BOSTON ATHENÆUM Reports for books 17,725 loaned 600 items digitized 8 new employees 438 items conserved 1,149 149 educational programs annual fund donors 151 archive inquiries 600 artworks 3,870 published online items cataloged $2,$2,291,873 in unrestricted revenue by the 2016 numbers 4,345 active memberships Boston Athenæum Reports for President JOHN S. REED Vice-Presidents CHARLES A. COOLIDGE III SUSAN B. WEATHERBIE Treasurer J. MARK ENRIQUEZ Assistant Treasurer GILBERT M. RODDY, JR. Secretary DAVID P. INGRAM Trustees ANNE C. BROMER JAMES F. HUNNEWELL, JR. EARL M. COLLIER, JR. TERRANCE P. MCGUIRE JOHN WIGGLESWORTH EVERETS CAROLYN M. OSTEEN THOMAS D. GILL, JR. ELIZABETH H. OWENS J. BRYAN HEHIR CREELEA H. PANGARO MAISIE HOUGHTON AUSTIN V. SHAPARD CLARISSA C. HUNNEWELL Trustees Emeriti MITCHELL ADAMS KATHERINE HANEY DUFFY ALEXANDER ALTSCHULLER HUGH D. S. GREENWAY EDWARD B. BALDINI BAYARD HENRY JOAN T. BOK ELIZABETH B. JOHNSON DEBORAH HILL BORNHEIMER JERROLD I. W. MITCHELL JOHN G. L. CABOT G. MARSHALL MORIARTY FERDINAND COLLOREDO-MANSFELD SUSAN W. PAINE JILL KER CONWAY LAWRENCE PERERA J. LINZEE COOLIDGE JAMES V. RIGHTER LAWRENCE COOLIDGE LIONEL B. SPIRO DANIEL R. COQUILLETTE WILLIAM S. STRONG ALICE M. D ELANA BOSTON ATHENÆUM Reports for B, M January Reports for is a publication of the Boston Athenæum, ½ Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts - . It was designed by Scott Vile and printed by the Ascensius Press, South Freeport, Maine. A digital edition of this publication is available at www.bostonathenaeum.org. This publication reflects the activities of the Boston Athenæum between October , , and September , . Staff and Trustee lists are current as of September , . Copyright © by the Proprietors of the Boston Athenæum, Inc. All event and exhibition images courtesy of Lovely Valentine Photo + Film. All rights reserved. Contents DIRECTOR’S PREFACE TRUSTEE ACTIVITIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS READER SERVICES TECHNICAL SERVICES DIGITAL PROGRAMS CONSERVATION ADVANCEMENT EDUCATION AND EVENTS SYSTEMS PERSONNEL GIFTS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND INDEPENDENT AUDITORS REPORT REPORT ON THE OPERATIONAL PLAN, - SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF ELIZABETH E. B ARKER , Stanford Calderwood Director ROBERT L. W EST , Director of Operations CHRISTOPHER BOUDROT , Augusta Thomas Director of Finance and Accounting ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Rhonda Casey, Human Resources Manager Kristin Cook, Rare Books and Manuscripts Emily Cure, Executive Assistant to the Director Research Assistant Melissa Mills-Wilshire, Stanley Ellis Cushing, Anne C. and David J. Bromer Financial Reporting Accountant Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts David B. Dearinger, Director of Exhibitions and ADVANCEMENT Susan Morse Hilles Senior Curator Dawna Burrus, Manager of Membership of Paintings & Sculpture and Development Charlotte Emans Moore, Polly Thayer Starr Fellow Hannah Gersten, Manager of Communications Carolle R. Morini, Caroline D. Bain Archivist, Heather Lonks, Manager of Annual Giving Reference Librarian Catherine McGrath, Coordinator of Member Services Catharina Slautterback, Curator of Prints & Photographs DIGITAL PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION Patricia Boulos, Head of Digital Programs SYSTEMS Evan Knight, Associate Conservator Andrew Hahn, Director of Systems Jonathan Romain, Von Clemm Fellow Andria Lauria, Associate Systems Administrator and Dawn Walus, Chief Conservator Web Developer Brian James Wanders, Systems Technician ENGINEERING Eduino Barbosa, Building Custodian TECHNICAL SERVICES Gloria Brea, Building Custodian Will Evans, National Endowment for the Humanities Shirelle Farmer, Building Custodian Chief Librarian in Charge of Technical Services Michael J. Pagliaro, Facilities Director Tom Gearty, Serials Librarian Douglas Pollock, Building Engineer Judy Maas, Cataloging Assistant Nazrul I. Quadery, Building Engineer Kaelin Rasmussen, Rare Materials Catalog Librarian Ryan Reed, Cataloging Assistant EVENTS AND EDUCATION Anthea Harrison Reilly, Acquisitions Librarian Hanna Bertoldi, Assistant Events Coordinator Graham Skinner, Rare Materials Catalog Librarian Victoria O’Malley, Director of Events Deborah Vernon, Technical Coordinator of Events INTERNS Hannah Weisman, Director of Education Katie Allen Daniel Axmacher READER SERVICES Terra Cutaia Dani Crickman, Children’s and Young Adult Lena Davis Services Librarian Adriene Galindo James P. Feeney, Jr., Howard Lang and Alyssa Garcia Barbara Lang Hacker Head of Circulation Catherine Hammer Carolle R. Morini, Caroline D. Bain Archivist, Victoria Johnson Reference Librarian Emily Levine Elizabeth O’Meara, Reference Librarian Amanda McSweeney-Geehan Arnold Serapilio, Circulation