Harvard Acquire John Updike's Archives October 7, 2009
The Boston Globereports that Harvard is buying John Updike's archives, which includes his books, manuscripts, documents, correspondences and other miscellaneous papers.
The university will announce today that Houghton Library, Harvard’s primary repository for rare books and manuscripts, will house the John Updike Archive, making the library the center for studies on the life and work of the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and prolific novelist, poet, and critic. College officials would not disclose how much Harvard paid to acquire the papers of Updike, who died in January at 76.
“John Updike is a terribly important American, given his cultural and literary achievement,’’ said William Pritchard, an English professor at Amherst College who chronicled the writer’s life and work in “Updike: America’s Man of Letters.’’ “It’s an extraordinary thing that his university is where his papers have landed.’’
The Globe says the large collection "stretches 380 linear feet" and spans 1,500 books. Harvard officials would not say how much Harvard paid to acquire Updike's archive.
