Hardison, O. B.

Hardison, O. B. (Osborn B.) (1928–90) historian, professor, librarian; born in San Diego, Calif. After taking a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin (1956), he taught for a short while at the University of North Carolina before being appointed director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (1969–83). While there he founded the Folger Theater Group (now the Shakespeare Theater at the Folger), introduced the Folger Consort, specializing in medieval and Renaissance music, improved the facilities for the care of the Folger rare book collection, and made the Folger a center for international scholarship. In 1984 he became professor of English at Georgetown University. His books, on a wide range of topics, include Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages (1965), Prosody and Purpose in the English Renaissance (1989), Disappearing through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century (1989), and two volumes of poetry, Lyrics and Elegies (1958) and Pro Musica Antiqua (1977).