Harvard says it’s removed human skin from binding of 19th century book
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University said it has removed human skin from the binding of a 19th-century book on the afterlife that has been in its collections since the 1930s. The decision came after a review found ethical concerns regarding the book’s origins and history.
The book ‘Des Destinées de L’âme’, which means ‘destiny of the soul’, was written in the early 1880s by Arsène Houssaye, a French novelist and poet. The printed text was given to a doctor, Ludovic Bouland, who “bound the book with skin taken without consent from the body of a deceased female patient at a hospital where he worked,” Harvard said in a recent statement. in the university’s Houghton Library.
Bouland put a handwritten note in the book. It read: “A book about the human soul deserved to have a human cover,” university librarian Thomas Hyry said Wednesday in a published question-and-answer segment online. The note also described the process behind preparing the skin for bonding.
Scientific analysis from 2014 confirmed that the binding was made of human skin, the university said.
In its statement, Harvard said the library identified several ways in which its stewardship practices did not meet its ethical standards.
“Until relatively recently, the library made the book available to anyone who requested it, regardless of why they wanted to consult it,” Harvard said. “Library lore shows that students who worked decades ago to page through collections in Houghton’s stacks were dismayed when they were asked to retrieve the book without being told it contained human remains.”
When tests showed the book was bound by human skin, “the library published posts on the Houghton blog that used a sensational, morbid and humorous tone that fueled similar international media coverage,” the university said in its statement .
The removed skin is now in “secure storage at the Harvard Library,” said Anne-Marie Eze, associate librarian at the Houghton Library, during the question-and-answer session.
The library says it will conduct additional research into the book, Bouland and the anonymous female patient. It is also working with French authorities to determine a “final respectful institution.”
Harvard said the removal of the skin was prompted by a library investigation following a Harvard University report on human remains in its museum collections, released in 2022.
“Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee concluded that the human remains used in the binding no longer belong in the Harvard Library collections due to the ethically fraught nature of the book’s origins and subsequent history,” said Harvard’s statement.