Past Events

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All events are for members only unless otherwise noted.

May 2013

22 Wednesday Noon Lecture, Kathryn Greenthal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Shaw Memorial: Its Creation and Its Context 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

21 Tuesday Noon Book Talk , Margalit Fox, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

16 Thursday Spring Concert Series, Frank Glazer, piano. Works by Haydn, Beethoven, Barber, and Chopin. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

11 Saturday Spring Concert Series, Aaron Jackson, piano. John Cage: Etudes Australes, Book III. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

9 Thursday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

9 Thursday Book Talk, Tatiana Holway, The Flower of Empire: An Amazonian Water Lily, the Quest to Make it Bloom, and the World it Created 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

7 Tuesday Lecture, in collaboration with the Cultural Service of the Consulate General of France in Boston, Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, Rêves d'Amérique: The New World in Huguenot Imagination and Reality 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

6 Monday First Mondays, Paintings & Sculpture 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

4 Saturday Puppet Show, with Puppeteer Margaret Moody. Badger Meets the Fairies 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

2 Thursday Noon Lecture, John Lannon, Highlights from the Athenæum’s Cartographic Collections. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

April 2013

30 Tuesday CANCELLED, Spring Concert Series, Aaron Jackson, piano and Adrienne Taylor, cello. Piano Trio Program. Dvorak: “Dumky” Trio/Jackson: Piano Trio 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

30 Tuesday Noon Poetry Reading. David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

27 Saturday Spring Concert Series, Aaron Jackson, piano, with Chase Spruill, violin. Proust and the Vinteuil Sonata. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

27 Saturday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

25 Thursday Lecture in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation, Julius Bryant, The Treasures of Kenwood House. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

24 Wednesday Book Talk, Sara Day, Coded Letters, Concealed Love 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

23 Tuesday Lecture in conjunction with the British Consulate, Boston and The Oxford & Cambridge Society of New England. Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal. From Mars to the Multiverse. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

19 Friday LIBRARY CLOSED TODAY, FRIDAY APRIL 19th 8:30 am - 8:30 am

17 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

17 Wednesday Noon Poetry Reading, Carolle R. Morini. The Glover’s Stitch 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

15 Monday Library Closed, Monday April 15 8:30 am - 8:30 am

12 Friday Spring Concert Series, Aaron Jackson, piano. Hans Otte: The Book of Sounds / Jackson: Horologion 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

11 Thursday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

11 Thursday Lecture, Peter Walsh, The Map of Mysteries: Vespucci’s Clouded Legacy in the New World 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

1 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Prints & Phtographs 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Monday First Mondays, Prints and Photographs 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

March 2013

28 Thursday SOLD OUT. Lecture in conjunction with the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust, Elliot Bostwick Davis, The Art of the Americas Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:Designs of the Past, Present and Future 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

27 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

21 Thursday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

21 Thursday Book Talk, Megan Marshall, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

19 Tuesday Library closed today 8:30 am - 8:30 am

18 Monday SOLD OUT The John Hubbard Sturgis Eaton Annual Lecture, Scott Berg, 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End. 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

16 Saturday Concert, Music of Shostakovich, Schumann, and Jackson 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

14 Thursday Annual Torrence C. Harder Endowed Lecture, Christopher Benfey, Adoption by Wolves: Taking in Kipling 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

12 Tuesday SOLD OUT. Book Talk, Hina Hirayama, Associate Curator of Paintings & Sculpture, Boston Athenæum, “With Éclat”: The Boston Athenæum and the Origin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

9 Saturday Concert, Music of Milton Babbitt, Seymour Shifrin, and Peter Lieberson 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

8 Friday Library closing at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 8th 4:00 pm - 4:00 pm

5 Tuesday Concert, Music of Gorecki, Takemitsu, and Jackson 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

4 Monday SOLD OUT. First Mondays Library Orientation, Maps & Atlases 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

February 2013

26 Tuesday SOLD OUT. Lecture in conjunction with the Polly Thayer Starr Charitable Trust, Erica Hirshler, Croll Senior Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Painting Women: Women Artists from 1860 to 1960 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

