Houghton Library

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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 and 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

Join Houghton curators next Friday, October 30 at 3:00 PM for a frightening foray into our special collections upstairs,...
10/23/2026

Join Houghton curators next Friday, October 30 at 3:00 PM for a frightening foray into our special collections upstairs, in rooms not normally open to the public. At this spine-chilling showcase, you might encounter eerie ephemera, creepy curios, or ghostly goodies—oh my!

Sense and Sensibility is out in theaters today!Houghton has the typescript photocopy of the 1995 screenplay written by E...
10/16/2026

Sense and Sensibility is out in theaters today!

Houghton has the typescript photocopy of the 1995 screenplay written by Emma Thompson, for which she won the Oscar for best screenplay adaptation. Which Sense is your favorite?



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Emma Thompson (1959–). Sense and sensibility: typescript, 1995 April 17. MS Eng 1774. Edward Hyde Cox Fund, 2015.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton as se...
10/15/2026

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton as self-defense against police brutality. The official voice of the Party was The Black Panther, edited by Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information. A hard-line militant, Cleaver was an influential early theorist, strategist, and public face, particularly in 1967–69. The library has acquired more than 500 pieces of Panther ephemera—flyers, pamphlets, bumper stickers, posters—documenting their philosophy and social and community programs.

On view in our exhibition "50 Shades of Modern" through January 8, 2027.
https://library.harvard.edu/exhibits/50-shades-modern



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Eldridge Cleaver (1935–1998). On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party. [Black Panther Party, 1967?] AC95.B5665.969c, Box 1. Harmand Teplow Fund.

Congratulations to Anne Carson for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature! Houghton holds some of her works, including th...
10/08/2026

Congratulations to Anne Carson for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature! Houghton holds some of her works, including this copy of "Nox" inscribed by the poet herself, as well as other Carson correspondence as part of our New Directions Publishing records.

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Anne Carson (1950–). Nox. New York, 2010. PS3553.A7667 N69 2010. Gift of Daniel A. Pollack, 2010.

It’s Nobel Week!Last week, NHK WORLD-JAPAN aired a documentary piece on Yukio Mishima, five-time nominee for the Nobel P...
10/08/2026

It’s Nobel Week!

Last week, NHK WORLD-JAPAN aired a documentary piece on Yukio Mishima, five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. One segment was filmed at Houghton, which is home to 47 letters written by Mishima to an editor at New Directions Publishing Company, some of which appeared on film. Houghton holds other Mishima correspondence, as well as his New Directions contract.



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Yukio Mishima (1925–1970). New Directions Publishing records, MS Am 2077.

It’s National Custodian Appreciation Day! We are always grateful for our amazing colleagues, Houghton custodians Porfiri...
10/02/2026

It’s National Custodian Appreciation Day!

We are always grateful for our amazing colleagues, Houghton custodians Porfirio Figueroa (left) and Agustin Rodriguez (right) for all that they do to care for our spaces (including our lovely spiral staircase) to keep Houghton clean, welcoming, and ready for everyone who visits and works here.

This previously featured scroll depicting the theater district in Shijō Kawara in Kyoto was recently digitized. View it ...
09/28/2026

This previously featured scroll depicting the theater district in Shijō Kawara in Kyoto was recently digitized. View it in its entirety here: https://bit.ly/4hbi348

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Theaters along Shijo Avenue in Kyoto: handscroll: manuscript, 1678. MS Typ 450. Gift of Joseph Verner Reed, 1958.

A poem for Mid-Autumn 🌕 🥮 —Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and David Hinton (1954–), translator. The late poems of Wa...
09/25/2026

A poem for Mid-Autumn 🌕 🥮



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Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and David Hinton (1954–), translator. The late poems of Wang An-shih. New York, 2015. PL2686.A2 2015. Gift of New Directions Publishing.

This bear’s got our vote 🐻. —Lynd Ward (1905–1985). The biggest bear. Boston, 1952. *52-1923. C.M. Parker Fund, 19...
09/24/2026

This bear’s got our vote 🐻.



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Lynd Ward (1905–1985). The biggest bear. Boston, 1952. *52-1923. C.M. Parker Fund, 1953.

Address

Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA
02138

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+16174952440

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