O. B. Hardison, Jr. · 1984 Honoree

In 1969 the Trustees of Amherst College named O.B. Hardison, Jr. as Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library. He had, of course, all of the proper credentials of the academic world. But he had something more. That was the dream of making a dignified center for study and scholarly research into a lively place of arts and letters for everyone. To do the latter without losing the former has been no small accomplishment. But it was done. Across the next fifteen years the dream became reality.

The Folger Theater Company was organized and the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater came to life. Next it was the Folger Consort of performing musical artists. Later the Mid-Day Muse featured poetry reading at noonday for employees and residents on the Hill. School children by the bus-load began making pilgrimage, to be greeted by Shakespearean characters in full costume. Shakespeare’s birthday, celebrated each year in April, became an annual open house event to which everyone looks forward. A former Chicagoan in the neighborhood compared what was happening at the Folger to living next door to Wrigley Field when the Giants came to town on the 4th of July.

Meanwhile, the educational aspects of the Folger were strengthened, supported by a Consortium of 21 Colleges and Universities. Four outstanding conferences were sponsored or co-sponsored, bringing scholars of world reputation to discuss Petrarch in1974, Shakespeare in 1976, Thomas More in 1978, and Martin Luther in 1983.

O.B. Hardison, Jr., is a man of letters, the author of numerous articles and books, including a book of poetry, Pro Musica Antiqua (LSU Press, 1977), and most recently a study entitled, Entering the Maze: Identity and Change in Modern Culture (Oxford, 1982). He has been acclaimed around the world (having received the Cavaliere Ufficiale, an Italian Decoration, in 1974 and the Order of the British Empire in 1983), as well as in his own country (Honorary Degrees from Rollins College, York College, Kalamazoo College, Amherst College, St. Mary’s College, University of Detroit, and Georgetown University). Perhaps, all of these accomplishments are crowned by his opening the Folger to all of us and by bringing its magnificent resources to the streets of Capitol Hill. It is for this especially that we salute him tonight.