23 Saturday Book Talk, Mr. Bull and The Amazing Grape 10:30 am - 11:30 am

21 Thursday Concert, Music of Bartók, Janácek, and Berg 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

14 Thursday Concert, Schumann: Dances of the Davidsbund (Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6) and Aaron Jackson: new work 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

12 Tuesday Exhibition Opening Reception, Brilliant Beginnings: The Athenæum and the Museum in Boston 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

9 Saturday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

8 Friday CANCELED: Concert, The Capital Trio, Music of Beethoven, Smetana, and Dvõrák 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

8 Friday Library Closing at Noon 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

5 Tuesday Lecture, Jack Gantos, Children's Books: It’s All Personal! 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

4 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Rare Materials Cataloger 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

2 Saturday Noon movie, Groundhog Day (1993) 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

1 Friday Movie, The Thin Man 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm

January 2013

31 Thursday Concert, Aaron Jackson: The Book of Wandering: 24 preludes for piano paired with images by artist Prachie Narain 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

29 Tuesday Noon Book Talk, Michelle Marchetti Coughlin, One Colonial Woman’s World: The Life and Writings of Mehetabel Chandler Coit 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

26 Saturday Puppet Show, with Puppeteer Margaret Moody, Trolls in the Kitchen 10:30 am - 11:30 am

24 Thursday Book Talk, Steven Ujifusa, A Man and His Ship: America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

23 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

21 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

18 Friday Concert, David Greenberg and Christopher Norman, Fair an' Lucky: Music of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island and 18th-century Scotland 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

15 Tuesday Computer Class: Searching Historic Newspapers at the Boston Athenæum 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

10 Thursday Gallery Talk, Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithography in Boston, 1840-1910 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

7 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Rare Books & Manuscripts 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Tuesday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

December 2012

31 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

25 Tuesday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

24 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

15 Saturday Gallery Talk, Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithography in Boston, 1840-1910 10:00 am - 11:00 am

11 Tuesday Concert, Aaron Jackson, piano, Music of Beethoven, Brahms and Bacewicz 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

8 Saturday Matinee, National Velvet (1944) 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

4 Tuesday Annual Thomson Endowed Lecture, K. David Harrison, Language Extinction and Survival 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

3 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Archive 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, John Cage (1912-1992): A Centennial Celebration. John Cage: Etudes Australes, Books I and II 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

November 2012

27 Tuesday Book Talk, Jim Sterba, Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

23 Friday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

22 Thursday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

21 Wednesday Library closes at 5:30 5:30 pm - 5:30 pm

17 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, John Cage (1912-1992): A Centennial Celebration. John Cage: Etudes Australes, Book II 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

14 Wednesday Book Talk, Jonathan Galassi, Left-handed: Poems 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

14 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

14 Wednesday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithography in Boston, 1840-1910 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

12 Monday Library Closed for Veteran's Day, Monday, November 12 8:30 am - 8:30 am

10 Saturday My Athenæum, Family Day in the Library 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

8 Thursday Sally Pemberton, in conversation with Sebastian Smee, The New Yorker’s First Art Critic: Portrait of Murdock Pemberton 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

7 Wednesday Concert, Aaron Jackson, piano, Piano Sonatas by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Alexander Scriabin and Aaron Jackson 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

6 Tuesday Computer Class: Smarter Searching 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

6 Tuesday Computer Class: Smarter Searching 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

5 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Paintings & Sculpture 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

5 Monday Concert, Red Priest 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

3 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, Adrienne Taylor, cello and Aaron Jackson, piano, Works by Brahms, Britten and Aaron Jackson 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

1 Thursday Book Talk, William Kuhn, Mrs. Queen Takes the Train: A Novel 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

October 2012

27 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, John Cage (1912-1992): A Centennial Celebration, Ben Holmes, trumpet and Aaron Jackson, piano, Music of Ben Holmes and Aaron Jackson 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

