By George, I’m seeing double! Many have admired the Public Garden’s stately bronze George Washington on horseback, but did you know you can get even closer to George (and his trusty steed) at the Boston Athenaeum?
Sculptor Thomas Ball completed his plaster study for the equestrian statue in 1858, a year before the larger statue was commissioned.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Ghost of Dr. Harris” is a tale of his experiences with the ghost of Reverend Doctor Thaddeus Mason Harris at the Boston Athenaeum.
As the story goes, Hawthorne claims to have seen Dr. Harris reading in the same spot in the Athenaeum, day after day, only later to have learned Dr. Harris had died days prior.
Hawthorne wrote the story for a friend, but it wasn’t published until Hawthorne passed himself. When we moved to 10½ Beacon Street, the ghost of Dr. Harris did not come along, although a portrait of him did – which you can see displayed on our first floor.
Where’s Ralph Waldo Emerson? Ralph Waldo Emerson was a frequent visitor to the Boston Athenaeum, even as late as 1875.
Often accompanied by his daughter Miss Ellen Emerson, who carried his papers and books in her satchel, they would settle into chairs by one of the windows overlooking the Granary Burying Ground. Here, they would plan their day in the city, with Miss Emerson occasionally persuading her father to join her on social calls.
He declined often, saying there were things he needed to look up at the Athenaeum. Feel free to use the same excuse!
Alexander Graham Bell gave his first public demonstration of the telephone at the Boston Athenaeum on May 10, 1876, for members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Bell wowed the audience by transmitting music tones over the telephone with a wire running from his office down the street. This demonstration was a ringing success indeed!
The “Names of Strangers Introduced” at the Athenaeum is a unique and historically significant part of the library’s records.
Essentially a guest book, the list included notable figures such as senators, artists, writers, commanders, and one king: Samuel Morse (in 1837), Washington Irving (1832, 1851), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1856), Henry James (1849), William Makepeace Thackeray (1852), Horace Greeley (1869), and King Kamehameha III of the Hawaiian Islands (1850).
Strange days, indeed.
Have you ever noticed this distinctive handwriting on bookplates or book pockets? That’s the work of Gerald Frowd, a reading room assistant from 1946 to 1962. A private butler in his earlier years, Frowd had a meticulous hand. So, next time you see it, remember: the butler did it!
An example of the distinct handwriting of Geral Frowd, former reading room assistant.
