Boston Athenæum

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Boston Athenaeum
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
The Boston Athenaeum building today, as designed by Edward Clarke Cabot with additions by Henry Forbes Bigelow
The Boston Athenaeum building today, as designed by Edward Clarke Cabot with additions by Henry Forbes Bigelow
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°3′45″W / 42.35778, -71.0625Coordinates: 42°21′28″N 71°3′45″W / 42.35778, -71.0625
Built/Founded: 1847
Architect: Cabot,Edward Clark; Bigelow & Wadsworth
Architectural style(s): Neoclassical, Renaissance Revival
Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966
NRHP Reference#: 66000132[1]
Governing body: Private
The seal of the Boston Athenæum
The seal of the Boston Athenæum

Boston Athenæum is an independent library and museum in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club. Edward Clark Cabot designed the present building, which opened in 1849 and was modelled on the Athenæum and Lyceum in Liverpool, United Kingdom.[2]

It is located on Beacon Street, near the top of Beacon Hill, and a short walk from the Massachusetts State House.

The Athenæum combines the functions of a library with those of an art gallery and museum. It is home to more than 700,000 books including original works by George Washington, approximately one-half of Washington's personal library from Mount Vernon, as well as the bibles that King James sent to the colonists to try and turn them to religion instead of revolution.[3]

Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of many authors to frequent the Athenæum, "had a special relationship with this book-filled building. A relationship with the ghost of a man who, to this day, still calls for the elevator to come to the third floor to get him. The Boston Athenaeum is said to be haunted by the scholarly Rev. Harris, who was seen there by Nathaniel Hawthorne."[4]

In 1855, the newly formed Boston Art Club held its first Exhibition of Paintings at the Athenæum. Alfred Ordway, one of the founding Members of the Boston Art Club, had been working at the Athenæum and became the Athenæum's Director of Paintings from 1856-1863.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  2. ^ About the Athenæum
  3. ^ The Boston Spirits Walking Tour
  4. ^ The Boston Spirits Walking Tour

[edit] Further reading

  • Josiah Quincy III, The History of the Boston Athenæum, with Biographical Notices of its Deceased Founders. Cambridge, MA., Metcalf and Company, 1851.
  • The Athenæum Centenary, The Influence and History of the Boston Athenæum from 1807 to 1907 with a Record of its Officers and Benefactors and a Complete List of Proprietors. Boston, The Boston Athenæum, 1907.
  • Robert F. Perkins, Jr. & William J. Gavin III, editors, The Boston Athenæum Art Exhibition Index, 1827-1874. Boston, MA, The Boston Athenæum, 1980.

[edit] References

  1. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
  2. ^ About the Athenæum
  3. ^ The Boston Spirits Walking Tour
  4. ^ The Boston Spirits Walking Tour

[edit] External links



List of Athenaeums in the United States
Philadelphia | Boston | La Jolla | Minneapolis | Portsmouth, NH | Providence, RI |
Newport, RI | Salem, MA | Saint Johnsbury, VT | Columbia, TN | Pittsfield, MA


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