ABSTRACT
The Harvard Voice describes stepping into Houghton Library as “one of those ‘Harvard’ moments.” 1 The quiet neo-Georgian red brick building stands next to Widener Memorial Library whose imposing columns memorialize Harry Elkins Widener (class of 1907), an avid book collector who drowned with the Titanic in 1912. Glass-fronted bookcases and long wooden tables accentuate the historic importance of the building’s collection of rare books and manuscripts. Among these is the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, presented to Roosevelt’s alma mater in 1943. 2 Roosevelt graduated magna cum laude and noted on his graduation day in 1880, “my career at college has been happier and more successful than that of any man I have ever known.” 3 The summer after his first year at Harvard, Roosevelt published his first book: The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks. This detailed study drew from his explorations of the mountains and demonstrated unsurpassed “knowledge of bird coloration, courtship, flight and song.” 4 Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman and hunter. He published a series of essays on wildlife with titles such as Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter and The Wilderness Hunter. Roosevelt delighted in leading friends and colleagues on expeditions in the Washington area, telling people to bring their “worst clothes,” which they were often expected to remove to wade through Rock Creek or the Potomac River. 5
