Henry Armitage

Henry Armitage

Henry Armitage is the head librarian of Miskatonic University. He is known for his wide and vast assortment of knowledge pertaining the countless books of the occult and the eldritch in Miskatonic.

History

Background

Armitage was the head librarian at Miskatonic University who retired around 1936 due to failing health. As a young man, he graduated from Miskatonic in 1881 and went on to obtain his doctorate from Princeton University and his Doctor of Letters degree at Johns Hopkins University.

He became interested in the occult in 1882 after hearing of a strange meteorite that fell to Earth near Arkham, this event prompting him to read Miskatonic's copy of the Necronomicon. Years later, and with the help of professors Warren Rice and Francis Morgan, Armitage used this work to defeat the Dunwich Horror.

Death

Conflicting accounts are given for Armitage's demise. In one account, he was killed in 1939 by a fire in the library when he tried to save Miskatonic's Rare Book collection. In another account, he died of a heart attack outside the library in 1946 after being frightened by a guard dog. Before his death, Armitage published two books on the occult: Notes toward a Bibliography of World Occultism, Mysticism, and Magic (Miskatonic University Press, 1927) and Devils and Demons in the Miskatonic Valley. Copies of the books are available but the originals are currently owned by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.