Library Lens - Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Library LibGuides at Corning Community College

Our library is named after the College's benefactor, Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Mr. Houghton donated the land (273 acres) on Spencer Hill and helped to obtain a grant from Corning Glass Works to establish our campus. At the time, his gift was one of the largest private gifts ever made to a two-year public college. Those are generous donations and plenty of reason to recognize his impact on our campus. But there's so much more to know about the man who's name is on our library building.

Arthur A. Houghton Jr. (1906-1990), along with his cousin Amory Houghton founded the Corning Museum of Glass in 1951. Mr. Houghton was also the curator of rare books at the Library of Congress, vice chairman of the Pierpont Morgan Library, a trustee of The New York Public Library, founder of the Houghton Library at Harvard University, chairman of the New York Philharmonic, and president and chairman of the board of trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also president of Steuben Glass and is credited with reinventing the company in 1933 (CMOG). The portrait of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., seen in the upper lobby of our library was painted by Aaron Shikler who is known for his portraits of President John F. Kennedy and family. In the portrait, Mr. Houghton is seen in the library of his home at Sutton Place which he later donated for the Secretary General of the United Nations. He also donated his country home, Wye Plantation in Maryland to the Aspen Institute.

Having worked at the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG) Rakow Library, I was familiar with Mr. Houghton before I came up the hill to our library. When I think about the people who have shaped this community, Arthur A. Houghton Jr. and Thomas Buechner stand side-by-side as local legends. These two men held themselves to a higher standard. They weren't satisfied with just doing a job. They were visionaries. They established a standard at their institutions that today's leaders can only hope to live up to.

Mr. Houghton was a rare book collector and had a deep love for libraries. He acquired examples of the finest early print materials and first editions of the works by many modern authors. The books from his personal collection were a gift to the Arthur Houghton Rare Book Library at Harvard University. When our college began in 1958, it didn't have a library. The original library collection was made up of donations from the local community and bulk orders from what were then other library catalogs. Mr. Houghton wanted to further enrich the collection by donating a special collection of books that represent the history of the written word from ancient times to modern day. Our library's History of the Written Word collection is carefully housed and maintained in the Archives (LIB004A). The Archives are a climate controlled space and items are available for use by appointment. But Mr. Houghton wanted our campus community to see these books and understand their place in our history. I've embarked on this project in order to share the unique items from our collections and make them available to you while still keeping them safe.

If you're interested in learning more about Arthur A. Houghton Jr. please enjoy the Library of Congress lecture by Gary Fitzpatrick, Arthur A. Houghton & the Founding of Harvard's Houghton Library.

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Shakespeare's Second Folio

What exactly is a Folio? A folio is described as a book that has been printed on large sheets of paper that have been folded to form two pages and is a similar size to an encyclopedia. Smaller books called “quartos” would have paper folded twice to create four pages before being stitched together. Shakespeare’s plays were not formally printed during his lifetime. That’s not to say they weren’t printed at all, just that none of the prints were done with his endorsement, nor with the endorsement of his associates. Plays that were printed were taken from memory by an audience member at a performance. It wasn’t until one or two years after Shakespeare’s death in 1616 that John Heminge and Henry Condell, two players from the King’s Men (Shakespeare’s acting troupe) approached printer William Jaggard to collect and print their friend and colleague’s works into what would become known as Shakespeare’s First Folio. This folio was completed in 1623 and was quite popular in its day. The second folio would be printed nine years later in 1632.Today, first and second folios are considered prized pieces in special collections and collector’s libraries. Scholars consider the second folio to be more accurate than the first, as it includes plays that were previously left out. Shakespeare did not write stage directions, so they are not included in either folio. We are fortunate to have portions of the Second Folio as part of our Special Collection, the History of the Written Word at the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Library Archives. The plays in our collection are Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labor’s Lost contained in one volume and then each other volume containing one play each are The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, two copies of The Merchant of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew.Since we have two copies of The Merchant of Venice, and that second copy and The Taming of the Shrew are bound in more colorful paper with what appears to be leather on the spines, we can surmise that these volumes were taken from two separate collections. The first four volumes of five plays come from one source and the last two from another. The volumes were likely split up by a previous collector for ease of handling, since all the plays contained in one volume would have been large and difficult to read individually, much in the way a literature anthology can be when not broken down into sets. ResourcesCollins, Paul (2009). The Book of William: how Shakespeare’s First Folio Conquered the World. Bloomsbury USA.Martin, Dr. John H., “History of the Written Word” (library records) ...

Incunabula

You get bonus points for using this vocabulary word in your daily life. But what does it mean? Incunabula is a Latin word that refers to all books printed from the time of Gutenberg's movable type press (around 1455) to the end of 1500. These are the earliest printed books and they're very special to librarians, book collectors, and book historians.The most important contributions to the printing of incunabula came from Germany and Italy. Religious literature was printed in great quantity during this period. The first printers working in Germany created large volumes that were held in monastic libraries. Italy on the other hand overestimated the demand for Latin classics which resulted in a significant overstock. The first fifty years of book publishing were especially productive but technically inefficient, these books often lacked title pages or pagination. As the market for books grew throughout northern Europe, competition among printers became intense and standard formatting became the norm.The Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Library holds an excellent reproduction of the Gutenberg Bible as well as examples of type faces used by leading book printers working in the late 1400s. Our collection has two printed books from the Incunabula period along with a number of leaves.Gutenberg Bible, London, 1611 Cicero, Venice, 1482According to our records, this copy of Cicero's, Libri III cum commento petro marso is one of only two known copies in the United States. Published in Venice, in 1482, it is in excellent condition with handwritten notes in the margins. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition, as a result, the first generation of printed books imitated manuscripts by including spaces for illuminations that could be painted after printing. This book is a fine example of that practice. Resources“Incunabula.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc, 2020. Stillo, Stephanie. “Incunabula: The Art & History of Printing in Western Europe, c. 1450-1500.” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=580edae150234258a49a3eeb58d9121c. Accessed 3 Jan. 2025. Martin, Dr. John H., “History of the Written Word” (library records)...

Who Is Arthur A. Houghton Jr.?

Our library is dedicated to Arthur A. Houghton Jr. because of his generosity to our college. Take a moment to learn how his vision helped to shape cultural institutions well beyond our community. ...