BOSTON ATHENÆUM JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2020 LOST GENERATION RELICS Harry and Caresse Crosby’s book safe, with a hollowed-out center, was made from a 1727 leather-and-gilt volume of French legal writings, Pierre Brillon’s Dictionnaire des arrêts. Special Collections: The Crosbys and the Black Sun Press In recent years, Trustee Emeritus John Everets and his wife, Cynthia, made a significant gift to the BA: materials from the Black Sun Press, established by American expatriates in 1920s Paris. Black Sun’s sumptuous, handmade books feature the early writings of contemporaries including D. H. Lawrence, Kay Boyle, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway. Black Sun’s founders, Harry and Caresse Crosby, joined the “Lost Generation” in France after the First World War. Their lives were shaped dramatically by the conflict: Harry, a son of an elite Boston family, narrowly escaped death when the ambulance he was driving was blown up; he saved a companion’s life. Caresse (then known as Mary Phelps Peabody) was married to an Army officer and heavy drinker. When they met on a group outing to Nantasket Beach in 1920, Harry and Caresse fell in love, and soon abandoned the expectations of their families and Boston society to live decadently for poetry and art. While deep within our hearts shall smoulder Strange fire growing young not older. “ HARRY CROSBY January 2020 marks a half-century since Caresse’s death, and 90 since Harry took his own life, but their creative works endure. The Everets’s gifts include dozens” of rare books, plus some of the Crosbys’ unusual belongings, shown here. MEMBER HOURS Mon–Thu 9 am–8 pm Fri–Sat 9 am–5 pm FAR RIGHT | The couple’s “gold cross” bookplate FAR RIGHT | An embosser from Black Sun Press (shown in the VISITOR HOURS book safe, above) produces a simple impression of a sun. Tue 12–8 pm RIGHT | Artist May den Engelsen, who lived on a houseboat Wed–Sat 10 am–4 pm moored at the Pont Neuf in Paris, painted watercolor portraits of the Crosbys in 1927. The Gordon Newspaper Room LEFT | The Black Sun Press issued this card seeking translators of opens at 8:30 am on weekdays. French poet Arthur Rimbaud. FROM MARY TO CARESSE Born Mary Phelps Jacob, Caresse took her new name at Harry’s suggestion. She was already CONTACT an innovator, having patented a bra design in 1914 (she passed up millions, selling it to the www.bostonathenaeum.org Warner Brothers Corset Company). She championed the 20th century avant-garde for 617.227.0270 decades through her editorial activities. After World War II, she founded Women Against War and established an artist’s colony at a 16th-century castle north of Rome. 1 DIRECTOR’S NOTE Dear Members, One of the aspects that makes me eager to go to work every day as the Boston Athenæum’s interim director is the positive feedback I hear from members. People have a deep-seated affection for the Athenæum and all of its collections, services, and programs. When I ask members what they like about the Athenæum, responses include participating in the Proust group, “curios in every corner,” “staff research and friendship,” and even “I thought I had died and gone to heaven.” The value proposition of membership is clear when compared to other membership organizations, group working spaces, and cultural institutions. The value is exponential when our collections of rare books, maps, manuscripts, paintings, photographs, and other resources are considered. A strong membership base is vital for the Athenæum to continue to thrive and respond to your sweep of ideas and interests. Strength is in numbers. Please take the opportunity in the new year to encourage your friends and colleagues to experience all the library has to offer by becoming members. Together we can realize the Athenæum’s potential as an intellectual home for all of us. Amy E. Ryan Stanford Calderwood Director THE MISSION of the Boston Athenæum is to engage all who seek knowledge by making accessible our library’s collections and spaces, thereby inspiring reflection, discourse, creative expression, and joy. by the numbers OCTOBER 2019 ORDERED/ACQUIRED 105 items ASSISTED 230 reference inquiries CATALOGED 267 new circulating items 6 new special collections materials 35 already-held special collections materials Expansion Update CIRCULATED 1,092 books, including Work continues at 14 Beacon Street: demolition is being completed and preparations for the build-out 103 Children’s Library books have commenced. Director Amy Ryan and a tactical team of BA staffers are reviewing plans for furnish- ings and discussing how to extend top-notch programming and services to members throughout the new ATTENDANCE and updated spaces. Many employees will remain in 10½ after the expansion, including the circulation staff, reference and serials librarians, and the archivist, as well as the education, membership, security, 2,685 members and events teams. Members will continue to find librarians throughout the historic building. 