Harvard Library

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This introduction is by the editor, William Frederick Bade of Harvard University Library, June nineteen seventeen.

Introduction.

One of the poignant tragedies of North Polar exploration, that of the Jeannette, still lingers in the memory of persons now living, though a generation has since passed away.

In reporting this find to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Asa Gray described it as the most interesting and apparently the only new species of an extensive and truly valuable collection made by Mr. Muir in a recent searching cruise which he accompanied and which extended to Wrangel Island, Wrangel Land.

The plant seems to have been abundant, for it occurs in the collection under three numbers." Gray promptly named it Erigeron muirii in honor of its finder, thus redeeming for the second time a promise made ten years earlier when he wrote to Muir, Pray, find a new genus, or at least a new species, that I may have the satisfaction of embalming your name, not in glacier ice, but in spicy wild perfume.

William Frederick Bade, Harvard University Library, June 1917.

End of Introduction Read by Mark Harrington, Framingham, Massachusetts Chapter 1 of The Cruise of the Corwin by John Muir This LibriVox recording is in the public domain On Alaska and the Aleuts On Alaska, May 18, 1881 The storm king of the north is abroad today, working with a fine, hearty enthusiasm, rolling a multitude of white combing waves through the rocky, jagged straits between this marvelous chain of islands, circling them about with beaten foam and heaping a lavish abundance of snow on their lofty, cloud-wrapped mountains.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org.

This introduction is by the editor, William Frederick Bade of Harvard University Library, June nineteen seventeen.

Introduction.

One of the poignant tragedies of North Polar exploration, that of the Jeannette, still lingers in the memory of persons now living, though a generation has since passed away.

The plant seems to have been abundant, for it occurs in the collection under three numbers." End quote.

Gray promptly named it Erigeron muirii in honor of its finder, thus redeeming for the second time a promise made ten years earlier when he wrote to Muir, "Pray find a new genus, or at least a new species, that I may have the satisfaction of embalming your name, not in glacier ice, but in spicy wild perfume." William Frederick Bade.

Harvard University Library, June nineteen seventeen.

End of introduction.

And looking back at, you know, I was...

But the idea of writing a history of academic libraries, you know, I was originally going to start and I actually did start with 1658 or whenever Harvard Library opened.

And I had originally three chapters going up to 1990.

And by the time I finished the book, it was way over the word limit that the publisher had given me.

In fact, When Harvard around, there's a famous story about this guy at Harvard who was, he had a sixth grade education.

He was like a staff guy at Harvard in the teens and the 20s.

And if you wanted to find something in a Harvard library, you didn't go to a librarian.

You went to this guy because he knew where everything was.

So thanks for teeing me up, Derek.

Um, so at least at Harvard, this is the subject of a recent convocation speech I gave, the first era of undergraduate education began in 1636 when the university was founded, and the founding gift of Harvard was a gift by John Harvard, uh, of 400 books to the Harvard Library.

Now, 400 books doesn't sound like a lot, but it was actually about two-thirds the size of Emmanuel College at Cambridge, which was John Harvard's alma mater.

And so that was the founding gift that was roughly two-thirds the size of an established elite British university.

I saw it.

It's under lock at Harvard University Library, but you can look at it.

You can take notes.

You cannot copy it.