What matters to you.
Sign Out
Play Live Radio
0:00
0:00
NEXT UP:
 
Top

Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:
boston-athenaeum-logo-9x9.jpg

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

  • 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.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • 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.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • 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.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Role of the Academy and in American Art

    Tue, Mar 29, 2005
    The traditional art academies, first founded in Europe beginning in the late 17th century and in the United States just after the year 1800, played a vital role in the lives and careers of artists over three hundred years. Because they typically made drawing the basis for all art training and taught it under fairly strict control, academies fell from favor with the advent of modern art in the twentieth century. In the late twentieth century, however, and now into the twenty-first, more artists are paying attention to craft, and the practice of careful drawing is enjoying a huge resurgence. More and more artists are producing representational work, drawn and painted in a new, classically realistic style. In conjunction with the exhibition *Powerline: The Art of Leo Dee*, David Dearinger delivers an illustrated lecture about the role the formal art academy played in the development of American art. He will pay special attention to the history of one of the most important and enduring of these academies in this country: the National Academy of Design in New York, at Brooklyn College, Hunter College and for many years, at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The Academy was founded in 1826, has hosted a lively art school, and has held annual exhibitions of contemporary American Art, almost without interruption, since its foundation. Dr. Dearinger reviews the history of the National Academy, discusses its important collection of American paintings and sculptures, and describes the role it played in the formation of both American artists and American art critics. David Dearinger is Susan Morse Hilles curator of paintings and cculpture 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.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Peabody Sisters: Igniting American Romanticism

    Tue, May 17, 2005
    Megan Marshall lectures on Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody, the subjects of her 20 years in the making biography, The Peabody Sisters. Marshall focuses on the period during which the Peabody sisters made their indelible mark on history. Her unprecedented research into these lives uncovered hundreds of previously unread letters, as well as other previously unmined original sources. The Peabody Sisters casts new light on a legendary American era. **Megan Marshall**'s work on The Peabody Sisters has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has published numerous articles on women's history and New England history.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Seamanship: Voyage Along the Coasts of the British Isles

    Thu, May 19, 2005
    Writer Adam Nicholson discusses his nautical adventure around the British Isles that lead to his book, Seamanship: A Voyage Along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles In the winter of 2003, Adam Nicholson embarked on the sea voyage of his wildest imaginings. In the company of George Fairhurst, an experienced skipper with half a million sea miles under his belt, Nicholson navigated the often unforgiving coastal waters of western Ireland and Scotland, visiting the outer reaches of the British Isles. The months-long expedition on a 42-foot ketch tested their mettle, both as sailors and as men, as they faced fierce weather, fickle currents, and their own resolution and limitations. **Adam Nicholson** grew up in Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, the family home of his grandparents Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson. He was educated at Eton and at Magdalene College at Cambridge. After university, he became a travel writer and won the Somerset Maugham Award for Frontiers, about a journey through Eastern Europe. In the mid-eighties Nicholson founded Toucan Books, and he served as publishing director for five years. He has since joined the London Daily Telegraph as a columnist. He is the author of Wetland Life in the Somerset Levels, which won the British Topography Prize; Restoration; God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible; and Sea Room, which was short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize. Nicholson lives on a small beef and sheep farm in Sussex with his wife and five children.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Future of America's Libraries

    Thu, Jan 12, 2006
    David Seaman argues that, despite predictions to the contrary, the library (both physically and virtually) continues to thrive as we settle into a new century. Even as libraries and readers consume more and more e-books, the number of paper books published in America last year hit a record 195,000, a 14 percent increase on the previous high of nearly 175,000 recorded the year earlier. On college campuses the "library as place" is reinventing itself as a social space and collaborative teaching environment. With our electronic journals, books, data sets, maps, and special collections objects growing ever more numerous, the notion of "place as library" is more and more prevalent. Now your library comes to you digitally in whatever place you are. Traditional library skills (cataloging, preservation, reference) are all being actively applied to our new hybrid print and electronic collections. Google and others are actively digitizing millions of books in our nation's libraries; digital paper is about to arrive, promising wholly new kinds of reading devices beyond the clumsy computers and handheld gadgets we now have with us; and we are collectively learning what it means to thrive in this rapidly changing environment.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Landscape Design: New Garden Paradise

    Thu, Jan 19, 2006
    Dominique Browning takes us on a private tour of 35 of the world's most exquisite examples of cutting edge garden design. Astonishing in their range, vibrancy, and attention to detail, many of the featured gardens have never before been shown to the public. From the beautifully undulating hedges created by renowned Belgian designer Jacques Wirtz to the quiet power of Mia Lehrer's California, *The New Garden Paradise* offers readers an exclusive showcase of work, and an introduction to this astonishing world of landscape design. During the last decade, the gardening world has benefited from an exceptionally talented pool of landscape designers. In the midst of a healthy economy, the results in innovative garden design have been unrivaled in the past 100 years.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Burying Sir Joshua Reynolds

    Tue, Sep 27, 2005
    Richard Wendorf discusses his new book on British art in the 18th and 19th centuries, an experiment in cultural history that combines analysis of specific artistic objects with an exploration of the cultural conditions in which they were created. In a lecture titled "After Sir Joshua" presented at the Athenæum eight years ago, Richard Wendorf investigated Sir Joshua Reynolds' legacy among the biographers, painters, and writers who followed him. In "Burying Sir Joshua," Wendorf provides an illustrated analysis of the various cultural factors that made the preparation for Reynolds' funeral in 1792 so difficult. Drawing on rarely seen archival material in the Hyde Collection at the Houghton Library, Wendorf charts the day-by-day events involving not only the recently deceased first president of the Royal Academy, but the artist Benjamin West, the architect Sir William Chambers, and the politician and writer Edmund Burke as well. "Burying Sir Joshua" is the final Athenæum lecture based on Wendorf's new book, *After Sir Joshua: Essays on British Art and Cultural History*.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • William John Bankes: The Exiled Collector

    Thu, Oct 6, 2005
    Anne Sebba discusses her new book about William John Bankes, The Exiled Collector. William John Bankes was a former Tory MP, pioneer Egyptologist, renowned traveler, and consummate collector. A prominent figure in early Victorian Britain and friend to both Byron and the Duke of Wellington, Bankes was forced to flee Britain in 1841 and settled in Venice. He lost his possessions and property to the authorities, but unable to let his standing as an outlaw interfere with his affection for his prior estate, Bankes continued to decorate his beloved home and assemble his extraordinary collection. He collected obsessively for the house that he no longer owned, sending art, sculpture by Carlo Marochetti, huge quantities of marble, gilding, leatherwork, and Pietra Dura to the estate, which he visited in secret near the end of his life. Ms. Sebba recants the dramatic events in William Bankes' life, using previously unpublished archives, and examining the psychology of collecting as well as the pain and creativity of exile.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum
Load More