Widener Library

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Widener Library (2009)

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library , short Widener Library ( German Widener Library ) is the main building of the library system of the Harvard University Library at the Harvard University in Cambridge ( Massachusetts ). Her collection also includes a two-volume paper edition of the Gutenberg Bible .

Building

It is across from Memorial Church on the south side of Harvard Yard on the university campus. With around 100 km of bookshelves (a total of 57,000 shelves) and 3 million books, the Widener Library is one of the largest individual buildings for storing books. The entire Harvard University Library, with 16.8 million volumes, is the largest university library system in the world, and the third largest library in the United States after the Library of Congress and the Boston Public Library .

The building houses many special collections, including African, American, Asian, Germanic, Jewish, Iberian, Slavic, as well as collections from the Middle East or modern Greece.

history

The Widener Library was officially opened on June 24, 1915. It is said to commemorate Harry Widener (1885–1912), a Harvard graduate in 1907. He was a book collector and a victim of the Titanic disaster. His mother, Eleanor Elkins Widener, donated $ 3.5 million to the university to build a library building that would bear his name. The building was planned by Horace Trumbauer & Associates, who had also planned many private homes for the widespread Wilkins and Widener family in Philadelphia . The responsible planner was the company's chief architect, Julian F. Abele , the first major African American architect.

Between 1997 and 2004, the building was extensively renovated for $ 97 million. A fire suppression system, air conditioning and light wells were installed or renewed, and the magazines and public spaces were redesigned. The Widener family's donation agreement prohibits the university from changing the exterior of the building, otherwise the building would revert to the City of Cambridge. As a result, the options for renovation were limited, but this led to interesting ideas. A footbridge was built through a (former) window that leads to another building.

The library is subordinate to the Office of the Librarian of Harvard College.

fiction

According to the fictional Cthulhu myth by HP Lovecraft , the Widener Library houses one of the few existing copies of the Necronomicon , hidden somewhere in the endless magazines.

Web links

Commons : Widener Library  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Matthew Battles: The World of Books: A History of the Library . Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-538-07165-9 , pp. 10 .
  2. ↑ American Library Association: The Nation's Largest Libraries: A Listing By Volumes Held , ALA Library Fact Sheet 22, accessed April 29, 2013.
  3. ↑ Widener Library Collections ( Memento of the original from May 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , English, accessed April 29, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hcl.harvard.edu

Coordinates: 42 ° 22'25.1 "  N , 71 ° 6'59.1"  W.