ATHENJEUM ITEMS A Library Letter from The Boston Athenceum
No. 113 Sun1n1er 2005
The Director Tours the added later, \\~hen the bust no longer represented a familiar face withm the family thc1t owned it. This small Outback Storage Rooms object a mere six inches in height - therefore pre sumabl} endured the fate of so many acts of portrai OMI.:. rRI ASURI·S are very s1nall indeed, small ture, exchanging its status as c1 living presence or enough to be overlooked or to be entirelv for memorial within the <:>itter's famih b\ eventualh gotten. I his miniature bust, purchased b} the becoming a less familiar "worth}" in a line of descent Library a decade and a half ago, spent most of its life at that led, ultimately, to its new status as a commodity in the Athen~um deep in slumber until I noticed it the marketplace of art and its adoption and rehabilita during a fresh curatorial inspection of our ~torage tion by a cultural institutiOn. roon1s in 2004. Such a diminutive object appealed to me for a variety of reasons. First, becc1use it IS small, and I hc1ve a particular interest in portraits in minia ture. Second, because it so closely re embles its classi cal prototypes. fhird, because it poses a mysten (who does it represent? who made it? how was it used?) and I enjoy a scholarly challenge. And fourth, because ... well, simply because it is beautiful and should ne\ er be overlooked, let alone forgotten. For the past few years it has therefore stood on rny desk, the gentle, quiet pro genitor of the following disco\ erie and obsen at ions. Who, in the first place, docs it represent? Written, in pencil, on the bottom of the base of the statue (not once, but twice) is the inscription "\Villiam La\\rence"; one of the inscriptions also specifies that Mr. Lawrence "died 1848." There is no incised signature and no date, and the necessity of noting the tdentit) of the sitter in pencil strongly suggests that the insLriptions were
Note: I he editor would like to correct the number of the pre' ious 1ssue of 4.thenct'lll1l Items, '' h1ch "a-. printed a-. Issue number 131. Th.ll 1~:,ue ''a~. m fact, 1)1>Ue number 131, the first in om ne" formal. \Ve regret the error. Bust of \\'11liam l.avuence (1783-1848).
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1 Two inscription in graphite do not, of course, modest fashion, to the Boston Athenreum, contribut guarantee that this statue does indeed represent a ing fund on a number of occasions so that the Library \Villiam Lawrence deceased mmo domini 1848, and yet could acquire works of art. When he died in 1848, he this is almost certain!} the case. \Ve can reasonably owned three shares, none of which he bequeathed to assume, in the first place, that uch a portrait bust his sun iving fo ur children. The recipients of these even one a unusually small as this one- con1memo proprietorships were Josiah Dwight Whitney (196), rated a pron1inent and prosperous Bostonian. Within Jan1es Bicheno Francis (310 ), and Benjamin Daniel the Ath ena~um's collections vou will find a thin and Greene (311); the shares are owned today by Andrew J. I dutiful memoir devoted to the life and works of Haigney, Diane Neal Emmons, and J\1argaret H. \Vise, \\ illiam Lawrence, a n1ember of the textile, manufac respectively. turing, and retail family that gave its name to Before we leave William Lawrence and Samuel Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Lawrence Academy in Lothrop's memoir of our Christian patriot, we should Groton, and to a series of busines establishments in pau e for a mon1ent to tudy the frontispiece to this downt O\\ n Boston. Born in Groton in 1783, \Villiam slim volume, \vhich reproduces, 1n the form of a steel was the third on of ~fajo r Samuel and Susanna engraving, Chester Harding's sober depiction of Parker Lawrence. His older brothers Amos and Abbott Lawrence as a scaled half-length, hand on hand, with founded the firm of A. and A. Lawrence and were suc the obligatory chair, column, and drapery of Anglo cessful enough to set up \'\Tilliam and their youngest American m ale portraiture. The similarities between brother Satnuel in an in1porting business in Boston. this print and our miniature bust are striking: the same fhat enterprise soon led to a new ven ture in Lowell, egg-shaped, nearly bald head with its generous ears where the two brothers were instrumental in estab and extended sideburns; similarly prominent eyebrows lishing the first incorporated business for the produc and protuberances on the forehead; the same slightly tion of woolen goods, the ~t iddl esex J\ lanufacturing fuller lower lip and (when the statue is viewed lightl} Company. \Villiam married usan Ruggles Boardman off center) the same sharply chiseled nose. The \ViJliam and moved, in 1822, to a house at No.3 Bulfinch Street; Lawrence of the print (and painting) has developed in 1847, the year before his death, he moved to a house worldly jowls, but otherwise the two images are very on Colonnade Row, Tremont Street, next to that of his much of a piece. brother Amos. Samuel would eventually reside at No. \ Vho, then, is responsible for creating such a care u Beacon Street and Abbott at No. 8 Park Street, now full y modeled portrait, so close in representational the home of the Union Club. form to the engraving and yet so uncannily independ William's success as a businessman was augmented ent in its own stony, diminutive state? The fa ct that bv his efforts to establish the Suffolk Bank System, such an important painter as Harding, author of the de igned to place the currency of New England on a life-si7ed Athenreum portraits of J\rlarshall and \Veb sound basis, but it was his work as a philanthropist that ster in our front vestibule, was responsible for takes central stage in Samuel Lothrop's memoir, which Lawrence's likeness on canvas suggests that our phil was in fact written for the American Journal of Educa anthropic merchant would not have turned to an tion (BA catalog number 65.L438). Here, in the stately unknown sculptor for his likeness in marble. Vve and sonorous pages of mid-nineteenth-century cannot, however, locate a large-scale bust of Lawrence, Bostonian eulogy, Willian1 Lawrence is praised as "a the kind of statue that would normally be signed or noble specimen of a New England merchant, and a documented, and without such a larger "original" it is Christian citizen and patriot." His nobility was princi doubtful whether we shall determine the authorship pally based on his gift, in 1844, of S1o,ooo to Groton of this reduced copy or version. I an1 making a critical Academy, which he had attended as a student. Such assumption here, of course, which is that the minia was the unprecedented scale of this gift and those of ture bust was not created as an object completely his brother Amos that the Academy was subsequently independent of a larger head-and-shoulders statue; renamed for the Lawrence family, a gesture that no and I make this assumption simply because large-scale doubt pleased \Villian1, whose total benefaction to the busts were the norm in Victorian New England and school rose to $4o,ooo through further gifts and a gen miniature busts were exceedingly rare - so rare, in erous bequest. fact, that my coll eagues and I have not been able to \Villiam Lawrence was also generous, in a more locate a similar object in marble.