24 Wednesday Book Talk, Evan Thomas, Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

23 Tuesday Computer Class: Art Databases 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

20 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, John Cage (1912-1992): A Centennial Celebration, John Cage: Etudes Australes, Book I 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

17 Wednesday Concert, Aaron Jackson, piano, John Cage: In a Landscape (1948) & One5 (1990), Aaron Jackson: new work 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

16 Tuesday Lecture, Patric Dickinson, Heraldry and Heralds: The Picturesque World of Coats of Arms, Chivalry and Ceremony 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

15 Monday Book Talk, Douglas Smith, Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

10 Wednesday SOLD OUT. Lecture in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation, Sally Bedell Smith, Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

10 Wednesday SOLD OUT. Gallery Talk, Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithography in Boston, 1840-1910 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

9 Tuesday Book Talk, George C. Daughan, 1812: The Navy's War 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

9 Tuesday Computer Class: Introduction to LexisNexis 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

9 Tuesday Computer Class: Introduction to LexisNexis 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

8 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

1 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Prints & Photographs 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

September 2012

29 Saturday Saturday Concert Series, John Cage (1912-1992): A Centennial Celebration 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

27 Thursday Exhibition Reception, Chromo-Mania! The Art of Chromolithography in Boston, 1840-1910 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

27 Thursday Book talk, Tom Reiss, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

25 Tuesday Computer Class: Searching Historic Newspapers at the Boston Athenæum 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

25 Tuesday Computer Class: Searching Historic Newspapers at the Boston Athenæum 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

20 Thursday Book Talk, Michael Gorra, Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

13 Thursday SOLD OUT. Boston Globe Panel Discussion, Michael Grunwald, Sasha Issenberg and Charlie Baker. Moderator: Peter Canellos 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

11 Tuesday Computer Class: Surfing the World Wide Web 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

11 Tuesday Computer Class: Surfing the World Wide Web 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

10 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Maps & Atlases 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

1 Saturday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

August 2012

21 Tuesday Computer Class: All About JSTOR 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

21 Tuesday Computer Class: All About JSTOR 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

7 Tuesday Computer Class: Online reference resources from Gale 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

7 Tuesday Computer Class: Online reference resources from Gale 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

July 2012

19 Thursday Lecture, Philip McFarland, Mark Twain and the Colonel:Samuel L. Clemens, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Arrival of a New Century. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

17 Tuesday Computer Class: Art Databases 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

17 Tuesday Computer Class: Art Databases 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

9 Monday Library closes at 5:30 p.m. today 5:30 pm - 5:30 pm

4 Wednesday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

June 2012

26 Tuesday An Illustrated Lecture, Robert C. Vose, III, Tales of an Art Dealer: The History of the Vose Galleries, Inc., Boston 12:00 pm - 12:00 pm

21 Thursday Spring Concert Series, GI Gurdjieff/Thomas de Hartmann and Aaron Jackson 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

19 Tuesday Computer Class: Smarter Searching 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm

19 Tuesday Book Talk, Catherine Willis, Hiding in Plain Sight: Images from the Boston Public Library's Archives. 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

19 Tuesday Computer Class: Smarter Searching 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

14 Thursday Lecture, Peter Lyons, Luminism: Seeing the Light, Peter Lyons’ Painting and Photography 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

12 Tuesday Lecture, Paula Matthews, Stanford Calderwood Director and Librarian, The Piano in Boston: A Very Brief History 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

5 Tuesday Book Talk, Andrew Blum, Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

4 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Rare Books & Manuscripts 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

May 2012

28 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

26 Saturday Library closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

24 Thursday Spring Concert Series, The Arabella Ensemble of Boston, Chamber music of Bach, Brahms and Copland 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

22 Tuesday Spring Concert Series, Aaron Jackson & Adrienne Taylor, Music for Cello and Piano, featuring works of Prokofiev and Debussy 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

22 Tuesday Noon Lecture, Kathryn Greenthal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens's Shaw Memorial: Its Creation and Its Context 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm