1942-1945

Many Harvard libraries—in addition to dormitories and classroom buildings—were appropriated for war-time purposes. For example, the Victory Book Campaign stored donations on the sixth floor of NEDL. The Radcliffe Librarian noticed an improvement in patron behavior and a decrease in book losses, perhaps due to “new feelings of responsibility.” Harvard libraries were understaffed due to employees’ joining the war effort, causing the shelves to become disorderly. Acquisitions from Europe were held up by the war. Houghton provided secure storage for some of the Harvard Botanical Museum’s Glass Flowers. The Fogg Museum’s Department of Conservation was temporarily depleted when two important employees join the war effort: Rutherford John Gettens worked on a government project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and George L. Stout was a Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Officer in the United States Army.¹⁴⁹

1943

An agreement was reached between Harvard and Radcliffe, such that Radcliffe increased its annual payment to the Harvard University Libraries (to $5,000) and “qualified” Radcliffe undergraduates were now granted use of Widener, including the main reading room (graduate students already had borrowing privileges). The Radcliffe Library would now primarily function as an undergraduate library, while simultaneously beginning to develop a collection on the “contributions of women to the culture and history of the United States.” The Radcliffe Library sent numerous books to NEDL over the subsequent years.¹⁵⁰

1945-1949

Widener’s resources—reserve books, stall space, etc.—were overwhelmed by the growing student population in the wake of WWII. Financial resources were also stretched, but Harvard’s participation in the Farmington Plan (a cooperative acquisition program) gave Keyes D. Metcalf hope that Harvard might be able to purchase books more selectively. The increasing means of photographic reproduction and the “disintegration” of books printed on wood pulp paper suggested to him that the net growth of library collections might decrease.¹⁵¹

1946-1947

Concerns were expressed about the fire hazard presented by paper cartons of dried plant specimens stored in close proximity to library collections at the Arnold Arboretum and the Gray Herbarium.¹⁵²

1947

“After a number of years of experimentation with a relatively free borrowing system,” the Andover-Harvard Theological Library instituted shorter circulation periods and a fine system for overdue books. This brought its policies into line with the College Library’s.¹⁵³

1947-1948

A space in Langdell Hall was renovated into a Treasure Room for the Law School Library, providing air-conditioned storage for rare materials from that library.¹⁵⁴

1948

About 1,500 pre-Linnaean botanical volumes from the Arnold Arboretum Library were deposited in Houghton Library, where they were to be stored until the Arnold Arboretum was able to provide a better storage environment. The temperature at the Arnold Arboretum Library fluctuated seasonally and damaged leather bindings. The remaining pre-Linnaean materials were treated with leather preservative and in some cases repaired at the Harvard Bindery. ¹⁵⁵

1949

The Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology sent more than 900 rare volumes of natural history to Houghton.¹⁵⁶

1949

Lamont Library opened, providing open stacks and a collection designed specifically for the undergraduate population. Lamont was equipped with steel book stacks and an air-conditioning system. The Freshman Union and Boylston Hall reading rooms closed, and many of their books were incorporated into Lamont. Lamont had a smoking room, which Keyes D. Metcalf justified since the building was “fireproof” and the air-conditioning system would remove dirt from the air. Radcliffe graduate students and honors candidates now had “full privileges” in Widener, but Radcliffe students were not allowed to use Lamont until 1967.¹⁵⁷

1949-1953

Baker Library occasionally curated an exhibit titled “Enemies of Books,” which demonstrated the destructive power of insects and humans.¹⁵⁸

1949-1950

Ruth K. Porritt, the new Librarian of Radcliffe, continued to make note of annual preservation statistics: volumes bound or rebound; volumes repaired in the Library; pamphlets inserted in binders in the Library. Until 1959 Ona A. Morse oversaw “the binding and processing of books.”¹⁵⁹

1950s

Libraries struggled with the growth of their collections in a limited amount of space. Many selected materials for off-site storage at New England Deposit Library.¹⁶⁰

Summer 1950

A renovation project at the Radcliffe College Library was intended to assuage student frustration at being denied access to Lamont. Lighting, heat, ventilation, and layout were improved.¹⁶¹

References

¹⁴⁹ Keyes D. Metcalf, “University Library,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1942-1943 (1944): 260-264; Georgiana Ames Hinckley, “Report of the Librarian,” Reports of officers issue 1942-1943 (1944): 47. For information on Gettens’s and Stout’s pre-war contributions, see Miriam Clavir, Preserving What Is Valued: Museums, Conservation, and First Nations (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002), 22-24. For their war-time activities, see Arthur Pope, “William Hayes Fogg Art Museum,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1944-1945 (1948): 372.

¹⁵⁰ W. K. Jordan, “President’s Report,” Reports of officers issue 1943-1944 (1944): 5. See also Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, “Records of the Radcliffe College Library, 1881-1983: A Finding Aid”; available from nrs.harvard.edu/urn- 3:RAD.SCHL:sch01123; Internet; accessed 30 June 2009. During the 1940s, the entry in Radcliffe College’s annual reports “College—Income [and Expenditure]” often lists a fee of $5,000 to “Harvard University for use of Widener.” See, for example, “College— Income [and Expenditure],” Reports of officers issue 1945-1946 (1946): 76.

¹⁵¹ Keyes D. Metcalf, “The Spatial Growth in University Libraries,” Harvard Library Bulletin 1, no. 2 (1947): 133-154; see also Keyes D. Metcalf’s annual reports of this period (in The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments).

¹⁵² I. W. Bailey, “Institute for Research in General Plant Morphology,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1946-1947 (1949): 254.

¹⁵³ Henry J. Cadbury and Jannette E. Newhall, “Appendix to the Report on the Divinity School,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1946-1947 (1949): 391.

¹⁵⁴ Keyes D. Metcalf, “University Library,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1947-1948 (1950): 207-208.

¹⁵⁵ Karl Sax, “Arnold Arboretum,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1947-1948 (1950): 248-249.

¹⁵⁶ Alfred S. Romer, “Museum of Comparative Zoology,” The report of the President of Harvard College and reports of the departments for 1948-1949 (1952): 308.

¹⁵⁷ Henry R. Shepley, “The Lamont Library, I. Design,” and Keyes D. Metcalf, “The Lamont Library, II. Function,” Harvard Library Bulletin 3, no. 1 (1949): 5-30; Howells, A Century to Celebrate, 27 and 54; Georgiana Ames Hinckley, “The Library,” Reports of officers issue 1948-1949 (1949): 50; Elizabeth A. Gudrais, “A World of Books All Their Own,” Harvard Crimson, 7 June 1999.

¹⁵⁸ “News of the Libraries,” Harvard Library Bulletin 3, no. 1 (1949): 155; “News of the Libraries,” Harvard Library Bulletin 4, no. 1 (1950): 133; Dorothea D. Reeves, “Exhibits in a Business School Library,” Harvard Library Bulletin 7, no. 2 (1953): 244-245.

¹⁵⁹ See Ruth K. Porritt’s annual reports of this period (in Reports of officers issue). For mention of Ona A. Morse, see Ruth K. Porritt, “The Library,” Reports of officers issue 1958-1959 (1959): 60.

¹⁶⁰ See Keyes D. Metcalf’s and Paul Buck’s annual reports of this period (in Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments).

¹⁶¹ Porritt, “The Radcliffe College Library after Seventy-five Years,” 344-345; Ruth K. Porritt, “The Library,” Reports of officers issue 1950-1951 (1951): 50.