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2 This is not to '>a\, ho\'\C\er, that miniature bush arc intended to reach a large'-' commuLial audience. them<;cln:s unknO\'\ n. \ Greek bust of ~lcnandct (J. \Villiam La\\ renee mav have been \\·ell known within ' Paul Csctty t\1useum, t\1alibu ), cast in bron1c and only h1s commumtv, but he \\as not a national (let alone an ' ' 'llightl} taller than William I awrence, is qutte similar international) figure; he d1<.l not participate in the early in its basic representc1tional elements. Small portrait stages of cultural celebrity in the wa} that lh ron, Lind, busts were also produt.ed in the Italian Renats':lance, and Sc.ott did; he \'\Js not a pol1tician, like \\ellmgton although recent anal). sis of a series of se\en Inimature and CIa}; he \'\as <-.Imply a "noble speumen of a i'\cw bush of Pope Paul III hunese at the ~at10nal Gallery England merchant." in \'\"ashington - for which there is no precedent There is an important irony at work here, hO\\e\'er. during the sixteenth centuq - reYealed that the~ were \Vhen B) ron's friend John Cam Hobhousc commis brass (not bronze) objects probably cast in the nine sioned the Danish sculptor Berthel Thorwaldsen to teenth or even in the twentieth century. This is not c.Jnc a bust of the poet in Rome, Byron found himself surprising, given the interest in miniature portrait slightly ill at ease with this venture. "Even both s1ts for busts in both England and America during the early their picture,, he noted, "but a bust looks like putting and middle decades of the nineteenth century. fhis up pretensions to permanenq, and smacks something virtual explosion in the production of diminuti\ e stat of a hankering for public fame rather than prJ\ ate ues took several forms. A large number of surviving remembrance., The more private \Villiam La\\. renee, busts look like marble but arc actually Parianware, an on the other hand, sat not only to the painter Chester ungla7ed white porcelain that resembles marble in its Harding but also to the unknown sculptor of our bisque-fired state. I have examined Parian bu':)ts in miniature bust and (presumably) of a full -st.alc head as London commemorc1ting Lord Byron, 5ir \.Yalter well. Victorian Boston \\as mvested in JUSt this kmd of Scott, and the Duke of Wellington, with heights rang "permanency" even as tt eschewed Byronic "public ing from six inches to almost a foot; the reproduction fame., The life-siLe portrait busts that populate the of larger, life-size busts in Parianware was quite Athcnreun1 are a strong test1mony to this form of sen1i widespread. public display, intended not for the masses but for the Closer to home, the New-York Historical Society Iibrary, the museun1, the university, and the his to neal owns a number of smaller busts, two of which are quite socict y. \'\Tilliam Lawrence clearly believed in preserv similar to our \tVilliam Lawrence. The artist Carllv1uller ing the contemporar} culture of which he \\.as part, produced a miniature bust of Henry Clay in dark pati and he did so not onl} through these acts of portrai nated lead; it is a little O\er five inches m height and ture but also, and more importantly, through the shares the satne format as the Lawrence, with the sitter's endowments he carefull} bestowed upon the small shoulders and chest combining to form the statue's academy in Groton. base. The difference here, however, is that, having been What role, then, did this miniature bust play in the cast in lead, the bust of Henry Clay is naturally hollow. culture of Brahmin Boston? Scale is the most impor A second bust is similar in si1e, representing the singer tant consideration here, for such a small statue \\.Ould Jenny Lind. Produced by an unknovn1 artist, this statue be lost if displayed among a collection of larger objects is n1ade of Parian ("white bisque,) and sits atop a small - unless, of course, a sense of concord in dtsco1 s \vas the soclc that has been gilded in places, thus suggesting that desired aesthetic effect. Such a melange of objects can the bust is marble and that only the socle below is actu be seen in a photograph in our Prints and Photographs ally made of porcelain. A brass bust, now in the collec Department taken of a side-table in the residence of tion of the Athenceum, also represents a well-known Herbert Browne at 66 Beacon Street, probably in the nineteenth-century cultural figure, the New England 1940s. Here was a collector with a strong attachment to writer Sarah Orne Jewett. \vorks of l'irtli, especially portrait busts, including two Parian, lead, and brass: each of these n1aterials '"as bron1es on brackets above the table, a marble or plas used to reproduce a model, either large or small, orig ter bust of \Vashington in the center, two very small inally sculpted in terracotta or 1narble. Each of these bron1es with classical subjects immediately in front of busts - of Byron, Clay, Lind, and Jewett - closely \Vashington, and finally (if you look closely enough) resemble our \Villiam Lawrence, and yet each is dif two slightly larger miniatures in white. The bust on the ferent in a number of \\·ays, most significantly because right is almost entirely hidden by the tin\ bron1e, but each represents a famou figure and was therefore \'\e <.an see enough of the bust on the left to identin it
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3 assoLiated with the private or domestic rather than the public sphere. l::nglish portrait miniatures of the six teenth and seventeenth centuries, for example, actually derived not from the tradition of European painting but from manuscript illumination and the work of master goldsmiths. The miniatures themselves were worn as jewels - as personal adornment - and were stored in cabinets and caskets especially designed to protect such precious objects. They were precious, moreover, not just because of the rare and expensive materials with which they were made, but also because of the intense personal associations such objects repre sented: smallness in scale was meant to con\e) a sense of intin1acy. ln the case of William Lawrence, more over, it might be possible to argue that the tiny size of the bust not only domesticated this Christian patriot but effectively placed him back in the cradle as a doll-like figure, the objective correlative for familial tenderness. The reduced format of the n1iniature also intro duces