Named for literary critic and poet George Edward Woodberry,[1] the Woodberry Poetry Room was founded in 1931 with the help of a $50,000 donation from Harvard alumnus Harry Harkness Flagler.
[2] The collection focuses on 20th and 21st century English language poets and poetry.
Among its notable holdings are recordings of authors and poets reading their own works.
Packard, who was himself an early enthusiast of audio recordings, captured the voices of figures including performers William Gillette, Edwin Booth, and Florence Nightingale, as well as writers T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Tennessee Williams, and W. H.
[3] Finnish artist Alvar Aalto designed the new room in a Scandinavian style.