Editing Widener Library (section)

===Dedication===

[[File:HarryElkinsWidener portrait by GabrielFerrier.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.80|[[Gabriel Ferrier]]'s por{{shy}}trait of Harry Widener hangs in the Memorial Rooms.{{r|ask_portrait}} ]]

The building was dedicated immediately after [[History and traditions of Harvard commencements|Com{{shy}}mence{{shy}}ment Day]] exercises on June{{nbsp}}24, 1915.
Lowell and Coolidge mounted the steps to the main door, where Eleanor Widener presented them with the building's keys.{{r|dedication}}
The first book formally brought into the new library was the 1634 edition of [[John Downame]]'s ''The Christian Warfare Against the Devil, World, and Flesh'',{{r|bentinck1980|p=18}}
believed (at the time) to be the only volume, of those bequeathed to the school by [[John Harvard (clergyman)|John Harvard]] in 1638, to have survived the 1764 burning of [[Harvard Hall (Harvard University)|Harvard Hall]].{{r|tomase}}

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary Dedication.png|thumb|right|upright=1.1|{{center|"President Lowell accepting the key from {{nobr|Mrs. Widener"}}}}]]

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary MainDoor.jpeg|thumb|right|upright=1.1 |{{center| "Even from the very entrance one [can glimpse] the portrait of young Harry Widener" {{nobr|far inside.}} }}]]

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary MainDoor Detail.jpeg|thumb|right|upright=1.1 | {{center|Above the door, [[hallmark]]s of 15th-century printers: {{nobr|[[William Caxton|Caxton]]; [[Berchthold Rembolt|Rembolt]];}} [[Aldus Manutius|Aldus]]; {{nobr|[[Johann Fust|Fust]] and [[Peter Schöffer|Schöffer]].{{r|printers}}}} }}
]]

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary StairsToMemorialRooms.jpeg|thumb|right|upright=1.1
| {{ center| Flanking the Memorial Rooms' entrance, murals by [[John Singer Sargent]] honor {{nobr|World War I dead.}} }}
]]

[[File:HarvardUniversity WidenerLibrary MemorialRoomsLibrary ObliqueView.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1
|{{center| The Memorial Rooms "<!--por{{shy}}trait, books, flowers, and furnish{{shy}}ings -->reflect an atmos{{shy}}phere of realism", wrote a visitor, {{nobr|"[as if]}} Harry Widener still lived among his books."{{hsp}}{{r|canoe|p=91}}
The desk at left was Harry {{nobr|Widener's own.{{NoteTag
|{{r|ask_furniture}}
The rug is a [[Heriz rug|Heriz Persian]];{{r|ask_rug}} on the desk is an unsigned [[Tiffany lamp]].{{r|ask_lamp}}
In the library's early years, when the Memorial Rooms served as the office of the Widener Collec{{shy}}tion's curator, fires were sometimes set in the fireplace.{{r|whitehill}}
<!--end nobr>>-->}}<!--end note>>-->}}<!--end center>>-->}}
]]

In the Memorial Rooms, after a benediction by Bishop [[William Lawrence (bishop)|William Lawrence]],{{r|transcript}} a portrait of Harry Widener
was unveiled, then remarks delivered by Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] (speaking on "The Meaning of a Great Library"{{hsp}}{{r|lodge}} on behalf of Eleanor Widener) and Lowell ("For years we have longed for a library that would serve our purpose, but we never hoped to see such a library as this").{{r|dedication}}
Afterward (said the ''[[Boston Evening Transcript]]''{{hsp}}) "<!--After the ceremony of presenta{{shy}}tion, -->the doors were thrown open, and both graduates and under{{shy}}graduates had an opportu{{shy}}ni{{shy}}ty to see the beauties and utilities of this important univer{{shy}}sity acquisition."{{hsp}}{{r|transcript}}

"I hope it will become the heart of the University," Eleanor Widener said, "a centre for all the interests that make Harvard a great university."{{hsp}}{{r|alumni_19130616_collection}}