another important issue, this one devoted to our aesthetic rather than emotional response to an artistiL object. Here is the anthropologist Claude Levy-Strauss writing about what he called "the science of the concrete,: Residence of Herbert Browne, 66 Beacon Street (1940s). \'\That is the virtue of reduction either of scale as a head of Voltaire, probably manufactured in Pari or in the number of properties? It seems to anware and based on the work of Houdon. The table result from a sort of reversal in the process of itself sports a relief bust on its front panel, an extrane understanding. To understand a real object in ous element that was removed when the table entered its totality we always tend to work from its the Athenreum,s collections (the table and its Inate can parts. The resistance it offers us is overcome now be found on the fourth floor of the Library in the by dividing it. Reduction in scale reverses this Trustees Room). situation. Being sn1aller, the object as a whole Herbert Browne was clearly a collector with an seems less formidable. By being quantitatively interest in classical and neoclassical subjects extending diminished, it seen1s to us qualitatively simplified. from Ron1an emperors to the Cincinnatus from Vir ginia. The miniature bust of William Lawrence was not This qualitative simplification may be true at first originally intended to be collected, however; it was glance, and it may be reinforced by a process of artistic meant to be used, to be viewed within the family as a simplification necessitated by the smaller format of the comfortable reminder of a father, husband, brother, or miniature. A din1inutive bust of William Lawrence, for grandfather who was loved and admired and then, fol instance, might well not reveal all of the intricate carv lowing his death, remembered and revered. I say "com ing of a statue five or ten times its size. But there is fortable" because the scale of the bust distinguishes it another aesthetic process at work here as well, also from the imposing formality of its larger counterparts. generated by the question of scale. Unless a miniature It would probably have been placed on a desk, vanity, object is dramatically simplified in its representational or bedside table, where it v.ould serve as an updated, elements, it is usually the case that the observer will se(ularized version of the lnres and penates that pro have to look at it more closely, given both its dimin tected the homes of ancient Romans. ished size and the simple fact that we are used to exam Very small works of art have traditionally been ining objects on a much larger scale. Part of what I sec
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4 - as mysterious in these small objects 1s the mgenuity past achievement\ and planning for the future. \ i\lay needed to produce beJutiful, f,uthful, engaging like ceremon\, Jt Boston\ )tate I louse honored i\lass.lchu- nesses 111 such a small format. \Vhen \\e confront a setts \\ inners of th~: "Letters \bout L1te1 ature" contest, miniature, we therefore find ourselves askmg (a mong a program sponsored by the Cc1lderwood \Vritmg Im other things) how, precisely, did the artist pull it off? tiative and administered bv th~ i\1assachusett~ Center Le' \ ',trauss \\ants to argue that the mimature 1s 111 for the Book. The contest, \\ h1ch requtres students fact "the uni,ersal t} pe of the work of art' because the from grades four through t\\ehe to \\rite a letter to an vast majonty of artistic objects are small in scale, author of their c..hoice, sparked essa) s written to including painting':> and e\en equestritln statues. I authors as di\ergent as \\'Illlam \\'o rds\\'Orth and would argue instead that the reduced s11e of the mmi,1 - <:>tephen Kmg. Also in 1\1a', ~tudents at the Snm\den ture teaches us to look more carefully at objects of all International High School in Boston celebrated the si'les; it pre)\ ides a hermeneutic model by which we debut of their literaq maga1ine The Cougar Reader: might fashwn all of our critiu1l confrontations \\ ith Unheard \'ozces, "1th a reception and 1eading b} c.,tu works of art. For Lev} Strauss, miniatures afford us a dents and local author Tom Perrotta. Produced with "knowledge of the whole" that precedes "knowledge of editorial dnd financial assistance from the Initiative, the parts." This rna) be an illusion, he concedes, but we the student publication is part of the nm\ den project: should sustain such an illusion because it may produce m add1tion, Tom }ehn, the asc.,istant c.hrector of the aesthetic pleasure as well as provide direction for the Harvard Writing Project, hac., been working with Snow interpretive process. In the long run, however, knowl den faculty members in a collaborative \\Orkshop that edge of the whole \\ill always rei} upon the intelligent addressee., the practice and teaching of \\ ritmg-a t.ol interpretation of an object's constituti\e parts and laboration that promises to bear more fruit in the next their relationship to each other. And the smaller the academic vear. I parts, I would argue, the more careful and patient our Future projects include the Teachers as \Vriters analysis must be. Summer Institute -a July program that \\·ill empower This doesn't mean, rm afraid, that the miniature fifteen teachers of students from kindergarten through bust of William Lawrence has offered up all of its college to work on their own nonfiction writing proj secrets. Quite a fe,, mysteries remain. \\'here, for ects- and a SnO\\den faculty retreat for further explo instance, does Chester Harding's portrait-painting of ration of writing and teaching. Plans to create a writ Lawrence currently hang? Was a life-si7e bust of ing center at Prospect Hill Academy in Cambridge are Lawrence produced when this miniature head was taking shape, as are additional acti' ities including can'ed, and if so, who can·ed it? b this a unique object, projects\\ 1th Keene State College and the UniversitY of or were other copies also tnade? How many other Maine-Farmington. All in all, it's been a satisfying Jca miniature marble busts were produced in nineteenth demic year, with the promise of great things to come. century Boston? And who was the "Dr. i\linot" from whose estate this small treasure emerged a decade and a half ago? If you can provide answers to any of these questions, the Lawrences of 1\1assachusetts will thank you, and so shall I.
