written on parchment or animal skin. I was struck by how fragile, beautiful, and historically rich it felt. Seeing it so closely was a very special experience.

In honor of today, we’re taking a moment to celebrate two of our graduating student workers and the important work the...
05/28/2026

In honor of today, we’re taking a moment to celebrate two of our graduating student workers and the important work they do to support Houghton!

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT (1/2): Michelle Jean-Louis is a senior concentrating in History and Science and started working at Houghton in October of 2025.

📝 Most memorable experience of working at Houghton?
During my time in Houghton, I have read historical documents, paged them, and organized them. Working in Houghton Library and the Harvard University Archives has helped me be privy to the roles of museums in giving everyone a sense of agency over what stories are preserved and told. During training at HUA I got to see W.E.B Du Bois’s handwritten dissertation as a vault item—that is probably my favorite item I have engaged with. As president of the Harvard Caribbean Club, I also loved collaborating with [Houghton librarian] Emily Walhout on the Emily Dickinson cake party!

📚 Favorite collection?
Pierre Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1746?-1803). Autograph letter to Tobias Lear, February 20, 1801. Autograph File, T. Evert Jansen Wendell Bequest, 1918.

Révision de la Constitution haïtienne de 1806. Port-au-Prince, 1816. AC8.H1277C.816r. Gift of John B. Stetson, Jr., 1925.

As a Haitian immigrant it’s been my pride to bring my family’s legacy to Harvard and having the chance to engage with archived materials regarding the Haitian revolution here at Houghton has also been such a source of pride.

🎓 What’s next?
For post-grad, I’ll be coming back to Harvard for a bit conducting research on the Convention Against Torture and country conditions in Haiti under Professor Hoffnung-Garskof.

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