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Boston Athenaeum

The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the United States, was founded in 1807 by members of the Anthology Society, a group of fourteen Boston gentlemen who had joined together in 1805 to edit The Monthly Anthology and Boston Review. Their purpose was to form "an establishment similar to that of the Athenaeum and Lyceum of Liverpool in Great Britain; combining the advantages of a public library [and] containing the great works of learning and science in all languages." The library and Art Gallery, established in 1827, were soon flourishing, and grew rapidly, both by purchase of books and art and by frequent gifts. For nearly half a century the Athenaeum was the unchallenged center of intellectual life in Boston, and by 1851 had become one of the five largest libraries in the United States. Today its collections comprise over half a million volumes, with particular strengths in Boston history, New England state and local history, biography, English and American literature, and the fine and decorative arts. The Athenaeum supports a dynamic art gallery, and sponsors a lively variety of events such as lectures and concerts. It also serves as a stimulating center for discussions among scholars, bibliophiles, and a variety of community interest groups.break

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org

Unnoticed: Secret Life of Type Faces

Thu, Apr 28, 2005

Richard Wendorf explores the nature and history of the type faces by which we live, ranging from Roman capitals to the experimentation of William Morris at the Kelmscott Press. Typography is something that we encounter every day of our lives; it is one of the most pervasive elements in an entire spectrum of human activities. And yet typography is usually invisible or barely noticed; it is supposed to be transparent; it is not supposed to draw attention to itself. *The Secret Life of Type* is one of 10 essays collected together in Richard Wendorf's new book *The Scholar-Librarian: Books, Libraries, and the Visual Arts*, published by Oak Knoll Press and the Boston Athenaeum.

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Nature of Sacrifice: Biography of Charles Russell Lowell Jr.

Tue, Mar 22, 2005

The world advances by impossibilities achieved, Charles Lowell insisted in 1854 when, as valedictorian, he spoke at his Harvard graduation just two weeks after Boston had enforced the Fugitive Slave Law, returning Anthony Burns into slavery. Lowell argued that in the great march of mankind toward a greater humanity it was precisely those idealistic dreams of young men that marked human progress. His photographic memory and brilliant mind made him the brightest man of his generation. Spurning the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson to become a "mystic," Lowell began a career at the cutting edge of industrial innovation under the mentorship of the New York iron magnate Abram Hewitt. But the impossibility Lowell had in mind was not the miracle of industrial advancement that was sweeping the nation, but the abolition of slavery. Lowell volunteered in the Union Cavalry and in 1862 served on General McClellan's staff. In 1864 he joined the Cavalry Corps under Sheridan, commanding the Reserve Brigade. Carol Bundy's account of Lowell's war years, shadowed by the deaths of his brother, cousins, and friends, is unsparing in its depiction of his work in helping to form the fabled 54th Regiment of black volunteers, fighting Colonel Mosby's guerillas, implementing Grant's orders to destroy the Shenandoah Valley, and participating in the notorious Front Royal Affair, when Confederate prisoners were tortured and executed. Bundy's vivid biography, based on rich public archives and a wealth of family papers, shows in persuasive detail the antebellum Boston of Lowell's privileged childhood transformed by his father's unexpected bankruptcy and by the national controversy over slavery. An Athenaeum proprietor, Carol Bundy has written for film and art publications in both the UK and the US. She has two sons and lives in Cambridge. Bundy became interested in her great-great-great uncle, Charles Russell Lowell, when his worn saddle bags, rusted sword, and spurs turned up after her grandmother's death in 1983. Listen to a complementary [interview with Carol Bundy](http://thoughtcast.org/casts/carol-bundy-civil-war-biographer) on Thoughtcast.org, a podcast and public radio interview program on authors, academics and intellectuals.

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Hudson River School of American Landscape Painting

Thu, Apr 14, 2005

David Dearinger, a curator at the Boston Athenaeum, lectures on history and technique of the the Hudson River School style of landscape painting. The Hudson River School resulted from the earliest attempts by American artists to find a truly "American" theme and style. It was born in the 1820s in the paintings of Thomas Cole and thrived through the 1850s in the work of Asher Durand, John Kensett, Sanford Gifford, Fitzhugh Lane, and Frederic Edwin Church. Dr Dearinger traces the birth and development of the style using key examples of paintings by these and other artists, gives an overview of the movement's historiography, discusses contemporary critical responses to it, and comments on the waning and eventual demise of the style in the 1870s. **David Dearinger** is Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Boston Athenaeum. An art historian and curator, he received his PhD from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, with a specialty in nineteenth-century American art. He taught art history in New York at Brooklyn College, Hunter College and, for many years, at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Before coming to Boston, he was chief curator at the National Academy of Design in New York. He has published and lectured widely on the history of American painting and sculpture.

