Miskatonic University
Miskatonic University is a fictional university located in Arkham; a fictitious town which is said to exist in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is named after the Miskatonic River (which is also fictional). After first appearing in the H. P. Lovecraft 1922 serial "Herbert West—Reanimator", the school appeared in numerous horror stories in the Cthulhu Mythos written by Lovecraft and other writers. It is implied in "The Dunwich Horror" that Miskatonic University is a highly prestigious university, on par with Harvard, and along with Harvard, the two most popular schools for the children of the “Old Gentry” in the state of Massachusetts to attend. It also appears in role-playing games based on the mythos.
Campus
Miskatonic University is evidently modeled on the now defunct (since 2000) Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts on the Merrimack river. Haverhill is a mill town with hard lined class distinctions. The mills and their workers resided on the north side of the river, with the owners residing in the fine homes on the hill over the river in the town of Bradford. Haverhill is also the home of John L. Goldwater, Creator of Archie comics, and Rob Zombie. Bradford college was created to train young ladies to be missionaries wives, and then their students. Lovecraft's girlfriend attended the school and was exposed to the diverse community in an eerie location. In Lovecraft's stories, the university's student body is inverted to be all-male, much like northeastern universities of Lovecraft's time. The only female student mentioned is Asenath Waite, of Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937).[1]
For a location in which to shoot Miskatonic University scenes in their adaptation of The Whisperer in Darkness in 2009, the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society chose the campus of Mount Holyoke College[2].
Miskatonic University is famous for its collection of occult books. The library at the university holds one of the few genuine copies of the Necronomicon[3]. Other tomes held at the library include the Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Junzt and the fragmentary Book of Eibon.
Miskatonic has a medical school, as featured in "Herbert West—Reanimator".
Mythos fiction by other authors as well as fan interpretations of Lovecraft's Miskatonic University differ in whether mystical and Mythos studies are covert or overt. In the first interpretation, which follows Lovecraftian literary traditions, Miskatonic University is an ordinary university that also harbors secrets and has an unfortunately frequent number of run-ins with Mythos elements. In the second, more common in comedic and RPG works (and in Miskatonic University paraphernalia), Mythos and strange elements are overtly displayed at Miskatonic University and form part of its campus cultural identity.
Faculty
Lovecraft's work
The following table lists the professors of Miskatonic University and their respective departments from Lovecraft's stories.[4]
| Name | Department | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Henry Armitage | Chief Librarian | "The Dunwich Horror" |
| Professor Ferdinand C. Ashley | Ancient History | "The Shadow Out of Time" |
| Professor Atwood | Physics | At the Mountains of Madness |
| Professor Dexter | Zoology | "The Whisperer in Darkness" |
| Professor William Dyer | Geology | At the Mountains of Madness "The Shadow Out of Time" |
| Professor Ellery | Chemistry | "The Dreams in the Witch House" |
| Professor Tyler M. Freeborn | Anthropology | "The Shadow Out of Time" |
| Dr. Allen Halsey | Dean of the Medical School | "Herbert West--Reanimator" |
| Professor Lake | Biology | At the Mountains of Madness |
| Dr. Francis Morgan | Archaeology | "The Dunwich Horror" |
| Professor Frank H. Pabodie | Engineering | At the Mountains of Madness |
| Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee | Political Economy | "The Shadow Out of Time" |
| Professor Wingate Peaslee | Psychology | "The Shadow Out of Time" |
| Professor Warren Rice | Languages | "The Dunwich Horror" |
| Professor Upham | Mathematics | "The Dreams in the Witch House" |