118 members’ guests ABOVE | Assistant Facility Manager Nazrul Quadery stands in the future multi-purpose room. 310 visitors Sharing Our Digital Collections PROGRAMS With the World 11 events 3 gallery talks for the Required Reading exhibition Last year, Athenæum librarians and interns (including Ryan Reed and Children’s Library programs Samantha Dodgen, right) cataloged approximately 3,100 items in Athena and 17 photographed over 10,000 images that were added to our Digital Collections, 14 public tours & 8 private tours each discoverable via the BA website. Your unrestricted Annual Fund donations help us provide access to and preserve our rare and historic ANNUAL FUND materials for our members and the world. $1,198,753 Make a donation today by contacting Dawna G. Burrus, Director of Annual in unrestricted funds raised in FY2019 Giving, by phone at 617-720-7629, or by email at [email protected]. You can also donate online at bostonathenaeum.org/support/make-gift. THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR YOUR GIFT. Make the Most of Your Membership Do we have access to digitized newspapers? How do I search JSTOR? Who’s the person behind the Cutter system? How do I find a particular book—or a shelf-full? As a membership library, the Athenæum offers the benefit of personalized librarian assistance. Members come in every day seeking answers to questions we are usually able to answer, either through materials in the building or online, SERVICES or via inter-library loan. for READERS Ask for information at the front or reference desks, and look for installments in the Ask a Librarian series, listed in our Events calendar online. Librarian Elizabeth O’Meara schedules these informative sessions once per month, and Helping members get what they want is our priority. no advance signup is required. Just show up and have your questions about I always learn something new from them, resources and benefits answered. “ and enjoy providing great service. RIGHT | Librarian Elizabeth O’Meara finds a requested book. ELIZABETH O’MEARA, REFERENCE LIBRARIAN” Private Events at Our Boston Landmark Left, the Long Room is decked out for a dinner event. Inset: our events staffers—Victoria O’Malley, Elsa Vernon, and Emmy Snyder—take a moment for a photo. The team balances our revenue goals with members’ needs for quiet and contemplation in the library, overseeing a select number of private events annually. In the last fiscal year, rentals brought in more than $150,000, helping to offset the high costs of maintaining our Boston landmark. They ranged from an elaborate two- day Netflix shoot (those won’t happen very often) to the annual gathering of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society. Help Build a Special Community We’re growing, and you can help! Membership is open to all, and many members first visit with a friend. Our members tell us they value civic discourse and reading Community Conversations groups, an urban space for silence and reading, a community Members and Visitors Free of shared interests, and a gathering spot for those who love P libraries, card catalogs, wonderful events, and great To explore the variety and richness of “essential knowledge” and the ways it can be defined, conversations with authors and other members. our current exhibition, Required Reading: Reimagining a Colonial Library, presents titles selected by ten community partners. Join these discussions and share your thoughts. Choose an event on the pages that follow, and plan to bring a friend or colleague! PANEL DISCUSSION | with Chinese Historical Society of New England, Institute for Human Centered Design, and Women’s Foundation of Boston Wednesday, January 29, 6 pm MODERATOR: Cara Solomon, founder of Everyday Boston Members only TOPIC: What knowledge is necessary for people of different communities to work together? M P Open to the public Please join us. PANEL DISCUSSION | with Hebrew College, North Bennet Street School, and UMass Boston R Reception to follow Wednesday, February 5, 6 pm } MODERATOR: Rajini Srikanth, Dean of the Honors College at UMass Boston TOPIC: What qualifies as knowledge, and how is it transmitted? bostonathenaeum.org Athenæum Events JANUARY-FEBRUARY Registration is requested for all events. Register at bostonathenaeum.org or by calling 617-720-7612. Member’s Choice (Anti) Suffrage The Trustees’ Room awaits you from 6:30 to 7:30 pm on the second Tuesday of each month. Members organize one-time discussions, host speakers, or (Anti) Suffrage is a series of programs commemorating the 100th anniversary offer presentations. To learn more and initiate an event, contact Director of of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Join us to explore the Events Victoria O’Malley at [email protected] or 617-720-7667. complexity of the struggle to secure and protect voting rights for women and people of color in the past and today.