RicH ARD vVENooRF New Books by Members Stanford Calderwood Director and Librarian \Ve're happ} to contmue our column hsting ne\\ books written by Athenreum members. Member Jim Vrabel writes that his latest is H!Jzen in Boston: A Time L111e & Almanac (Northeastern Cni' ersitv Press Uni\ ers1ty Press of New England). This work is a chronological Calderwood Writing Initiative history of Boston from before its founding in 1630 to the present day. The Athenceum's copv is 110\\ in hou ·e. As the sLhool vear drew to a close, the attentions of Jim \'rabel is co-author of fohn Paul II: A Persollal Por ' Calderwood vVriting Initiative staff me111bers and par- trait (St. J'vlartin's, 2001). A community activist, he was ticipants were pleasantly divided benveen celebrating a founding member of the Back of the Hill Communih
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Development Corpora presentation on his or her work-in-progress, with tion and the Academy of these additional costs to be covered by Washington the Pacific Rim Charter College. School. He is currently \'\Tashington College was founded in 1782 under the senior research analyst patronage of George Washington and was the first col and editor at the Boston lege chartered in the new nation. In a press release, Redevelopment Author Director and Librarian Richard Wendorf said, ((The ity. Nlore information Boston Athenreum is extremely pleased to be able to about his book can be enter into what we believe will be a most productive found at the website collaboration with \'\Tashington College. Vve look for VVheninBoston.com ward to welcoming our first Washington College Visit Director Richard ing Fellow later this year, and we are eager to place the Wendorfs long-awaited resources of the library at his or her disposal., collection of essays The S c h o 1a r- Librarian: Books, Libraries, and the Visual Arts (The Boston Athenreun1 and Oak Knoll Press, 2005) is now on the shelf as well. This fascinating collection of essays docu ments the professional, scholarly, and per onal interests Brown-Bag Luncheons of our director, which run from the poetical manu with the Director scripts of Alexander Pope to Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow- Up, from Piranesi's early etchings to various typo graphical and bibliographical issues. This book is avail Richard Wendorf would like to extend an invitation to able for $35.00 in the Athenreum's book shop or fifteen or so members of the Library who would enjoy through its website (www.bostonathenaeum. org). joining him in the fall for a series of brown-bag lunch eon discussions devoted to the literature of collecting. The group will meet four or five times, usually at two-week intervals, to discuss why and how humans (and institutions) are drawn to collecting as a hobby, passion, or mission. Several discussions will be Washington College Fellowship devoted to contemporary scholarship on collecting, including Freudian and Marxist perspectives; the The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American final two sessions will be devoted to two novels, Experience at Washington College in Chestertown, John Fowles's The Collector and Susan Sontag's The Maryland, has established a fellowship at the Boston Volcano Lover. Athenreum. The Washington College Fellowship in Participants must complete the readings and attend Early American History the sessions prepared to talk (not a difficult assignment will be awarded to a can for most members of the Athenreum). Participants didate proposing to con need not be collectors themselves, by the way; the focus duct research using the will be on critical analysis. If you are interested, please books in the library of send an email to the Director at wendorf@boston George \'\1ashington, or athenaeum.org working in a related area. The stipend is $1,500 for a residency of four weeks at the Athenreum. The recipi ent of the fellowship will be expected to visit Signed H'czshmgton bookplate. Chestertown to give a
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6 Athenceum Rentals
Member<) may not be aware that the firC)t-floor Long and Bow Rooms are available for rent to individuals and c.orporations. The Boston Athencrum\ unique atmosphere makes a splendid setting for corporate presentations, private dinners, receptions, clnd similar events. Room capacity is 100 people for a seated event and 175 people for a reception. The event space is available for rental Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and ~aturdays - after 5:30 p.m., so as not to conf1ict with the Library's normal operations. The Athenreum also has available a full range of audio-vtsual equip ment for presentations, music, and video. For more information, please refer to our website (www.bostonathenaeum.org - click on "function Trustee I·merita Joan Bok talks wtth Torrey Harder, while his rentdls") or telephone Events D irector Monica Higgins wife, Rosemary Harder, chats wtth Director Emcntus Rodney at 617-7 2.0-7677· Armstrong. The Arm::,trong Societ) dmner ~~ ah\a\ s held dunng the first week m !\larch to comcide \\llh !\1r Arm strong\ btrthdav.
Armstrong Society Gathers for The Bromfield Society Sets a Annual Spring Program Goal of "200 for the 2ooth"
Twenty-seven guests and staff members assembled at The John Bromfield ~ociety, named m honor of the the I ibrary for the annual Armstrong Society dinner Boston merchant whose bequest of $25,000 in 1846 and program on .tvlarch 3. Director and Librarian has grown to more than $6.4 million today, was Richard Wendorf shared some personal reflections established to honor those members and friends who about building an art collection in a before-dinner have made planned gifts to the Athen~um. The soci presentation entitled "Living with Piranesi: An Illus ety is now in its tenth year and includes 106 mem trated Talk on Collecting." bers. In anticipation of the Library's bicentennial in amed for former Director and Librarian Emeritus 2007, we are proud to announce our "200 for the Rodney Armstrong, the society was founded to honor 200th" membership anniversary challenge- to build the generous supporters who have made leadership the membership of the Bromfield Society to 200 by level gifts to the Twenty-First Century Fund campaign. the end of 2007. Today the society continues to welcome all donors who The Bromfield Society is an important and loyal have made cumulative gifts to the Athenreum of group of members and friends. As the Libran moves 1oo,ooo or more. For information about joining the forward into its third centuq as one of Boston's lead Annstrong Society, please contact the Director's Office ing cultural institutions, members of the Bromfield or the Director of Development at 617-227-0270. ociety \\ill play a major role in its future. upport through planned gifts ensures that the Athenzeum will continue to offer excellent services and progran1s, and that it will remain a cultural and literary home-away from-home for future generations of readers.
