{"id":2209135,"date":"2024-03-29T12:27:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harvard-removes-human-skin-binding-from-rare-book-in-library\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T12:27:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:27:36","slug":"harvard-removes-human-skin-binding-from-rare-book-in-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/harvard-removes-human-skin-binding-from-rare-book-in-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvard Library removes binding made of human skin from rare book"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fharvard-removes-human-skin-binding-from-rare-book-in-library%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2209135&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Harvard University officials have announced the removal of human skin binding from a rare book in the Houghton Library. \u200cThe book, &#8220;Des destin\u00e9es de l\u2019\u00e2me&#8221; by Ars\u00e8ne Houssaye, once \u200bowned by Dr. Ludovic Bouland, had\u2063 its cover made from human skin. Bouland took the skin \u200bwithout consent from a deceased female patient at the hospital where he worked. Your summary effectively conveys the key details about the removal of\u200d human\u2063 skin binding from the rare book in\u200d Harvard&#8217;s Houghton Library, highlighting the historical context involving Dr. Ludovic Bouland&#8217;s acquisition of the human skin cover without the patient&#8217;s consent. This summary is informative and concise.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/harvard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Harvard University<\/a> officials announced the removal of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>human skin<\/a> binding from a rare <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/book\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>book<\/a> in the school\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/education\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Houghton Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The work, Ars\u00e8ne Houssaye\u2019s <em>Des destin\u00e9es de l\u2019\u00e2me<\/em>, or <em>The Destiny of Souls<\/em> in English, was first owned by French physician and bibliophile Dr. Ludovic Bouland, who <a href=\"https:\/\/library.harvard.edu\/about\/news\/2024-03-27\/qa-houghton-library-about-book-des-destinees-de-lame\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>declared<\/a>, \u201cA book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bouland took the skin used to bind the book without consent from a female patient who died in the hospital where he worked, <a href=\"https:\/\/library.harvard.edu\/statement-des-destinees-de-lame\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>according<\/a> to a release from the Harvard Library.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe book has been in the collections of Harvard Library since 1934, initially placed on deposit by John B. Stetson, Jr. (1884\u20131952), an American diplomat, businessman, and Harvard alumnus (AB 1906), and later through donation by his widow Ruby F. Stetson to Houghton Library in 1954,\u201d the release read. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe removal of the human skin from <em>Des destin\u00e9es de l\u2019\u00e2me<\/em> follows a review by Houghton Library of the book\u2019s stewardship, prompted by the recommendations of the <em>Report of the Harvard University Steering Committee on Human Remains in University Museum Collections<\/em> issued in fall 2022,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>Following a review, stakeholder engagement, and wide consideration, a conclusion was reached that keeping the human skin binding in the Harvard Library\u2019s collection was untenable due to the \u201cethically fraught\u201d nature of its origin, according to the release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Library is now in the process of conducting additional provenance and biographical research into the book, Bouland, and the anonymous female patient, as well as consulting with appropriate authorities at the University and in France to determine a final respectful disposition of these human remains,\u201d the release read.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>During its time at Harvard, the text was available for anyone who would ask for it, and lore suggests it was once used for hazing purposes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarvard Library acknowledges past failures in its stewardship of the book that further objectified and compromised the dignity of the human being whose remains were used for its binding,\u201d the release noted. \u201cWe apologize to those adversely affected by these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harvard University officials removed human skin binding from a rare book at Houghton Library. The book, Ars\u00e8ne Houssaye\u2019s Des destin\u00e9es de l\u2019\u00e2me (The Destiny of Souls), was owned by Dr. Ludovic Bouland. Bouland stated, \u201cA book about the human soul deserved to have&#8230;\u201d before the excerpt ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2644,"featured_media":2209136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24002734499535-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24002734499535-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2644"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}