The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is located at 10½

Beacon Street Beacon Street is a major east–west street in Boston, Massachusetts, and its western suburbs of Brookline, Massachusetts, Brookline and Newton, Massachusetts, Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, includ ...

on Beacon Hill. Resources of the Boston Athenaeum include a large circulating book collection; a public gallery; a rare books collection of over 100,000 volumes; an art collection of 100,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts; research collections including one of the world's most important collections of primary materials on the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

; and a public forum offering lectures, readings, concerts, and other events. Special treasures include the largest portion of President George Washington's library from

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

; Jean-Antoine Houdon busts of Washington,

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, and Lafayette once owned by

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

; a first edition copy of

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

's '' The Birds of America''; a 1799 set of

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

's '' Los caprichos''; portraits by

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-k ...

, Chester Harding, and

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

; and one of the most extensive collections of contemporary artists' books in the United States. The Boston Athenaeum is also known for the many prominent writers, scholars, and politicians who have been members, including

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...

, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.,

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...

, Margaret Fuller, Francis Parkman, Amy Lowell, John F. Kennedy, and Edward M. Kennedy.

History

19th century

In 1803, a young

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

graduate by the name of Phineas Adams established the magazine ''The Monthly Anthology, or Magazine of Polite Literature''. Adams left the New England area in 1804, having insufficient funds to continue the periodical; however, the printers Munroe and Francis convinced other young men to contribute to and continue the magazine under the new title of '' The Monthly Anthology and Boston Review''. By 1805, these young men founded the Anthology Society. WilliamSShaw BostonAthenaeum1

The Boston Athenaeum was founded in 1807 by members of the Anthology Society, literary individuals who began with a plan to have a reading room. The first librarian, William Smith Shaw, and the new trustees had ambitious plans for the Athenaeum, basing their vision on the Athenæum and Lyceum in Liverpool, England. Their vision was expanded to include a library encompassing books in all subjects in English and foreign languages, a gallery of sculptures and paintings, collections of coins and natural curiosities, and even a laboratory. This ambitious design has developed over the past two hundred years with some changes in focus (e.g., there is no chemistry lab) but remaining true to the ideal expressed in the institution's seal, chosen in 1814: ''Literarum fructus dulces'', meaning "Sweet are the Fruits of Letters." The first yearly subscriptions were sold for ten dollars; only members had access to the Athenaeum's rooms and they were allowed to bring guests. The Athenaeum's collections were initially non-circulating, meaning that even members could not check out books to take home. At first, the Boston Athenaeum rented rooms, then in 1809 bought a small house adjacent to the King's Chapel Burying Ground, and in 1822 moved into a mansion on Pearl Street, where a lecture hall and gallery space were added within four years. In 1823, Shaw stepped down as librarian, and the King's Chapel Library and the Theological Library belonging to the Boston Association of Ministers were deposited in the Athenaeum. Work was begun on a shelf catalog in 1827. That same year, the art gallery was established, and the first annual exhibition opened. Measures were undertaken in 1830 to turn the collections into a circulating library. Once the Athenaeum became a circulating library, only four books were allowed to be checked out at a time. BostonAtheneum ca1855 bySouthworth Hawes EastmanHouse

BostonAtheneum ca1855 bySouthworth Hawes EastmanHouse

10½ Beacon Street

By the early 1840s, Boston was a fast-growing city, and Pearl Street was in a built-up commercial district, with warehouses crowding around the Athenæum building. The trustees moved to construct a new building in order to facilitate access to the Athenaeum. Land was acquired on

overlooking the Old Granary Burying Ground, and the cornerstone of a new building was laid in 1847. In 1849, the Athenaeum opened in its current location at 10½ Beacon Street. It was the first space designed for the Boston Athenaeum's specific needs. The first floor held the sculpture gallery; the second, the library; and the third, the paintings gallery. The architect was Edward Clarke Cabot, an artist and dilettante whose design was selected because his ingenious ground-level arch over graves in the Granary Burial Ground allowed more space on all floors above the basement level. The

neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Republic of Venice, Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetr ...

façade of Patterson sandstone was unique in Boston and remains so today. The Boston Athenaeum included sculptures by John Frazee.