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7 Bromfield Society n1embers are invited to an Athenceum Welcomes Public annual n1eeting and dinner, as well as to cultural pro gran1s throughout the year and assistance with finan at Open House cial planning. Member also are recognized in the The Athenreum held an open house for the general Bromfield Society roster in the Annual Report (unless public for the econd time since its reopening in 2002 they request to be anonymous). To become a men1ber on Saturday, May 21, from 10:oo a.m. to 2:00 p.m., wel of the Bromfield Society and help us reach our ''200 for the 2ooth" goal, or to request more information, please coming nearly nearly 250 people to our building. visit the website at www.bostonathenaeum.org/ During the open house the entire library was accessible (including some normally restricted areas such as the plannedgiving or contact Nicole Leonard at 617-720- Conservation Laboratory and the Special Collections 7640 or [email protected] Reading Room). Staff members welcon1ed neighbor hood residents, passing tourists, and anyone else inter ested in learning more about the Athenceum firsthand. Free guided tours were also offered. ((As a membership organization, we don,t often An Update on the 2004-2005 have the opportunity to share the Athenreum and its Annual Appeal resources with the general public," said Director and Librarian Richard Wendorf. '
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8 - Three <>pc.lkers, left to right: Prof. /hou Xiang, Prof. Li l.i, ·lruster krn \11tchcll, <,peaker Cirh.h Stuling, and Proprietor ~ .tnd Dr. Lvnn. l·. Browne. and Brom fidd )ociet'• kmbt:r D Fmbargo''), and Professor Li I i of Salem <:,tate College together for a friendly lunch. If you would hke more ("(anton l\lerchant\ and alem 1\lerchant : A (om mforn1t1tion on planned gt\ mg, please 'tstt W\\ w. parati\e Study,). The afternoon session, led by Pro bostonc1thenaeum.org/plannedgiving fessor Kiang, included Allan Y. Guo, director of the ( hina Progratn Center at Ul\lass/Boc;ton C A 1 H l: ~ .-f U M I T E ~~ 'l 9 the best strategy. The site even has a secure informa Library of Massachusetts. Like the Boston African tion request form. We invite you to visit the site and American Project, the Parris project brings together in send any feedback to Nicole Leonard at leonard@ one database materials from a number of organiza boston athenaeum.org tions related to the prominent nineteenth-century architect, including architectural and mechanical drawings, specifications, correspondence, and accounts from numerous Boston institutions. The Alexander Parris Digital Project can also be accessed Historic African American Materials via the Athenreum's website. Now Accessible Online The Athenreum is pleased to announce the launch of its newest digital collection. Entitled ((The Boston Athenreum Participates in ]STOR African Americana Project," this collection of prints, photographs, manuscripts, patnphlets, broadsides, and The Athenreum now participates in JSTOR, the elec other historic materials relating to African American tronic archive of in1portant scholarly journals. Con life in and around Boston from 1770 to 1950 can be ceived as a project at the Andrew W. Mellon Founda accessed via the Athenreum's website at www.bostona tion, ]STOR was originally seen as a solution to the thenaeum.org/ digital problem of finding shelf space for long runs, or back The project was coordinated by the Athenreum and files, of serial publications at academic libraries. It ha'i gathers visual and textual materials from its own col since become a unique and completely digitized collec lections and those of the Bostonian Society, Historic tion of core scholarly journals in many disciplines. New England, and the Massa (JSTOR is not, however, a ((current issues" database; chusetts Historical Society. there is typically a one- to five-year gap between the The materials fall broadly most recently published journal issue and the content within the categories of slav available on JSTOR.) Athenreum researchers are now ery, the abolition movement, able to access 359 journals, contained in three ''Arts & free blacks, the Civil War, • Sciences" collections, both at the public terminals in Emancipation, Reconstruc the Library and through the wireless Internet connec tion, rural life, urban life, tion available to patrons using laptop computers on social life, advertising, and the fifth floor; members of the staff have access depictions of men, women, through their desktop computers. Titles that the and children. The database Library subscribes to and are available on JSTOR have contains more than 500 items a link