Houghton75
22 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 7 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe Houghton75 podcast presents different voices and perspectives on Houghton Library in its seventy-fifth year. Throughout 2017, Harvard’s principal repository of rare books and manuscripts is celebrating its world-class collections of primary sources, and support of research and teaching over the last 75 years.
The series kicks off with Harvard faculty members sharing their thoughts on the collection item they chose for the exhibition HIST 75H: A Masterclass on Houghton Library. The chosen item acts as a springboard for a broader conversation about their research and teaching. The interviews cover topics as varied as Theodore Roosevelt as a symbol of masculinity and the history of race in American music. Visit www.houghton75.org for more information.
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Episodes
Harvard Review Salon Series: Phillip Lopate and Lily King
August 25, 2017 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBDid you know that Houghton Library is also the publisher of Harvard Review, a major American literary journal? In this episode of Houghton75, editor Christina Thompson talks to two contributors to Harvard Review's 50th issue: renowned essayist Phillip Lopate and award-winning novelist Lily King. The conversation, part of the Houghton 75th celebrations, marks Harvard Review's 25th anniversary and the inauguration of our new Harvard Review Salon Series. It was held May 11, 2017, in the Edison ...
Joseph Connors: The Art of Architectural Sketching
June 30, 2017 11:00 - 14 minutes - 13.2 MBIn this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Joseph Connors, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture, about the historical practice of architectural sketching and how he incorporates it into his classes. We start the conversation with the sketchbooks from the late 17th century of a young Baroque architect, Gilles-Marie Oppenord, not much older than Professor Connors’ students. This is our final faculty interview episode. Watch for more episodes soon, including a peek into the Harvar...
Tom Kelly: Ambrosian Chant
June 23, 2017 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBIn this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Thomas Kelly, Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music about his experiences researching and teaching chant using Houghton collections. We examine the music of Ambrosian chant, the only competing tradition to Gregorian chant which still survives to this day in the area of Milan, Italy. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp...
Stephen Greenblatt: On the Nature of Science and the Humanities
June 16, 2017 11:00 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MBIn this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, about a small, very fragile book containing an ancient poem that rocked the world, and what it says about the inter-connectivity of the sciences and the humanities. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-wg Music De Rerum Natura by Rob...
Ann Blair: Renaissance Writing Tables
June 09, 2017 11:00 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Ann Blair, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard, about the development of note-taking devices from early wax tablets to our modern smartphones. We start with an early modern writing tablet - a small reference book which also contains specially treated pages for recording notes while on the road. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and...
Danielle Allen: John Adams’ and Our Declaration
June 02, 2017 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, about her research and teaching on the Declaration of Independence, including John Adams’ role in creating it, supported by evidence found right here at Houghton. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7...
Stephanie Sandler: The Russian Avant Garde’s Enigmatic Misfit, Elena Guro
May 26, 2017 11:00 - 17 minutes - 15.8 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Stephanie Sandler, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, about one relatively unknown and enigmatic artist from the time of the Russian Revolution, 100 years ago this year. Featuring special guest host Christine Jacobson. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-vz Music Historic re...
Racha Kirakosian: A Manuscript’s Never Ending Story
May 19, 2017 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Racha Kirakosian, Assistant Professor of German and the Study of Religion at Harvard, about one of the newer acquisitions in our collection. Close study of this colorful medieval manuscript, and other such manuscripts, can reveal where they were made, who they were written by, where they were used, who they were made for, and much more. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.or...
Michael Canfield: Teddy Roosevelt in the Field
May 12, 2017 11:26 - 18 minutes - 16.7 MBHunter, Soldier, President, Naturalist, Rough Rider. In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Michael Canfield, a lecturer in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard and author of Theodore Roosevelt in the Field, about the complex legacy of America’s 26th President. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-rH Music Public...
Alex Csiszar: Amping up Scientific Publishing
May 05, 2017 11:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBDid you know that the phrase “amp it up” is a tribute to a 19th century French scientist? In this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Alex Csiszar, Associate Professor of the History of Science, about his research on Andre Marie Ampére's electromagnetic experiments and his equally remarkable experiments in scientific publishing. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: ...
Kate van Orden: Renaissance Music Printing and Performance
April 28, 2017 11:00 - 16 minutes - 15.6 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Kate van Orden, Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Music. Her selection for our recent exhibition was a 16th century partbook printed by the first music publisher. The book contained the tenor lines of multiple Masses by Josquin de Prez, a master of Renaissance polyphony and one of the first composers whose works were widely disseminated in both manuscript and print. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary cele...
