Our anniversary year is over. For up to date details on Houghton Library, go to our main website.

Anniversaries encourage us to reflect upon our past, consider our present, and think ahead to our future. Houghton Library’s core mission would look very familiar to the librarians, administrators, and donors who founded the library in 1942 to serve as the first purpose-built repository to house Harvard’s rare book and manuscript collections. We maintain a deep commitment to preserving cultural heritage, advancing scholarship and the production of new knowledge, educating students, and providing intellectual and aesthetic enrichment for the Harvard campus and our surrounding community. One imagines our forebears would be amazed and astonished by the growth of the collection, the new technologies and methods we employ to extend access to and the impact of our holdings, and the broader and more inclusive groups of users and visitors to the library.

Throughout 2017, Houghton is celebrating its 75^th anniversary with a series of events, including exhibitions, film screenings, and open houses. We invite you to visit Houghton often, physically and virtually, to discover the library’s collections, programs, and expertise. Become a regular part of an expanding community of scholars, students, and citizens dedicated to appreciating and learning from the past, understanding our present, and forging a better future!

Tom Hyry
Florence Fearrington Librarian