in the Athena record. J spanning nearly 200 years, with the bulk of the collec- tion dating from around 1865. The project was funded by a grant from the Insti tute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - estab lished through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) - in order to develop the database as a resource for scholars, students, and teachers; the grant was administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Trustee Emeritus Lionel Spiro and his wife Vivian generously provided additional Using JSTOR: Go the Search Screen in Athena and for funding for the project. (( Title, type in ((jstor''. The Athenreum has contributed materials to Searching: Enter basic and advanced searches of key another recently launched digital collection, the words, topics, titles, authors, and dates by clicking on Alexander Parris Digital Project, led by the State ((Search JSTOR" and typing information about your ATHENJ'EUM ITEMS 10 -,e.Jrch requirements. You may perform cro-,., dl5ctpli Associate Men1bers Converge narv se.1 rches by c;clecti ng se' era I journals in one search. on Saturday Mornings Browsing: Find journal issues and articles bv clickmg on "Bro'"se,, and then the name, ,·olume, or is.,ue of In \lay the As-,ociate l\1eml1lrs Counul wrapped up the journal that interests you. its second \ear of Satllldav, \ssocwte<;' ( offee Connec- Navigating: fverything ) ou need to mo\ e through tton ,or S \CC). 1 ht Idea for SACC \\as concuHd in JSTOR is on the navigational tool bar located at the top the fall of 200.3 b\ A.ssoci.ltc lv1ember Council C..h,lir of the screen. man 1mon Vmmg and '>e<.retan ttfan Gross, who sought to create an opportunity for the Athena-um's Printing: Journal articles are often manv pages in young members to gather informally at the l1brarv on length. It is recommended that you take notes by hand a regular ba.,is. " fhe launch of this prog1 am \\clS a gt-eclt from the articles you have called up, or download the suct.Lss, and 1t c\.ceeded our most optimt<;ttL predK clrttde onto you r own diskette. tions. Vve think that the a<.tlve participatton of Associ ate l\.lembers IS essential to the d) nan11C pre..,enct ,md continued growth of the Athena?um. SACC 1.., a gt cat wa' to salute the \\eckend, get to kno'' :our fellO\\" Associates, and pass an hour two In the companv of Planning Underway for fellm\ bibliophiles,, sa\ s Stefan. After ha' mg run the Saturday mormng program fo1 two season..,, Simon Bicentennial Celebrations and Stefan "ill be looking for assistant\'' hen the pro gram reswnes next fall. An) Associate or Associate Some members may not be aware that the Athent.-eum I Familv member mtere\ted in volunteenng - or in get is approaching a major milestone- its 20oth anniver ting on the hst for special updates on SACC and other sarv in 2007. Plans for the year-long celebration of this Associate l\.1ember program.., - can e-mail Stefan at histori c occa ion have been underway for over a year brandon gross@' ahoo.com. now. A c.ommittee of staff n1embers and Trustees has SACC IS held on the first Saturdav of each month, already concei\·ed a schedule of publications, lectures, October-l\.1ay, at 10:30 a.m. Admission IS $5 and helps exh ibitions, and other events. defra) the cost of coffee and doughnuts. The bicentennial celebration will be anchored by a major exhibition entitled "Acquired Tastes: 200 Years of Collecting at the Boston Athenreum." Scheduled to open in February 2007 - to coincide with the annual Proprietors' meeting- the exhibition will be installed throughout the en tire first floor of the Library. Curated jointly by Stanley Cushing, Curator of Rare Books, and David Dearinger, Su an l\.lorse Hilles Curator of Painting and Sculpture, the exhibition will include materials from throughout the Athen,~um's own coll ection as well a some unique and excep ti onal items long-ago placed on deposit at other insti tutions. The exhibition will be accompanied by a lav ishh illustrated catalogue with entries \\ ritten b\ nearly half th e Library's staff. Funding for the eAhlbi tion and catalogue ha been generou h pro' ided b\ A. Ri chard Diebold, Jr., and the alus tv1undi Founda tion. Additional news about the bicentennial will appear in future issues of Athena'um Items. A I' H L , IE U l\1 I T I1 \1 S 11 SUMMER READING LIST Art nnd \rchitecture HE\\ l '\I't <'lt\IT: THE \\'OODCL T Rt t D, IIENRL Unit< d )tate., Capitol: It~ I '\I l \RI 'l PRJ'\ I ED BOOkS -\rd1itccture and Dll AT H I N T U t-1 I 'I f ~I S 12 t\11·HRII.L, 1\MI~. Collected Prose. Loy.1lty, Politic~, .md Commerce in SEEC l· R, LAc R ~. I emon Are :-\ot Red. 1\ 111 OS%, Cz1 ~~A\\. Second ~pace: 1'\cw Colonial <;eorgia. SHEPARD, AARON. Princess Mouse: A Pol'm~. I.A~ I ~, IIARLA!'