| "Old" Waldron | College doctor | "The Dreams in the Witch House" |
| Albert N. Wilmarth | English | At the Mountains of Madness "The Whisperer in Darkness" |
Other authors' work
| Name | Department | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| Tony Alwyn | Assistant Librarian | "Beyond the Threshold" |
| Dr. Dan Cain | Hospital | Bride of Re-Animator |
| Randolph Carter | Unstated | "The New Traveller's Almanac" |
| Professor Alice Derleth | Occult Sciences | "The Collect Call of Cathulhu" |
| Dr. Graves | Hospital | Bride of Re-Animator |
| Dr. Carl Hill | Medical School | Re-Animator |
| Ms. Doris Horus | Librarian (as of June 26, 1969) | The Illuminatus! Trilogy |
| Professor Ted Klein | Unstated | "The Collect Call of Cathulhu" |
| Dr. Cyrus Llanfer | Chief Librarian (following Armitage) | "The Return of Hastur" |
| Professor Seneca Lapham | Anthropology | "The Lurker at the Threshold" |
| Professor Joshua N. Marsh | Anthropology | The Illuminatus! Trilogy |
| Professor Dominique 'Mo' O'Brien | Philosophy | The Atrocity Archives The Jennifer Morgue |
| Ward Phillips (I) | First President (late 17th century) | "The Lurker at the Threshold" |
| Ward Phillips (II) | Chief Librarian (early 19th century) | "The Lurker at the Threshold" |
| Professor Laban Shrewsbury | Anthropology and philosophy | "The Trail of Cthulhu" |
| Keith Brian Swerdlov | Unstated (possibly Archeology) | Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars |
| Ebenezer Tillinghast | Geology | "The Smoker from the Shadows" |
| Nathaniel Pickman Wingate | Physics | Kamillions |
| Dr. Henry West MD | Necrobiology | Splatterhouse (2010 video game) |
Reference guides
Chaosium Press published several guides to the 1920s Miskatonic University. The first was a lengthy section in 'Arkham Unveiled' (1990) by Keith Herber with others and put a full university setting around existing H. P. Lovecraftian Mythos references. The second was Miskatonic University (1995), a full-length book by Sandy Antunes. Subtitled 'Where Science Meets the Mythos', this edition tried to merge and reconcile the Chaosium setting of 'Arkham Unveiled', the original Mythos sources, and historical 'period' details derived especially from 1920s Boston University, while also added new items to the setting. A copy of this out-of-print book is in Boston University's Special Collections, and Chaosium granted rights in 1997 to a fan[who?] to reuse some of this material for their website. The third was a new edition of 'Miskatonic University' (2005) by 'Sam Johnson & friends' published in late 2005. This edition reworked the previous book and added more mystical and mythos game elements.
Joan Stanley published a small book, Ex Libris Miskatonici: A Catalogue of Selected Items from the Special Collections in the Miskatonic University Library, which is a researched historical fiction reference for canonical Mythos book references regarding MU.
Work was started at Chaosium on a sourcebook Arkham 1990 including a modern-day Miskatonic University, but that has not (as of 2006) yet been published.
Mottos for MU have ranged from "Ex Ignorantia Ad Sapientiam; E Luce Ad Tenebras" (Out Of Ignorance Into Wisdom; Out Of Light Into Darkness) to "A Small Sacrifice for Knowledge", and their mascot has been stated as everything from the Badger to the Fighting Cephalopods (as in, "Go ′Pods!").
Notes
- ^ Pearsall, "Miskatonic University", The Lovecraft Lexicon, p. 281.
- ^ "Lights, Action, Horror at MHC". MHC News & Events. 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
- ^ Lovecraft, Howard P (1980). A History of The Necronomicon. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 0-318-04715-2.
{{cite book}}: External link in|title= - ^ A History of The Necronomicon. ISBN 0-318-04715-2., pp. 281–2. (List of professors.)
References
- Pearsall, Anthony B. (2005). The Lovecraft Lexicon (1st ed. ed.). Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Pub. ISBN 1-56184-129-3.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)
External links
- Meshbox licenses 3D models of Miskatonic University buildings
- The Outsider website, which sells "Fighting Cephalopod" paraphernalia
- Fictional Miskatonic University sites
