In This Issue
In the late 1990’s, the trustees and staff began the arduous task of restoring the Athenaeum’s Historic Landmark building. This initial phase, completed in 2004, produced the stunningly beautiful building that has become the pride of our community and of the many individuals who worked tirelessly to make it happen.
We have now embarked on the next phase of the restoration which will have a special focus on the preservation of the building’s contents -the priceless collections of books and art. This work will concentrate on proper climate controls, restricting damaging ultra-violet light and making the building as green and energy efficient as possible. The library services you have come to expect at the Athenaeum will, of course, continue as always as will public access to the Internet, concert and lecture series, online resources and high quality children’s services. All of this, of course, takes money.
We hope your response to our annual appeal this year will be as generous as possible. Together, we can ensure the Athenaeum’s future will be as bright as its past. You can send us your us your Annual Fund donation using JustGive.org or download a pledge card & mail to us with your donation.
First Wednesdays Lecture Series
Join us for another year of First Wednesdays lectures. This year the program features talks ranging from the Book of Kells to problem solving in the Middle East and South Asia. All programs start at 7:00PM. This Vermont Humanities Council program is being hosted by the Atheaneum. Visit our Events page for a complete description of these programs.
October 7
The Book of Kells with professor Jane Carroll.
November 4
Hamlet Contemplates the Bust of Aristotle or Was the Prince's Education Any Use to Him? with Dartmouth professor Peter Saccio.
December 2
Becoming Americans with author and Amherst professor Ilan Stavans.
January 6
The Enduring Appeal of Anne Frank and Her Diary with Dartmouth professor Irene Kacandes.
February 3
100 Years Since Triangle: The Fire that Seared a Nation's Conscience with Darmouth professor Annelise Orleck.
March 3
Problem Solving in the Middle East and South Asia with retired CIA Chief of Counterterrorism Haviland Smith.
April 7
Building Books with author and illustrator David Maccaulay.
May 5
The Truth About Happiness with analyst and author Polly Young-Eisendrath.
Other Events
October 24
Helena Baillie, brilliant English violinist, will present a children’s concert in the morning featuring Ferdinand the Bull for solo violin, with Mark Breen (Eye on the Sky) as narrator. This concert is free of charge.
In the late afternoon, Ms. Baillie will present a concert in the Gallery featuring three Partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. Proceeds from this concert will establish a fund for the purchase of a concert piano for the Athenaeum. For concert times and other information contact Irwin Gelber at 802-748-8291, ext. 307.
Holiday Closings
November 11
Veterans Day
December 25
Christmas Day
November 25
Thanksgiving, close at 1:00 PM
December 31
New Years, close at 1:00 PM
Nov. 26 & 27
Thanksgiving Holiday
Jan. 1, 2010
New Years Day
December 24
Christmas, close at 1:00 PM
The Athenaeum recently completed a crucial, (yet nearly invisible!) energy conservation project.
Throughout the summer, the building’s historic windows were meticulously restored and an unobtrusive layer of interior secondary glazing was carefully installed. The secondary glazing will dramatically increase the Athenaeum’s energy efficiency, while also protecting the Athenaeum’s priceless collections from harmful ultraviolet light.
We welcome you to step in out of the cold, settle in a deep leather chair, and warm up with your favorite book or magazine.
This project was made possible by the generous support of a Preservation Grant from the Freeman Foundation and the Preservation Trust of Vermont, the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Yankee and the Entergy Charitable Foundation, the Windham Foundation, and many individual donors.
We've added Reader Reviews to our new fiction and non-fiction starting this month. Look for an orange slip inside the front of the book. We'd love to hear what you think about these new additions to our collections.
Want to find out what the popular books at the Athenaeum are? Click here to view a list of the most popular non-ficition and fiction so far this year.
At the beginning of each month, our new books list is updated on the Home Page of our web site. Check the Quick Info section for links to new books for adults and children.
The Athenaeum's staff is an interesting and talented group. Each newsletter we'll introduce you to a staff member and tell you a little about their background and their passions.
Karen O'Donnell-Leach received her Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has held administrative jobs in public libraries in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Her professional and research interests include reader's advisory, young adult books and programming, and the history of women in seaports. She has worked at the Athenaeum since March 2008 and wants you to know that she loves her job.
Fruit and Wine by Emilie Preyer is located in the South Alcove in the Art Gallery. Preyer is the only female artist represented in our collection that is an original work. The artist was born in Dusseldorf, Germany June 6, 1849. She was the daughter of Johann Wilhem Preyer, who was a celebrated still life artist. She studied with her father and visited Dresden, Antwerp and the Netherlands Museum during her lifetime. She painted her first still life in 1867.
Like her father, Emilie Preyer worked in the Dutch tradition of crisply painted, brightly colored table top scenes. She worked in two basic sizes, of which Fruit and Wine is actually the larger. The fly, cut apricot and decaying leaves in the composition are symbols of life’s brevity, often referred to by their Latin name, momento mori. She created approximately 250 works during her lifetime and in many paintings the “fly” is present.
The artist died in 1930. Today her work is little known and biographical information is hard to find. A few reproductions of her work can be seen on the Internet. Visit This Week from the Gallery Archives and learn more about Fruit and Wine.
Bierstadt, the Athenaeum, and the National Park Service
The first segment of Ken Burns' documentary on the National Parks on PBS, focused on the discovery, by the non-Native Americans, of Yosemite Valley. Within the first thirty minutes of the first program there was an image of Albert Bierstadt sketching The Domes of the Yosemite – the painting that is the centerpiece of our permanent art collection here at the Athenaeum.
Bierstadt first visited the Yosemite Valley in 1863. In 1864, Abraham Lincoln officially granted the Yosemite Valley to the state of California creating the first public land trust in American history. In an era when California remained a distant and inaccessible region for most Americans, Bierstadt's monumental painting, completed in 1867, offered viewers a compelling personal experience of its grandeur and uniqueness.
The Athenaeum’s designation as a National Historic Landmark is also connected to this story since this designation is bestowed by the National Park Service. Our designation puts us into a rather rarified group of libraries nationwide with only thirteen other libraries with such recognition. These honored institutions include the Library of Congress, The Morgan Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the Boston Public Library and the New York Public Library as well as several very special college libraries and two other public libraries designed by the architect H.H. Richardson.
Ken Burns will speak in Brattleboro on March 3, 2010 as part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays Program.
Downloadable Audio Book Problem
Lately there has been a general problem experienced by many who have received an email notice that their Hold on a downloadable audio is ready but when they go to download it/Check it out, it is not there. This problem has to do with the complexity of the software associated with this service. Because the Listen Up! Vermont project is a consortium of many different libraries that use many different barcodes for their patron cards, the software has to sort out all these differences and also is required to encrypt patron's personal information to ensure privacy.
The software vendor is fixing the problem and patrons should try again to place a title on Hold to download when available. Please let us know if you are experiencing this problem via email or phone, and we will track this with our service provider.
Attention Music and Video Lovers
We'd like to see our music CD collection grow. If you have any music CDs in good condition, please consider donating them to the Athenaeum. If you have any video DVDs in good condition that you would like to donate, we'll happily accept them, too.