In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Kate van Orden, Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Music about the first music publisher, and the performance of polyphony in the Renaissance.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Christie McDonald, Smith Professor of French Language and Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, about a fascinating painting by her aunt, Anne Eisner Putnam, entitled “Beauty Salon.”

In this episode of Houghton75 we speak with Tom Conley, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies and Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, about the work of Oronce Finé, and the surprising things we can learn from maps.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with James Engell, Gurney Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard, about Charles Eliot Norton and the expression of anti-war sentiment on the university campus.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Deidre Lynch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature, to discuss one of the most audacious literary hoaxes in history, masterminded by a teenage fan turned fanatic.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government at Harvard, to discuss the surprising impact of John Milton and a set of once forgotten rabbinical texts on the formation of the government of the United States.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak to Elaine Scarry, Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and General Theory of Value at Harvard. She discusses a collection of miniature books handmade by the Brontës as children.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak to Elaheh Kheirandish, Postdoctoral Associate of the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard about Alhazen’s importance to the science of Optics, and his place in the creation and transmission of scientific learning through the Islamic world and to the west.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with Daniel Donoghue, John P. Marquand Professor of English. It is a glimpse into the ancient past of England when the world was approaching the first millennium, literature and poetry were shared mainly orally, and the languages spoken by both the clergy and lay people were very different from today.

In this episode of Houghton75, we speak with John Stauffer, Professor of English as well as African and African American Studies, about the wanted poster that was integral to finding and capturing the assassin (John Wilkes Booth) of President Lincoln and his conspirators.