The Bethlehem Area Public Library and Lehigh University have partnered to bring recognition to the poet Hilda Doolittle, who was born in Bethlehem in 1886 at the site of the city’s government complex. Added to the list of national Literary Landmarks, a plaque was recently dedicated at the entrance to the main branch of the library on West Church Street.

Head librarian Josh Berk said a lecture on Doolittle by Lehigh University associate professor Seth Moglen had provided the impetus for pursuing the recognition. “Seth’s lecture got us all fired up about H.D.,” said Berk who credited Lehigh University with providing help on the application and sharing the cost of the plaque.

Doolittle, who wrote in an imagist style and would spend much of her life residing in Europe, drew on her early life in Bethlehem to give her work a “harshness and austerity” according to Amardeep Singh, an associate professor of English at Lehigh, who read from Doolittle’s “Garden” at the dedication.

Moglen said he considered Doolittle the “greatest literary figure to come from Bethlehem” and called her one of the “greatest visionaries Bethlehem’s history.” He read from Doolittle’s “The Gift” and “Trilogy,” the latter written during the bombing of London in World War II.

Former Lehigh English department chair Scott Gordon and assistant director of international studies Jennie Hyest also read select verses from Doolittle’s work.

Hilda Doolittle died in 1961 and is buried in the Nisky Hill Cemetery.