The Roland N. Harman Library

Library Associate Roland Nelson Harman, whose wit and wisdom charmed Georgetown English majors for several generations, died in April of 1989. A Georgetown graduate of 1933, Harman returned to the Hilltop to teach in 1950 following service as a Lt. Commander in the Navy during the Second World War and subsequent duties with the Occupation Forces in Japan. He was chairman of the English Department from 1952 to 1959, and presided over not only the expansion of the department, but also the introduction of American literature into the curriculum. In addition, he played a major role in creating the College Honors Program before retiring in 1976.

Harman had earned his Ph.D. in English at Yale University in 1938, and perhaps the friendships formed there with such inspired book collectors as Chauncey Brewster Tinker and Donald Gallup led to the formation of his own remarkable library. The Harman collection has recently been presented by his sister, Mrs. James S. Ruby of Washington, D.C., to whom we are much indebted.

This donation, consisting of some 3,300 volumes, reflects Harman's myriad interests, with books ranging from detective fiction to cookery, and from nineteenth century British literature to twentieth century psychology. The scholarly strength of the collection lies in extensive holdings of such authors as Sir Walter Scott, Henry James, William Blake, Ellen Glasgow and John Keats, among others. Included among the rare books is a copy of the first edition of Virginia Woolf's Orlando signed by the author; and English first editions, in the original dust jackets, of two detective classics by Robert Van Gulik: The Chinese Gold Murders: A Chinese Detective Story and The Chinese Lake Murders: Three Cases Solved by Judge Dee.