\ L. Deaf Artist in Early Talc of Hnland. PJ\\,LJA, CAMilli. BIC' \\ho \ A 'I 1i I \1 1 tJ t-.t I I' f \t '> lJ FR. \NK, LI P \HI· 111. Cheat and Charmer. CARTER, D \\ ID. )tonewall: The Riots RE.E~. LAUREr-.:cr. \uschwttL: A Ne\\ His GOLD\1 \:t\, fRA:--..u ~co. 01\ ine Hus- that <,parked the (,a\ ReYolution. toq. band E\'A~<:>. H AROLD. The\ ~lade Amenca. RL \I I.S, T!{ \ CY J Grander in Her GR££0-J, TORY. Thomas !\lore's ~fagician. FARAG Ill R, }OH'\ i\1. Great and ~oble Daughters: ~~ lorida\ \\omen During GRISHAi\ [, J01t:-:. Brethren. Scheme: I he 5toi \ of the E'\pulswn of the C'' il \\Jr. HEI\.IPEL, A\tY. Dog of the \larnage: the hem.h ALad1ans from Their Amer RILE\, ( 11 \RII·<., A. Jaa Age 111 France. Stones. Ican I Iomcland. SIDDAll, <,11\ \:--.:,\ R. From Property to I<)HIGURO, kAJ UO. Never Let i\le Go. FLAl\.li\liNG, DouG! AS. Bound for Free Person: Sl.m:r} and the ConfiscatiOn dom: Black I os Angeles m Jim Crow Acb, 186t~1862. JOYCE, GRAHA\1. Limits of Enchant AmenLa. ment. STRAND, PAUL Fra11Le de profiJ. GAINI:S, J \1\Jrs R. Evening in the Palace LAB UTE, NFII. Seconds of Pleasure. SWI:E.T, JLTIIf ANN!. Negotiating for of Redson: Bach Meets Frederick the Georgia: British Creek Relations in the MANGUEL, AI BI RTO. Stevenson under Great in the Age of Enlightenment. the Palm Trees. Ttrustcc Era , 1733-1752. GARTON ASII, Tll\101 HL Free World: i\l<.r\'VAN, I\t-... Saturday. TYSON, TI\IOll" B. Blood Done Sign \Vhy a Crisis of the \'\Test Reveals the My Name. l\ kLARTY, Rol\. Memory of running. Opportunity of Our Time. \VHITAKFR, ROBlRI. l\lapmaker's \\'ife: GELARDI, JL II A. Born to Rule: Five MILLER, SL I-. Lost 111 the Forest. A Tale of 1 me, l\.lurder, and Sun·i\alm Reignmg Consorts, Granddaughters of 1\.IOOR, i\1 \RGRIFT DE. Kreutzer Sonata. the Amal'on. Queen Victona. l\lORRIS, i\1 \R'l l\1. Lost l\lother. \VINDRO\\', \1 \RTI~. Last \'aile): Dien GR.E EN, C \ROI C. Chirnborazo: The Bten Phu and the French Defeat m i\lURAM~ll. H,\RLkl. Kafka on the Confederaq 's largest Hospital. Shore. \ 1etnam. GU1 H, CHRJ'>ll'\l. Longfellow's Tattoos: O'BRIAN, P-HRICK 21: The Final Unfin- louri~m. ColleLtmg, and Japan. ished Vo\agc of Jack Aubrey. !v!usic HASTINGS, i\1-\\. Armageddon: The O'NAN, S If\\ \RT. Good \\fife. Battle for Germanh 1944-45. PEARS, I \1\J. Portra1t. FABER, ToB\. Stradivaris's Genius. HOCHSCHILO, ADtU\1. Bury the Chains: MAGEE, Jr11 RL\. PROULX, ANNIL. Bad Dirt: Wyoming Uncrowned King of Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free Swing: flctchet Stories 2. Henderson and Big an Empire's Slaves. Band Jan. RAWLl::.S, N·\NC\. My Jim. KEAY, )OHN. Mad about the Mekong: SCHNITZLER, ARTIILR. Night Garnes: Exploration and Empire in South-East And Other Stories .md NovelJas. Asia. Mysteries & Thrillers SHAARA, JF.Fr. To the Last Man. KERSHA\'\!, I-\"\. Makmg Fnends with ARSENAULI'. l\1 \RK. )peak Ill of the SHIELDS, C \ROI. Collected Stories. Hitler: Lord Londonderry, the Nazis, Living and the Road to \Vorld \Var II. \VALBERf, K\ll. Our Kind. BEATON, i\1. C. Death of a Bore. KOT L, ~Jc "-· Judgment Davs: Lyndon \\.ELDON, F \'l. l\lantrapped. Bamcs Johnson, i\lartm Luther King, BO\\'EN, RI!Ys. E\an's Gate. \\'ETHERELL, \V. D. Century of Novem- Jr., and the la\\S that Changed Amer BRAUN, LILIA~ }A< J..;S01\. Cat \\'ho Sa\' ber. ICa. Stars. \'\!JDEi\fAN, JOHN FDGAR. Gods Gym. KRUGER, R·\'l f\:E. All under Heaven: A ___. Cat \Yho \'\ent mto the Closet. Z\'\!EIG, S 11 h\NII::. Nowhere in Africa. Complete H1story of China. BRUEN, KLN. l\l.tgdalen i\lartyrs. MAZO\'\!ER, M-\Rk. Salonica, City of CHABON, M1c HAlL. I mal Solution. Ghosts. History COEL, i\1 \R<,ARJ ~ 1 W'1fc of Moon. MERLI, FRANK J. AJabama, British Neu CORNWELL, P\1 Rl< lA. Trace. ANDERSON, VIRGINIA D. Creatures of trality, and the American Civil War. DAVIS, LINOSf't. Scandal Takes a Holiday. Empire: I low Domestic Animals Trans MONUMENTS 1'0 THE LOST CAUSE: 'barly America. 1 DUNNING, ]OHN. Sign of the Book. formed \'\ 0MEN, AR'I, AND THE LAND AUGST, T1 10!