Behind locked metal gates on the sixth level of Widener smolders the "Inferno," the University collection of erotica.

Half a dozen rows of stacks enclosed in the gates contain the College Library's varied, though not particularly vast, assemblage of erotic literature.

But the volumes on the shelves of the "Inferno," or Cage, as most Library officials choose to call it, are by no means limited to work of an erotic nature. Mingled with studies on white slavery and perversion, one finds Dante's "Divine Comedy," Browning's "Complete Poems," and the papers of the Office of Civil Defense.

Although erotica burns brightest in the "Inferno," Robert H. Haynes, Assistant Librarian of the Colege Library, hastens to point out that the Cage was not solely created to harbor such literature.

Dante, for example, rates a spot on the secluded shelves along with Frank Harris and Fanny Hill because of the value of a particular edition of "The Divine Comedy." Editions that are rather valuable, but not quite valuable enough to ocupy space in the Houghton Rare Book Library, are locked in the "Inferno" to asure protection. Several beautifully-bound volumes of "The Arabian Nights," of Browning, and of Balzac are kept in the Cage for this reason.

Notes and papers used for occasional serious research are stored behind the gates to prevent possible loss. When one Wilbur F. Henderson of Conway, New Hampshire, donated nine large cases of longhand notes concerning bird migrations and weather changes over a period of 34 years, the notes were locked in the Cage for preservation. Patriotic blurbs and other notes from the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, the papers of the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety, and a collection of photographs of archaeological items have also found security in the "Inferno" stacks. Poor-paper books and those in shabby condition are labelled "XP" and put in the Cage for purposes of preservation.

Preserve Erotica

For a number of reasons the "Inferno" is used to shelter the erotic literature. Preservation is also a paramount consideration here. According to Haynes, studies like Freud's "interpretation of Dreams" and Havelock Ellis' "Psychology of Sex" are kept locked up because "the Library was continualy losing these looks."

Pictorial magazines like the "Annual of American Photography" were mutilated when they remained fairly accessible to students. Haynes pointed out some issues of the periodical, which is now sent to the Cage, from which pictures had been torn.

A section that Haynes prefers to call "drug-store novels" was put in the"inferno" for quite a different reason. Several Years ago, when these cheaply-bound, cheaply-written books dotted the Library's modern literature sections, officials discovered that the strong attraction of the novels detracted from the efficiency of some librarians. Haynes himself usually assigns these works and others, most of which may be considered obscene, to the "Inferno."

The Widener "drug-store novels" differ a great deal from the present "breast-sellers" offered in pocket-book form on bookstands today. They are almost always bound with a brightly-colored cover, and are printed on coarse, cheap paper. While the more recent drugstore favorites feature ill-clad or unclad women, the Widener volumes make an appeal via racy titles.

Banned Volumes

Books that have been banned, either in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or throughout the country, are harbored in the "Inferno" for obvious reasons. All works on contraception are sent to the Cage, since they are banned in this State. The unexpurgated edition of D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterly's Lover," and Henry Miller's "Tropic of Capricorn," banned in the United States, find refuge here.

Haynes said it is more than legal necessity alone that induces officials to keep such books in the "Inferno." "From a purely practical point of view, books of such a nature must be kept locked up, or people would steal them."

And, despite all the precautions taken to protect the books, Miller's "Tropic of Capricorn" has been lost anyway.