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Stewart O'Nan's The Good Wife

Thu, Apr 7, 2005

Stewart O'Nan, author of The Speed Queen and A Prayer for the Dying, discusses his newest novel, The Good Wife. On a clear winter night in upstate New York, two young men break into a house believing it is empty. It isn't, and within minutes an old woman is dead and the house is in flames. Soon after, the men are caught by the police. Across the county, a phone rings in a darkened bedroom, waking a pregnant woman. It is her husband. He wants her to know that he and his friend have gotten themselves into a little trouble. So Patty Dickerson's old life ends and a strange new one begins. At once a love story and a portrait of a woman discovering her own strength, The Good Wife follows Patty through the twenty-eight years of her husband's incarceration as she raises her son, navigates a system that has no place for her, and braves the scorn of her community. Compassionate and unflinching, The Good Wife illuminates a marriage and a family tested to the limits of endurance.

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Emma at Home: Lady Hamilton and Her "Attitudes"

Thu, Mar 31, 2005

John Wilton-Ely lectures on the effervescent and much celebrated performance artist, Lady Emma Hamilton, whose "attitudes" made her a phenomenon all across 18th century Europe. This lecture is presented in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation.

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The White House: A Pop-Up Book

Tue, Mar 22, 2005

Starting with the design by Irish-born architect James Hoban in 1792, the White House history spans more than 200 years. In *The White House: A Pop-Up Book*, Chuck Fischer brings to life not only the architecture, furnishings, and fine art of America's First Home, but also the history of Washington, DC, the National Mall, and America's First Families. A movable diorama of the Mall gives a 3-D view of America's national monuments; a pop-up of the White House provides a look at the mansion's exterior; a standing "carousel" reveals interiors of the Red Room, Cross Hall, Blue Room, Green Room, and Lincoln Bedroom; a removable map of Washington, DC details the city's layout; and a gallery of the presidents combined with a fan that opens to portray the first ladies illustrates America's leading families over the centuries. In addition, numerous pull-outs and pop-ups surprise the reader with interesting details, such as holiday traditions at the White House and the antics of more than one White House child (roller skating across polished floors or bombarding a cabinet meeting with a toy cannon!). Chuck Fischer is one of the most talented and sought-after artists in America today and is the author and illustrator of the acclaimed *Great American Houses and Gardens: A Pop-Up Book* and *Wallcoverings: Applying the Language of Color and Pattern*, both published by Universe. His wallcovering and fabric designs are in the permanent collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and he has recently been a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.

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Ann Patchett: Run

Tue, Sep 25, 2007

Ann Patchett reads from her fifth novel *Run*, which explores what "family" means and how we forge our allegiances while still asserting our identities. Set within a 24-hour period, the novel, like much of Patchett's work, examines what happens when disparate lives intersect, as well as the obligations we bear to strangers. *Run* is both the story of one loving family's insular bonds and an examination of community, for which we are all accountable.

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Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London

Tue, Mar 9, 2004

Lisa Jardine draws a portrait of the gifted but cranky English scientist Robert Hooke, known to history as much for losing quarrels with more prominent scientists as for his achievements. He was one of the founding fathers of the Royal Society and teamed with Christopher Wren in rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666. Hooke is perhaps best, and certainly unjustly, remembered for losing to Newton in a challenge for credit as discoverer of the inverse-square law of gravitational attraction.

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Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living (1900-1939)

Thu, Mar 11, 2004

Virginia Nicholson explores the way of life of the Bohemian artists of the early 20th century - the majority of them artists, poets, writers, and composers - who were brave enough to jettison Victorian conformity and to invent a whole new way of living. Rebels and free spirits, they pioneered a domestic revolution, carrying idealism and creativity into every aspect of daily life. From Dylan Thomas to Robert Graves, Katherine Mansfield to Dora Carrington, they rejected tea parties, chaperones, monogamy, and mahogany. Deaf to disapproval, they painted, danced, and wrote poetry with passionate intensity, they experimented with homosexuality and open marriages, and often sacrificed comfortable homes to take to the road or to move into Spartan garrets. Yet their choice of a free life led all too often to poverty, hunger, addictions, and even death. This lecture brings to life the flamboyant, eccentric pioneers to whom we owe so many of our freedoms today.

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American West: Lewis and Clark Expedition

Thu, Mar 18, 2004

Clay S. Jenkinson employs the Chautauquan methodology of a stand-up, unscripted monologue in his first-person portrayal of Meriwether Lewis. His educational, humorous, and delightful monologue is followed by an in-character question and answer session with the audience, and ends with Jenkinson sharing his own insights into the character of Captain Lewis and the expedition. The Federalist called the Louisiana Purchase "the wildest chimera of a moonstruck mind"; Thomas Jefferson referred to it as a "two ocean continental empire for liberty"; and Meriwether Lewis, captain of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime to be the first citizen of the United States to step foot on the unexplored wilderness of the American West.

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