Robert Darnton named Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and director of the University Library

Robert Darnton, currently the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of European
History at Princeton University, will become Carl H. Pforzheimer
University Professor and director of the Harvard University Library,
effective July 1, 2007, Provost Steven E. Hyman announced today (May
22).

An alumnus of Harvard College and Harvard’s Society of Fellows, a
former Rhodes Scholar and MacArthur Fellow, and Chevalier of France’s
Légion D’Honneur, Darnton is an internationally recognized scholar on
the history of the book and the literary world of Enlightenment France.
Darnton will succeed Professor Sidney Verba, who announced his
retirement last September after having served as library director for
23 years.

“Robert Darnton is a scholar of exceptional creativity and distinction
whose intellectual interests are ideally suited for the leadership of
one of the world’s great libraries,” said Hyman. “He has been a pioneer
in the pursuit of history ‘from below,’ moving beyond the formal
thought of a period to reconstruct the world view of whole societies or
large groups of people by using the tools of anthropology and examining
alternative writings and means of communication. Of particular
significance for this new role, Darnton is a creator of the field known
as the ‘history of the book,’ as well as an entrepreneur in exploring
electronic books, Web publishing, and other forms of new media.”

“We are truly fortunate that Bob Darnton has decided to return to
Harvard,” said President-elect Drew G. Faust. “Bob is one of the most
distinguished historians working today. His deep engagement with the
history of the creation and dissemination of information will provide
him with unparalleled insight as he grapples with the challenges and
opportunities facing the Harvard libraries in the years ahead. I look
forward to working with Bob in this area of mutual passion and
interest.”

“I feel greatly honored to become Carl H. Pforzheimer University
Professor and director of the University Library — honored and awed,
because Harvard has the greatest library system of any university in
the world, one that began in 1638 with the 400 books of John Harvard’s
library and now includes nearly 16 million volumes in more than 80
separate libraries run by a staff of over 1,200, including over 400
librarians,” Darnton said. “The Harvard University Library is one of
the country’s greatest intellectual assets, but it is enormously
complex and expensive. It must maintain its leadership while helping to
shape the new information society of the 21st century.

“Having, as a historian, studied the world of books in the distant
past, I now have an opportunity to do something for the cause of books
and book learning in the present,” Darnton continued. “And I want to
help find a way in which the new and the old media can reinforce each
other, strengthening and transforming the world of learning.”

“The rapid transition of libraries requires a leader with a great deal
of range, as well as strong support from the University in fundraising
and in the allocation of resources essential to the library’s mission,”
said Hyman, who led the search for the library director. “Given the
importance of the Harvard library as an international resource for
teachers and scholars, I am pleased to pledge that support to a
director who brings such distinction and passion to this undertaking.”

Over the years, Harvard’s library system has undergone considerable
growth and transition. President A. Lawrence Lowell appointed the first
director of the Harvard University Library in 1909. In 1977, during his
first tenure as president, Derek Bok created an ad hoc committee to
review the administration of the University libraries and create a more
coordinated system. Today, almost 30 years after that committee issued
its report, the Harvard libraries, coordinated by a central staff, are
responsible for preservation, digital initiatives, off-site storage,
and supporting teaching and research within the University.

Darnton’s appointment follows a six-month search led by Hyman and
assisted by a search advisory committee of 12 individuals, including
nine faculty members from a range of disciplines, the librarians of
Harvard College and the Law School, and the University’s Chief
Information Officer. The committee met regularly throughout the search
and received input from a wide range of individuals and groups engaged
with the Harvard libraries.

Darnton is the author of numerous books and articles. His latest book
is “George Washington’s False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the
Eighteenth Century” (2003), and he is currently completing a book on
the art and politics of slander in the 18th century. His earlier books
include “Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France” (1968),
“The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the
Encyclopédie” (1979), “The Literary Underground of the Old Regime”
(1982), “The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural
History” (1984), “The Kiss of Lamourette: Reflections in Cultural
History” (1989), “Revolution in Print: the Press in France 1775-1800”
(1989, Daniel Roche co-editor), “Edition et sédition” (1991, written in
French, not available in English), which won the French Prix Médicis,
“Berlin Journal, 1989-1990” (1991), and “The Forbidden Best-Sellers of
Prerevolutionary France” (1995), which won the National Book Critics
Circle Award

Darnton is a graduate of Harvard (A.B., 1960) and Oxford (B. Phil.,
1962; D.Phil., 1964), where he was a Rhodes Scholar. After a brief
stint as a reporter for The New York Times, he became a junior fellow
in the Society of Fellows at Harvard. He began teaching in 1968 at
Princeton, where he now is the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of
European History and directs the Center for the Study of Books and
Media.

He has been the recipient of the Leo Gershoy Prize of the American
Historical Association (for “The Business of Enlightenment”), a
MacArthur Fellowship (1982-87), the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (for
“The Great Cat Massacre”), Princeton University’s Behrman Humanities
Award (1987), the Gutenberg Prize (2004), and the American Printing
History Association Prize (2005). In 1999, Darnton was named a
Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, the highest award given by the
French government, in recognition of his work.

Darnton has also served as president of the International Society
for Eighteenth-Century Studies (1987-91) and of the American Historical
Association (1999). He has been elected a fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the
British Academy, the Academia Europaea, and the Académie Royale de
Langue et de Littérature Françaises of Belgium. He has been a visiting
professor or fellow at many universities and institutes for advanced
study, and his outside activities include service as a trustee of the
New York Public Library and the Oxford University Press (USA).