Cutter Expansive Classification

Charles Ammi Cutter Charles Ammi Cutter (March 14, 1837 – September 6, 1903) was an American library science, librarian. In the 1850s and 1860s he assisted with the re-cataloging of the Harvard College library, producing America's first public Library catalog, ca ...

became librarian in 1869, succeeding William Frederick Poole. Until this point, work had been uninspired on the comprehensive catalog of the library's holdings. The Athenaeum's exhibition area opened up when the Museum of Fine Arts moved the collections into their own space overlooking Copley Square. Cutter took advantage of the space, using it to spread out the collections and to revise and complete the five-volume catalog. He created his own classification system, known as Expansive Classification, in order to revise and finish the five-volume catalog. Later, the Cutter system became the basis for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

classification system; the sections of call number used to alphabetically designate authors’ names are still known as "Cutter numbers" in the Library of Congress system.

Establishment of the Museum of Fine Arts

Many of the trustees of the Boston Athenaeum participated in the movement to create a separate museum in Boston. In the years 1872–1876, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts exhibited in the Athenaeum's gallery space while awaiting the completion of its new building's construction. There would be no more annual exhibitions; shelves were installed and the library spread to the first and third floors.

20th and 21st centuries

From 1913–1914, the Boston Athenaeum employed the architectural firm of Bigelow and Wadsworth to expand the building. The fourth and fifth floors were set back so as not to disrupt the symmetry of the façade. This renovation fireproofed the building and expanded the space, including the addition of the beautiful fifth floor reading room and the fourth floor Trustees’ Room. At the same time, much-needed shelving was installed in the form of a drum stack — a ten-story Snead stack occupying a semi-circular space from the basement to the third floor. The Boston Athenaeum was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1966. Between 1999 and 2002, the Boston Athenaeum underwent a major renovation to update its climate control system, gain more space for books, and add new gallery space on the first floor. In May 2020, Leah Rosovsky was appointed as Stanford Calderwood Director of the Athenaeum.

Gilbert Stuart portraits

Gilbert Stuart 1796 portrait of Washington

The Athenæum had long owned two famous, unfinished portraits of George and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...

. They had been on loan to the Boston Museum of Fine Art since 1876, but eventually the Athenæum, needing money, asked the Museum to purchase them outright, which the Museum declined to do. The Athenæum then agreed to sell the portraits to the National Portrait Gallery (an arm of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in Washington, D.C.) for $5 million; when this agreement became public in April 1979, there was strong public opposition to it in Boston but the National Portrait Gallery argued that the portraits were of national historic value and belonged in the Smithsonian. A campaign by prominent Bostonians to raise $5 million to keep the portraits in Massachusetts fell well short of its goal. The Athenæum refused to lower the $5 million price, which it called a significant discount from the portraits' market value. The City of Boston sued to forestall the sale, naming Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti (whose office the Commonwealth's constitution designates as "custodian of public property") in the suit, and this led Bellotti to declare that the portraits could not be sold without his permission."Bostonians Are Falling Short in Drive to Keep Art." ''Associated Press.'' November 25, 1979. In early 1980, the National Portrait Gallery and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts agreed to jointly purchase the portraits, which would then spend alternating three-year terms at each institution."Pact on Stuarts Approved By Massachusetts Official." ''Associated Press.'' March 22, 1980; "Stuart Portraits Plan Wins Tentative Approval." ''Washington Post.'' March 24, 1980.

Notable members

* Hannah Adams *

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

* Cyrus Alger * Erastus Brigham Bigelow * Nathaniel Bowditch * Uriah Boyden * Josiah Cooke Jr. *

* Margaret Fuller * Samuel Griswold Goodrich *

Augustus Addison Gould Augustus Addison Gould (April 23, 1805 – September 15, 1866) was an American naturalist and the foremost conchologist of his era. He described over 1,100 new species of mollusks, including all known mollusks of Massachusetts and the shells co ...

* Thaddeus Mason Harris *

* Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. * Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. * John Jay Chapman * John Fitzgerald Kennedy * Edward M. Kennedy * Amy Lowell * Paul Moody * Daniel Treadwell * Francis Parkman

Mission statement

The mission of the Boston Athenaeum is to engage all who seek knowledge by making accessible the library's collections and spaces, thereby inspiring reflection, discourse, creative expression, and joy.

Holdings

The Athenaeum's holdings currently include over 600,000 volumes, and the collections' strengths focus on Boston and New England history, biography, British and American literature, as well as fine and decorative arts. The Boston Athenaeum's rare and circulating books, maps and manuscripts reflect the collecting interests of the Library as it has narrowed its focus from encyclopedic in the 19th century to an emphasis on the humanities and its large, historic collection of art includes paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, and decorative arts. Over 260 book funds, the oldest and largest of which was endowed by John Bromfield Jr. in 1845, support the addition of more than 3,000 volumes per year to the collection.