Assistant Liane Na’auao Mary Warnement, William D. Hacker Virginia Rundell Head of Reader Services Morgan Stewart Alyssa True SECURITY Elizabeth McCullough, Security Officer Tyrone Smith, Director of Security Ekow Yeboa, Security Officer Boston, December , DIRECTOR’S PREFACE “All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Each and All,” S ONE YEAR draws to a close, and another opens, it seems A timely to reflect on the extraordinary sense of community that has defined the Boston Athenæum at every moment in our history. More than one of the most beautiful libraries in the world; more than a unique and living archive of the history of ideas in the Athens of America; the Boston Athenæum is a community of curious, sometimes inspired thinkers and creators. Our willing - ness to assemble with minds open for discussion, reflection, understanding, and (re)consideration belies the recent devolution of some aspects of our national discourse. Today, the role of libraries as repositories of knowledge acces - sible to all, and as generators of wisdom drawn from that know- ledge feels especially vital. Humanities libraries, like art museums, take that mission further. By seeking to provide insight, we help to make possible the condition of empathy. By that means, the Boston Athenæum in its totality—our environment, our collections, and most importantly, our mem - bers—is a true cultural treasure. Like a literary masterpiece, our worth does not correlate primarily to monetary value (an imper - manent trait) or to rarity (a characteristic of worst as well as best things), but rather to our inexhaustible capacity to generate mean - ing. Here, every generation has, as any individual still can, find answers to innumerable questions. Boston Athenæum While a masterpiece is, by definition, that about which one could never write the last word, it is an object worthy of exegesis. In the pages that follow, my colleagues record a year of extraordi - nary hard work and deserved successes. This annual report concludes with my report on our progress in meeting the ambitious objectives laid out in our operational plan. I’m grateful to all who gave of their time, resources, and attention to make the past year such a rewarding one, which will make possible even bet - ter things to come. E E. B , Ph.D. Stanford Calderwood Director Reports for TRUSTEE ACTIVITIES The Proprietors of the Boston Athenæum elected John S. Reed president of the Board of Trustees at the annual meeting in Feb - ruary. Reed succeeds Deborah Hill Bornheimer, who served for six years as president. The board welcomed three new members, Anne C. Bromer, Earl M. Collier, Jr., and Austin V. Shapard, while four Trustees, Alexander Altschuller, Edward B. Baldini, Katherine Haney Duffy, and Maisie Houghton, attained emeritus status. John Reed spent years with Citibank/Citicorp and Citigroup, the last as chairman. He was chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from September until April and chairman of the Corporation of MIT until . Reed graduated from Wash - ington and Jefferson College and MIT in a joint degree program, earning a B.A. and a B.S., and served as a lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers from to before returning to MIT for an M.S. Reed is a Trustee of MDRC, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the National Bureau of Economic Research, and is an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Anne C. Bromer, together with her husband David Bromer, founded the rare book firm Bromer Booksellers in . Since , when the firm moved to its current location in Copley Square, the Bromers have issued scores of catalogues and published books, of which Anne Bromer authored three, including a miniature memoir. She has lectured twice at the Boston Athenæum. Bromer is a graduate of Emerson College and Simmons Grad - uate School of Library Science, where in she was named alum - nus of the year. She serves on the Board of Directors of Women’s Lunch Place in Boston, a daytime shelter serving homeless women, and recently established a letterpress printing studio at RAW Art Works, a youth arts organization rooted in art therapy located in Lynn, Massachusetts. In , the Bromer family endowed the curatorship of rare books and manuscripts at the Athenæum. Earl M. Collier, Jr. retired in from a career in healthcare, Boston Athenæum most recently serving as CEO of Arsenal Medical. From to , Mr. Collier was executive vice president at Genzyme Corpo - ration, where he was responsible for building and overseeing several of Genzyme’s business units. He served as president of Vitas Healthcare, partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, and deputy administrator of the Health Care Finance Administration (now Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)