The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, located at 219 S. 6th Street between St. James Place and Locust Street in the Society Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a special collections membership library and museum founded in 1814. The Athenaeum's purpose, according to its organizational principles, is to collect materials "connected with the history and antiquities of America, and the useful arts, and generally to disseminate useful knowledge" for public benefit.
The Athenaeum's collections include architecture and interior design history, particularly for the period 1800 to 1945. The institution focuses on the history of American architecture and building technology, and houses architectural archives of 180,000 drawings, over 350,000 photographs, and manuscript holdings of about 1,000 American architects.
Since 1950, the Athenaeum has sponsored the annual Athenaeum Literary Award for works of fiction and non-fiction.
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Founding
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia was founded in 1814, as a non-profit subscription library “to disseminate useful knowledge.” Initially, the Athenaeum was housed in Philosophical Hall, at 104 S. 5th Street. It was next to Independence Hall and just across the street from The Library Company of Philadelphia (established in 1731). The Athenaeum was open for longer hours and provided more specialized periodicals and reference works. Many of its founders were members of both institutions.
Both the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Athenaeum were member-supported. The Athenaeum's founders included prominent Philadelphians like Nicholas Biddle, Horace Binney, George Cadwalader, Mathew Carey, Jacob Gratz, Benjamin Gratz, Chief Justice William Tilghman, and George and Roberts Vaux. The first public library in the city, the Free Library of Philadelphia, was not established until 1894, 80 years after the Athenaeum.
Members of the Athenaeum could bring guests as visitors, recording their names in the “Strangers’ Book” at the librarian’s desk. Visitors included John Quincy Adams, James Buchanan, Henry Clay, Millard Fillmore, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and the Marquis de LaFayette.
Building
The will of Philadelphia druggist William Lehman (1779–1829) left $10,000 to the Athenaeum for “the acquisition of a suitable building.” In 1845, a lot was purchased on Sixth Street opposite Washington Square. John Notman, a Scottish architect who had emigrating to the United States in 1831, defeated major Philadelphia architects like William Strickland and John Haviland to win the architectural design competition for the building.
The building Notman designed was in the Italianate style, and was one of the first buildings in Philadelphia to be built of brownstone, although it was originally planned to be faced in marble. Brownstone was used because it was cheaper. Notman's design was influenced by the work of the English architect Charles Barry.
When the Athenaeum moved into the new building at 219 S. 6th St. in 1847, it only occupied the second floor. The others were rented out. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania was a tenant on the third floor. The Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects later became a tenant.
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976, as one of the nation's first examples of a building with a palazzo-style facade, and for its historic importance as an educational institution. In 2022, it underwent a major renovation, opening up the main floor and expanding the library’s reading room. The exterior was also substantially renovated and the facade cleaned.
Collections
The opening of the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1894 was competition for the Athenaeum and other member-supported libraries in the Philadelphia area. Under the presidency of George Vaux (1908-1996) the Athenaeum redefined itself as a special-collections library that was still membership-based, but held public exhibitions and events. The original collection scope was expanded. Collections include Victorian material culture; America theater buildings; architecture and garden design; books and printing; and early maps and prints of Philadelphia. There are extensive holdings for stained-glass master Nicola D’Ascenzo and for decorative painter George Herzog.
Since the 1970s, the primary focus of the library’s research collections has become American architecture prior to 1930. Dealing with the work of architects, engineers, and builders, the archives include a wide range of materials such as architectural drawings, client records, photographs, and other supporting documentation. Its collections include architectural holdings for Thomas Ustick Walter, Paul Philippe Cret, Walter Mellor, Arthur I. Meigs, Louis Magaziner, and Theophilus P. Chandler, the founder of the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture. The Athenaeum is also the official repository for the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
In 1999 the Athenaeum partnered with the William Penn Foundation and others to establish the multi-institutional Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project. This project has created a free online digital archive of materials from over 25 Philadelphia-area repositories: the American Architects and Buildings Database.
In 2019, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia entered into an agreement with the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to integrate their two collections, giving borrowing privilege to each other's patrons and making the Athenaeum's collection, which is focused on architecture, the built environment, and the decorative arts, searchable in Penn's online catalog.
Athenaeum Literary Award
The Athenaeum Literary Award is a literary award presented by Athenaeum of Philadelphia since 1950. It is awarded to authors who are "bona fide residents of Philadelphia or Pennsylvania living within a radius of 30 miles of City Hall". Eligible works are of general fiction or non-fiction; technical, scientific, and juvenile books are not included. The award was established in 1950 by Charles Wharton Stork (1881–1971), who was a board member of the Athenaeum from 1919 until 1968.
Recipients
Source: Athenaeum Literary Award previous winners (1949–present)
1940s
1949
John L. Lamonte, The World of the Middle Ages