*** Welcome to piglix ***

Boston Athenæum

Boston Athenæum
Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg
The Boston Athenæum building today, as designed by Edward Clarke Cabot with additions by Henry Forbes Bigelow
Location 10-1/2 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°21′28.96″N 71°3′43.77″W / 42.3580444°N 71.0621583°W / 42.3580444; -71.0621583Coordinates: 42°21′28.96″N 71°3′43.77″W / 42.3580444°N 71.0621583°W / 42.3580444; -71.0621583
Built 1847
Architect Edward Clarke Cabot; Bigelow & Wadsworth
Architectural style Neoclassical, Renaissance Revival
Website bostonathenaeum.org
Part of Beacon Hill Historic District (#66000130)
NRHP Reference # 66000132
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1966
Designated NHL December 21, 1965
Designated CP October 15, 1966

The Boston Athenæum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, meaning that patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use the Athenæum's services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at 10 1/2 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill.

Resources of the Boston Athenæum 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; 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; Houdon busts of Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Lafayette once owned by Thomas Jefferson; a first edition copy of Audubon's "Birds of America;" a 1799 set of Goya's "Los caprichos;" portraits by Gilbert Stuart, Chester Harding, and John Singer Sargent; and one of the most extensive collections of contemporary artists' books in the United States.


...
Wikipedia

...