Draft Handout on Athenaeums/Membership Libraries

Athenaeums in America - "Membership Libraries"

ATHENAEUM (Webster's Dictionary): (1) A literary or scientific association [for the promotion of learning]. (2) A place where reading materials are available.

* Benjamin Franklin founded the first independent library: He was only a printer's apprentice in 1731 when he convinced members of his "Leather Apron Club" to pool their resources and buy a collection of books to share. This later became the Library Company of Philadelphia. Athenaeums become a special extension of the membership library idea. Among the earliest athenaeums were two founded in Rhode Island, in Redwood in 1747 and in Providence in 1753.
* In 1807 a group of gentlemen founded the Boston Athenaeum in order to have "a reading room, a library, a museum, and a laboratory [workplace]." The name "Athenaeum" belonged first to a school in ancient Rome created for the arts - Boston's Athenaeum started a trend in America. Boston members included John Quincy Adams, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Daniel Webster.
* Athenaeums as centers for study of the arts, including a reading room and gallery, are an entirely American invention. Clearly they connect with the goddess Athena, the Greek and Roman goddess of wisdom.
* Athenaeums like ours reach beyond being collections, in order to offer lectures, works of art, special exhibitions - a broad base of culture. To start this athenaeum, Horace Fairbanks planned a library of nine thousand volumes.
* Some athenaeums became research institutions. St. Johnsbury's Athenaeum, founded later than most, in 1870, continued over the years to serve as the central library for the town.
* Another role of athenaeums has been to form collections - the Philadelphia Athenaeum was founded in 1814 to collect materials "connected with the history and antiquities of America, and the useful arts." A resource for scholars, museum curators, interior designers, and private owners of historic buildings interested in authentic restoration, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 - and this took place for the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in 1996.
* "Membership libraries" like our Athenaeum also store historic materials. St. Johnsbury's archives are housed on four institutions: The Athenaeum, the Fairbanks Museum, the St. Johnsbury Academy, and the Town Clerk's office. These and the St. Johnsbury Historical Society together created an Archives Collaborative in 1999.
* Today's athenaeums have in common "memberships," boards of trustees, artwork and special collections, and programs. Their mission statements all reflect the goal of providing "a place for quiet study, reflection, and self-improvement."
* The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is one of the few remaining "membership libraries" in the United States, and is one of sixteen featured in Richard Wendorf's book America's Membership Libraries.

[We thank retired St. Johnsbury Athenaeum director Irwin Gelber for his contributions to this material.]