Re-Reading Special Collections

On view in the Bayard Henry Long Room

Re-Reading Special Collections features a rotating series of highlights from the Athenaeum’s Special Collections, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and rare books. 

Taking an expansive view of American art and history, Re-Reading Special Collections brings a fresh perspective to beloved and lesser-known works from the Athenaeum’s collections. Major themes and stories include the Athenaeum’s history of promoting the arts and culture, the circulation of ideas in print culture, and collaborations across media. An ongoing and dynamic exhibition, the objects featured in Re-Reading Special Collections rotate throughout the year.

Initial support for Re-Reading Special Collections was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

In Focus: Indigenous Collections

This installation, based on the research of Sage Innerarity (Ione Band of Miwok Indians, Boston Athenaeum Indigenous Collections Fellow, 2024-2025), explores Indigenous agency and resistance during the nineteenth century, featuring print materials from the Schoolcraft Collection of Books in Indigenous Languages. This significant and under-studied collection at the Boston Athenaeum includes over 200 translations of catechisms, tracts, Bibles, primers, grammars and vocabularies, and instructive works on Christian morality accumulated by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) during his career as an ethnographer, Federal Indian Agent, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Michigan Territory.

On view in the Long Room from November 4, 2025 – February 10, 2026, this installation reframes the collection with Indigenous knowledges and contributors at its center. From Cherokee printers like John Candy to Mohican political leaders like John Quinney and Hendrick Aupaumut, Indigenous peoples were not passive recipients of settler colonialism. The texts in the Athenaeum’s collection reveal how Indigenous peoples strategically navigated their relationships with missionary organizations and state governments, and they record the forms of active participation and resistance that ensured their survival for generations to come. 

This installation accompanies a new research guide by Sage Innerarity. This project was supported by a grant from the Lyrasis Foundation.