The massive halls of Houghton Library at Harvard University have had a book on one of its shelves that was bound using human skin for nearly a century now.
The book, which has been part of the Ivy League’s collection of 20 million books, has now recently gone through the removal of the binding after the university took the decision.
In 1879, Arsene Houssaye’s “Des destinées de l’âme” was published and the volume which has been in question was bound using human skin by French physician Dr Ludovic Bouland and it has been part of the University’s collection since 1934, as per the Harvard announcement on Wednesday (Mar 27).
The book speaks about the soul and life after death and also has a handwritten note by Bouland as part of the volume, which states that “a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering,” as per the University.
No consent was taken to bind the book using human skin
According to the university, the book was bound with the skin of a human by Dr Bouland “without consent” from the dead body of an unidentified female patient. She used to live in a French psychiatric hospital where the doctor used to work.
The human skin’s removal from the book took place after a review was done by Houghton Library which was prompted after the recommendations were made by the Harvard University Steering Committee on Human Remains in University Museum Collections in the Fall 2022 report.
The open letter triggered the removal of a book?
Prominent scholar and Harvard alumni Paul Needham, while speaking to ABC News, said that the decision was taken after 10 years of consistent calls to remove the binding as well as the publishing of an open letter which was co-authored by him.
“I first raised the question with the library almost 10 years ago, in June 2014. And I requested they should have the human skin respectfully removed and given a decent burial,” said Needham.
“I think that the open letter is what finally moved them really to take action and make a statement because until yesterday we have not gotten the university to say a single word about binding in almost 10 years,” he added.
The University, in 2014, publicly confirmed that human skin was used for binding, however, it was available to “anyone who asked for it,” said Harvard in the statement, adding that “regardless of their reason for wishing to consult it.”
Harvard University apologises
Harvard’s associate university librarian for archives Tom Hyry, speaking about the “past failures in our stewardship of the book”, apologised and said that the University is “determined to move forward with care.”
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“We apologise on behalf of Harvard Library for past failures in our stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being at the centre,” said Hyry.
“We are determined to move forward with care, sensitivity, and ethical responsibility and are committed to best practices in the field, including reflection and correcting historical errors,” he added.
In March, the human skin binding was removed from the book and has been currently kept in secure storage at the Harvard Library as it is “consulting with appropriate authorities at the University and in France to determine an appropriate and respectful way of laying the remains to rest.”
(With inputs from agencies)
