The Farnsworth Room

In 1949, the Farnsworth Room was moved to the fifth floor of Lamont, and, according to a Library Bulletin article written in Spring of 1950, was “more popular than ever.”  Lamont Librarian Henry James took it upon himself to revive the Farnsworth Room in the early 1960s, focusing on catering to student taste as part of his effort to make Lamont an important part of the “student’s total educational experience.”  He administered a questionnaire on the Farnsworth Room in April 1962, and out of 500 respondents, 37% used the room regularly, only a dozen had never heard of it, 44% liked to study there, and 32% read the books there.  Students claimed they didn’t read there for lack of time or because the collection wasn’t interesting or modern; they liked the cartoon books, humor anthologies, and picture and art books the best, and 26% requested more magazines.

The student committee in charge of reporting the survey results asserted that “the concept of recreational reading today is quite different from the ‘gentleman’s library of 1916 which still clutters the shelves”: they recommended that the collection include more avant-garde, experimental fiction, popular magazines, sports and outdoor books, and commentaries on arts, films, theater, music, and literature.  James weeded some of the older sets and classics and replaced them with modern, light reading but, according to a Crimson article, reminded students that “this is a college, not a public library room,” and would not include content as light as “Peanuts” or “Captain Billy’s Whizband.”  His efforts were well-received nonetheless, since in 1963 students from the Harvard Council for Undergraduate Affairs noted that “the Farnsworth Room, largely the creation of Mr. James himself, is well-liked."

In 1974, Stratis Haviaras became curator of the Farnsworth Room after the Librarian of Harvard College, Louis Martin, decided that the Farnsworth and Poetry Rooms should be curated primarily by a single person.  Looking back on the Room’s management in the past decade, Haviaras criticized that book selection was done by Lamont staff and argued that the room essentially became an extension of the library collection.  In his words, “Inevitably, the Farnsworth collection began to lose its ‘unusual’ character.  Hobbies, sports, ‘how-to’ books and other works of ephemeral value overwhelmed the collection, and further weeding was neglected.”  Under his guidance, the collection was weeded more regularly, books of “ephemeral” value were cut down, and the room emphasized prose by contemporary poets, avant-garde fiction not purchased by any other Harvard library, biographies, science fiction and mystery paperbacks replaced every two years, and books on the visual, plastic, and performing arts.  Haviaras especially focused on stocking the room with translated works and works on the cultures of ethnic minorities.  He even hoped to incorporate audio visual equipment, including a video camera, recording deck, and monitors, and supply video tapes on the cultures of ethnic minorities.

By the 80’s, the room’s emphasis on ethnic minorities, prose works of poets, and experimental fiction had persisted.  With House libraries and common spaces, students had greater access to books and informal places to read, and had less need for a place like the Farnsworth Room—as a 1986 article in the Library Bulletin put it, the Farnsworth Room had been adapted to “fill a particular niche in the Harvard Library system."