Old picture of the Widener Library.

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, commonly known as Widener Library, is the primary building of the library system of Harvard University. Located on the south side of Harvard Yard directly across from Memorial Church, Widener serves as the centerpiece of the 15.2 million-volume Harvard University Library system, the largest university library system in the world.[1][2] The 320,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts brick building with 65 miles of bookshelves and 3 million volumes, Widener Library is among the largest single-building repositories of books in the world.[3] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x686, 496 KB) Summary Picture of Widener Library from the Library of Congress web site: http://memory. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x686, 496 KB) Summary Picture of Widener Library from the Library of Congress web site: http://memory. ... A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ... Harvard University campus (old map) Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Harvard Yard in 1905. ... The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, commonly known as Widener Library, is the primary building of the library system of Harvard University. ... Beaux-Arts architecture denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, the home territory of this style, which influenced American architecture in the period 1885 – 1920. ...

Widener includes many special collections, including African, American, Asian, Germanic, Judaic, Iberian, Middle Eastern, Modern Greek, and Slavic.

History

Widener Library, which opened with a solemn ceremony on June 24, 1915, commemorates Harry Elkins Widener (born January 3, 1885 in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania), a 1907 Harvard graduate, who was a book collector and victim of the Titanic disaster. His mother, Eleanor Elkins, made a $3.5 million donation to Harvard University to build a library named after him. The library was designed by Horace Trumbauer & Associates, the architect of many private houses for the intertwined Elkins and Widener families of Philadelphia. The Associate responsible for designing Widener was the chief designer of the firm, architect Julian F. Abele, the first major African American architect. June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Harry Elkins Widener (January 3, 1885 – April 15, 1912) was a book collector from the United States. ... January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Elkins Park is a unincorporated community in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that became infamous for its collision with an iceberg and dramatic sinking in 1912. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

From approximately 1997-2004, the Widener Library underwent a comprehensive renovation costing $97 million that included: adding fire suppression systems, adding air conditioning, enclosing light courts, and remodeling the stacks and public spaces. According to a campus legend, under the terms of the Widener family donation, the exterior of the library is never to be altered, or else ownership of the building reverts to the city of Cambridge. Because of this, according to the legend, Harvard has been limited and creative in its renovation options, including the building of a causeway to another nearby library through what was a large window.

Popular culture

According to the fictional Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft, Widener Library houses one of the few existing copies of the Necronomicon in the world, hidden somewhere among its endless stacks. The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... Cthulhu Mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated writers. ... Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ... The Necronomicon is a fictional book featured in the works of American fantasy / horror author H.P. Lovecraft and other writers, which, as a whole, comprise the Cthulhu Mythos. ...

There is a legend at Harvard that in order to prevent what befell Widener from happening to another student, all students of Harvard College are required to prove that they can swim before they are allowed to graduate. While Harvard did implement a swimming test in the 1920s, it had nothing to do with Widener, and the swim test is no longer required of students. The urban legend website Snopes.com gives additional details of why this urban myth is not true. [4] // For other senses of this word, see Legend (disambiguation). ... Harvard Yard Harvard College is the undergraduate section and oldest school of Harvard University, having been founded in 1636. ... A breaststroke swimmer Swimming is a technique that humans, and other animals, use to move through water using only movements of the body. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Social issues of the 1920s. ... The Urban Legends Reference Pages (also known as snopes. ...

External links

• http://hcl.harvard.edu/widener/
• http://www.widener.edu/Tools_Resources/Libraries/Wolfgram_Memorial_Library/Archives/Collections/Widener_Family/3844/ - information about the Titanic and the Widener family