Jacket illustration for Thaddeus William Harris (1795–1856). Images are from Entomological Correspondence of Thaddeus William Harris, MD, edited by Samuel H. Scudde (1869), and are courtesy of Harvard’s Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Clark Elliott, a retired associate curator of the Harvard University Archives, has dedicated his new book to Harvard’s librarians. Elliott’s Thaddeus William Harris (1795–1856): Nature, Science, and Society in the Life of an American Naturalist was published early in 2008 by the Lehigh University Press.

According to Elliott, “Harris was the head of the Harvard University Library for many years (1831–1856)—as I recall, he was recently mentioned as the only person to serve longer than Sid Verba as head of the library. The book deals especially with Harris’s work as an entomologist, though his library service is discussed and much of this entomological effort was carried out while serving as librarian.”

The dedication reads as follows: “To the Generations of Harvard Librarians Who Followed Harris in the Enrichment of Learning and Advancement of Knowledge, One Volume, One Bibliographic Record, One Research Response, alas, One Committee, at a Time."