What is the status of the book bound in human skin at Harvard?

Warning: This webpage contains information on the mutilation of a corpse and non-consensual use of human remains in the 19th century.

Overview:

Houghton Library is the steward of a copy of Arsène Houssaye’s Des destinées de l'âme, a meditation on the soul and life after death first published in 1879. The volume’s first owner, French physician and bibliophile Dr. Ludovic Bouland (1839–1933), bound the book with skin he took without consent from the body of a deceased female patient in a hospital where he worked as a medical student in the 1860s.

In 2023, Houghton Library conducted a review of the book’s stewardship, prompted by the recommendations of the Report of the Harvard University Steering Committee on Human Remains in University Museum Collections issued in fall 2022. After careful study, stakeholder engagement, and consideration, Harvard Library and the Harvard Museum Collections Returns Committee concluded that the human remains used in the book’s binding no longer belong in the Harvard Library collections, due to the ethically fraught nature of the book’s origins and subsequent history. In March 2024, Harvard Library announced that it had removed the human skin from the book’s binding and placed it into respectful temporary storage.

The Library is now in the process of conducting additional biographical and provenance research into the anonymous female patient, Bouland, and the book, as well as consulting with appropriate authorities at the University and in France to determine a final respectful disposition of these human remains.

This webpage provides further information on the book and updates on how Harvard Library is working to restore dignity and personhood to the anonymous person whose skin was used for the binding.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long has the book been at Harvard?

The book has been in the collections of Harvard Library since 1934, initially accepted on deposit from John B. Stetson, Jr. (1884–1952), an American diplomat, businessman, and Harvard alumnus (AB 1906); transferred from Widener Library to Houghton Library in 1944; and finally donated by Stetson’s widow Ruby F. Stetson to Houghton Library in 1954.

Did the author choose to bind the book this way?

The printed text of the book was given by the author, Arsène Houssaye, to his friend, Dr. Ludovic Bouland, in the early 1880s. A handwritten note by Bouland inserted into the volume states that “a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering.” The note also describes the process used to treat the skin so it could be used to bind the text.

Whose skin was it bound in?

We do not know whose skin was used to bind the book. Evidence indicates that Bouland bound the book with skin, taken from a woman, which he had acquired as a medical student. A memo accompanying the book written by John Stetson, which has since been lost, told us that Bouland took this skin from the body of an unknown deceased woman patient from a French psychiatric hospital.

How was it confirmed that the skin used to bind the book was taken from a human?

In 2014, the library had the binding tested using a scientific process known as peptide mass fingerprinting, which confirmed human origin.

Can I see the book?

The human skin formerly on Houghton Library's copy of Des destinées de l’âme is permanently unavailable to library users. The disbound text block of the book is currently unavailable to consult in person but can be studied online through HOLLIS, Harvard Library’s main search tool.

What is the plan for the future of the person’s skin removed from the book?

The human remains will be given a respectful disposition that seeks to restore dignity to the woman whose skin was used. The Library is now in the process of conducting additional biographical and provenance research into the anonymous female patient, the book, and Bouland, as well as consulting with proper authorities in France and at the University to help determine how best to carry this out. We expect this process to take months, and perhaps longer, to come to completion.