\.t \S. Clerk's Tale: Young SCAPES OF SOU rifERN MEi\IORY. GARDNL R, LISA. Alone. l\len and Moral L1fe 111 Nineteenth l\.lOORL, DFBORAH D. GI Jews: How HARPER, To:--1. l\1osaiC of Shadows. Centun Americ.a. \\'orld \\'a r IT Changed a Generation. HIGGINS, J \Ck. President's Daughter. BORDE\\'I( II, I ERGl''> ~1. Bound for O'BRIEN, l\.II< HALL. Conjectures of ____. \Vh1te House Connection. Canaan: The Underground Railroad Order: Intellectual Life and the Ameri KANON, JosFPfl. Ahb1. and the \\ar for the Soul of America. can South, 1810-1860. KELLERMAN, }0:-.JAI'HAI':. Twisted. BOSfON: A PHOIOJOCRNAL CELE 0\ ER\, R. J. D1c.tators: H1tler's Germany BRAIIN<., I'Hl SPIRIT OF BOSTOI'-:. and Stalm's Rus~Ia. LA\\ . RE~CF, DAVID. Dead S1t Round in a Ring. CARR, ]-\<..QUliN~ B. After the Siege: A RAPHAEL, RAL 1-ounding Myths: Sto Soc1al H1story of Boston 1775-1800. ries that Htdc our Patriotic Past. MANKELL, H1 \Jl':ING. Before the Frost. MAYOR, AR< HI ·R. Surrogate Thief. ATHl:.N~UM ITEMS 14 M( BAIN, Un. Mone}. Mone}, Money: A <>ton of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 NICOL SO'\, AnA~ I Seamansh1p: A Nmcl of the 87th Prcc.11Kt. U. <;. Oh mp1c ~locke} Team. \ O\ .1gc Along the \\ Jld C oasts of the ___ . <:>o Long as \ou Both Shall CR0<;1 Il\1 LAPPil\, B \RB.\RA. Catalogue BntJsh Isle~. live: An 87th Precinct ~1}ster}. of Greek Manuscnpts Acqu1red by the PORTLGL E~l <)Pil\'\ER: <)I ORIES OF Me CALI '-ll\t1ITH, •\1 L\ \ '\DI R. In the Bodle1an Libran )Jnce 1916. HIS1 OR'r, CL Ll LRF, \~0 LIFE Com pan} of Cheerful Iad1es. DEPARI r, J \'10\:. ·\mencan Dream: FR0\1 PORTL'Gl 1:. <)f Ai\lERI( AXS PAGF, KAT IIHU!\:1. Body m the Att1c. Three \\'omen, Ten K1ds, and a Nation's IN <)OLTHFA<)li:R'\ '\1:\\' ENG LAND. PARK[R, RoBI RT B. Bad Business. Dnve to l:.nd \\elfare. ____. Cold ScrvJte. ELLIS, HA'I Ill. Sweetness & Light: The RITCHIE, DoN \I D. Reporting from Mysterious I Iistory of the Honeybee. \Vashmgton· The IIJ.,tory of the \\'ash PERRY, ANN!·. Long Spoon Lane. GLADWI.:.LL, M \I< 01 M. Blink: The ington Press Corp'>. PETERS, E111 \IWIII. Serpent on the Power of Thinking Without Thinking. ROBINSON, D·\\ m. Natural Life: Crown. GORDON, AI.ASIAIR. Naked Airport: A Thoreau's Worldly Transcendentalism. PRONZINf, B111. Nightcrawlers. Cultural History of the \Vorld's Most ROCK, THE CURSI·, AND THE HUB: A ROBINSON, Pn1 R. Close to Home. Revolutionary Structure. RANDOM HISTORY OF BOSTON _____. Strange Affair. HALPERN, }AH. Braving Home: Dis SPORTS. TODD, CH \RI.I-S. Cold 1reachery. patches from the Underwater Town, the ROONEY, KAIIILFEN. Reading w1th Lava-Side Inn, and Other Extreme Oprah: The Book ( lub that Changed TURSTEN, HELI:t\1.. Detecti\·e Inspector Huss. Locales. America. HAMILL, PE'll·. DO\\ ntown: ~1} Man ROSENBLLr~r. ~1oRT. Chocolate. \'\'EL <;H, LOll 'If. Tamburlame Must Die. hattan. SANDAGE, S(OJJ A. Born Losers: A Hts \VINFC1ARDNFR, M \RK, Godfather Returns. JACOBS, }A'\F. Dark Age Ahead. tory of Failure 111 Amenca. JOHNSON, IAN. \Vild Grass: Three Sto SAVOY, GL \. S1mple hench ReCipes for ries of Change in Modern China. the Home Cook. Philosophy and Religion KEYES, RALPH. Post-Truth Era: Dishon SHORT, P. S. Jn Pursuit of Plants: Expe esty and Deception in Contemporary riences of Nineteenth & Early Twenti COX, H ·\R\"1'. \Vhen Jesus Came to Har Life. eth Century Plant Collectors. vard: Making Moral Choices Today. SILVESTER, I iANS W. Lavender: Fra KEPEL, GII u:s. War for Muslim Minds: KLEIN, CAROL. Plant Personalities: grance of Provence. Islam and the West. Choosing and Growing Plants by Char acter. STEBBINS, FRANUS R. \-\Tinter Sailor: PELIKAN, }ARO'ILA\. Whose Bible Is It?: A ER. Francis R. Stebbins on Florida's Indian History of the Scriptures Through the LAMONT, PFl Rise of the Indian River. Ages. Rope Trick: How a Spectacular Hoax Became History. TANKARD, Jt;DJ 1 H B. Gardens of the SHATTUCK, G \RmNFR H. Episcopalians Arts and Crafts 1\-lovement. and Race: Ci\ il \Vat to Civil Rights. LEAF, ALEXA \IDRA. Van Gogh's Table at the Auberge Ra\'OUX. TENNANT, AI·\'\. On the \'\ling: To the LEAF, Mt NRO. Listen, Little Girl, Before Edge of the Earth with the Peregrine Science You Come to New York. Falcon. LEAZES, FRANUS J. Prov1dence, the TIPPINS, SHERII L February House. DOYLE, }Al\.IES M. True \'\fitness: Cops, Renaissance City. Courts, Science, and the Battle Against XINRAN. Good \Vomen of China: Misidentification. LINDSAY, SUSAN. See You at the Hall: Hidden Voices. Boston's Golden Era of Irish Music and PICK, NANC'. Rarest of the Rare: Stories Dance. Behind the Treasures at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. MACKINNON, CATIIARINE A. Women's Lives, Men's Laws. SINGH, Sil\.ION. Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe. McCORMICK, }ottN. Victorian Mari onette Theatre. MEHTA, SuKETu. Maximum City: Miscellaneous Bombay Lost and Found. BARKER, BEN. Not Afraid of Flavor: MILES, HUGH. AI- Jazeera: The Story of Recipes From Magnolia Grill. the Arab News Channel that is Chal BARRY, JOHN M. Great Influenza: The lenging the \\'est. Story of the Deadliest Plague in His 1\-HNTZ, STF\ EN. Huck's Raft: A History tory. of American Childhood. BOUCH ON. MNOOKIN, SI 1 H. Hard News: The COFFEY, \VAYN!: R. Boys of Winter: The Scandals at the New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media. ATIIEN.£UM ITEMS 15