Printed Catalogs

In addition to catalogs of special collections such as the catalog of the Washington Collection, the Athenaeum printed the following general-purpose catalogs of books in its collection before creating a card catalog in 1903: * 1810 Catalogue of the books in the Boston Athenaeum. 267 pp. 8° * 1827 Catalogue of books in the Boston Athenaeum : to which are added the by-laws of the institution, and a list of its proprietors and subscribers. 356 pp. 8° * 1830 Catalogue of books added to the Boston Athenaeum since the publication of the catalogue in January 1827. 64 pp. 8° * 1831 Catalogue of tracts, scientific and alphabetical index. 5 v. * 1834 Catalogue of books added to the Boston Athenaeum in 1830–1833. 80 pp. 8° * 1840 Catalogue of books added to the Boston Athenaeum, since the publication of the catalogue in January, 1827. 179 pp. 8° * 1849 Shelf Lists, 1849. * 1863–1868 List of books added to the library of the Boston Athenaeum. 6 v. 8° * 1868–1871 List of books added to the library of the Boston Athenaeum. 17 nos. 8° * 1877–1896 List of additions. Second Series. No. 1–354. September 1, 187 to March 2, 1896. 1472 pp. sm. 4° * 1874 Catalogue of the library of the Boston Athenaeum. 1807–1871. 5 v. 3402 pp. l. 8° The first catalog, that of 1810, was compiled by the Rev. Joseph McKean.

Digital Collections

The Athenaeum has digitized a wide range of its holdings, and continues to do so. The digitized holdings are described on-line and are an effort to make them more accessible to researchers, students, Athenaeum members, and scholars. A few examples from the many collections in the digital library: *

Henry Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi ...

Collection of Books in Native American Languages * Confederate States of America Imprint Collection - stamps, paper currency, and financial documents * Art Deco Designs by Cartier * Rare bookbindings from

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

's personal library *Alice Mason Civil War Photography, Since 2013, the Athenaeum has made its extensive on-going lecture series available to a wider audience through

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

, an open video platform.

Rare Books & Manuscripts Collections

A few examples of the special collections:Rare Books & Manuscripts
/ref> * Portions of the personal libraries of Cardinal Cheverus,

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...

, and

. * The Groome Gypsy Collection, the Danforth Alchemy Collection, and the Merrymount Press Collection. The collections include many areas that are not documented elsewhere, e.g, the newspapers from the Confederate States of America Imprint Collection

Image gallery

File:BostonAthenaeum PearlSt 1830.png, Athenæum, Pearl Street File:Athenaeum Bowen PictureOfBoston 1838.png, Athenæum, Pearl Street File:BostonAthenaeum2 BeaconSt 1855.png, Interior, 1855 File:BostonAthenaeum3 BeaconSt 1855.png, Interior, 1855 File:Boston Athenaeum.jpg, Boston Athenaeum, Beacon Street, c. 1855 File:BostonAthenaeum BeaconSt ca1880s.png, Sumner staircase, c. 1880s File:Statuary gallery, Boston Atheneum, by U.S. Stereoscopic Co..jpg, Statuary gallery, 19th century File:BostonAthenaeum1 1905.png, 1905

In popular culture

* In the 1998 film ''A Civil Action'', the Boston Athenaeum is used as a stand-in for the Harvard Club of New York City.

References

External links

*
Flickr
George Washington (The Athenæum Portrait) * https://www.flickr.com/photos/24934245@N00/2065520083/ * https://www.flickr.com/photos/29498542@N05/3118776762/ * https://www.flickr.com/photos/21843970@N00/421678201/ * https://www.flickr.com/photos/solongago/3771609879/ * https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizmuir/4226349943/
Simmons
panel on Athenæum history, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Athenaeum Athenaeum Athenaeum, Boston Athenaeum, Boston Libraries established in 1807 Athenaeum, Boston Athenaeum, Boston Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Library buildings completed in 1849 National Historic Landmarks in Boston Neoclassical architecture in Massachusetts Renaissance Revival architecture in Massachusetts Subscription libraries in the United States 1807 establishments in Massachusetts Rare book libraries in the United States Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Museums established in 1807 National Register of Historic Places in Boston Research libraries in the United States