Christie McDonald: Life and Art in the Ituri Rainforest
April 18, 2017 18:00 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Christie McDonald, Smith Professor of French Language and Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, about a fascinating painting by her aunt, Anne Eisner Putnam, entitled “Beauty Salon.” Putnam lived and worked with the Bantu and Mbuti peoples in the 1940s and 1950s in the Belgian Congo (what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://ho...
Tom Conley: A Kinder, Gentler Map
April 14, 2017 11:00 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBIn this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Tom Conley, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies and Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, about the work of Oronce Finé, and the surprising things we can learn from maps. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-nQ Music 15th century French instrumental music perform...
James Engell: Anti-War Sentiment on the University Campus
April 07, 2017 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with James Engell, Gurney Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard, about Charles Eliot Norton and the expression of anti-war sentiment on the university campus. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-nJ Music Matthew Aucoin (‘12), piano and Keir GoGwilt (‘13), violin Quatuor pou...
Deidre Lynch: Loving Shakespeare Too Much
March 30, 2017 11:11 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Deidre Lynch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature, to discuss one of the most audacious literary hoaxes in history, masterminded by a teenage fan turned fanatic. Featuring special guest host Dale Stinchcomb. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Transcript and detailed music notes: http://wp.me/p7SlKy-nD Renaissance string ensemble music by The King’s Noyse.
Eric Nelson: Hebraism, Monarchy, and the American Revolution
March 23, 2017 11:14 - 14 minutes - 13 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government at Harvard, to discuss the surprising impact of John Milton and a set of once forgotten rabbinical texts on the formation of the government of the United States. The story starts with Wilhelm Schickard, a Christian Hebraist, monarchist, and the most important early modern political theorist you’ve never heard of, who in the early 17th century set out to compile all rabbinic references to monarch...
Elaine Scarry: Charlotte Brontë’s Miniature Books
March 17, 2017 11:00 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak to Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value at Harvard. She discusses a collection of miniature books handmade by the Brontës as children. This collection of nine miniature books provides a rare glimpse into the developing voices of the Brontë sisters, who write with authority even as children. These miniature manuscripts are on display in our current exhibition, where it can be viewed through April 22, 2017. F...
Elaheh Kheirandish: Ibn al-Haytham and the works of Islamic Science
March 10, 2017 16:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak to Elaheh Kheirandish, Postdoctoral Associate of the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard. For our current exhibition, she has chosen a copy of Alhazen’s Optics in Latin from 1572. She’ll delve into some of Alhazen’s importance to the science of Optics, and his place in the creation and transmission of scientific learning through the Islamic world and to the west. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniv...
Daniel Donoghue: Fragments of Anglo-Saxon England
March 02, 2017 12:00 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Daniel Donoghue, John P. Marquand Professor of English. It is a glimpse into the ancient past of England when the world was approaching the first millennium, literature and poetry were shared mainly orally, and the languages spoken by both the clergy and lay people were very different from today. The manuscript fragment Prof. Donoghue chose is on display in our current exhibition, where it can be viewed through April 22, 2017. Find out more about...
John Stauffer: Wanted Posters, Photography, and the Search for Lincoln’s Assassins
February 23, 2017 12:00 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with John Stauffer, Professor of English as well as African and African American Studies, about the wanted poster that was integral to finding and capturing the assassin (John Wilkes Booth) of President Lincoln and his conspirators. The poster was one of the first to have photographs, but those on Houghton’s copy aren’t quite what they seem. The poster is on display in our current exhibition, where it can be viewed through April 22, 2017. Find out mor...
Carol Oja: Teaching Race in the History of American Music
February 16, 2017 12:00 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBIn this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Carol Oja, William Powell Mason Professor of Music, to discuss her research and teaching on the history of African-American music. Her selection for our current exhibition is a 1920 flyer featuring the African-American performer Bert Williams. Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th anniversary celebrations at http://houghton75.org/hist-75h Podcast transcript can be found at http://wp.me/p7SlKy-md Music by Rhiannon Giddens...
Robert Darnton: Melville’s Emerson, Book History, and Censorship
February 10, 2017 15:34 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MBIn this episode of Houghton75 we welcome Professor Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian, Emeritus, to discuss the experiences which led him to study the history of books. It all started with Herman Melville’s personal copy of Emerson’s Essays, housed at Houghton Library and on display in our current exhibition, HIST75H: A Masterclass on Houghton Library (through April 22, 2017). Find out more about the exhibition and Houghton Library’s 75th annive...