The Salem Athenaeum: A Literary & Cultural Jewel
Steeped in History – and Making New History
August 21, 2024
By Liz Vago
“The term athenaeum conjures up centuries past, but our founders were forward-thinking leaders of their time who gathered a community of curious thinkers to share ideas, culture, and literature. Well over two hundred years later, our mission hasn’t changed, it’s expanded.”
Salem Athenaeum, 337 Essex Street, Salem.
I’m embarrassed to say I’d been living in Salem for ten years before I discovered the Salem Athenaeum. Well, I had driven and walked by the red brick building on Essex Street many times, admiring the Federal-period Palladian architecture, but had never ventured in. Until one snowy January evening. On a train ride from Boston, I leafed through a newspaper discarded on the seat next to me. I found an event listing for an author reading by journalist Dan Kennedy for his recently published book – happening at the Salem Athenaeum.
Dan Kennedy? The Boston Phoenix Dan Kennedy? A panelist on my favorite media issues show WGBH’s Beat the Press? I had to attend.
The evening reading and discussion were riveting. The setting and view outside to the snow dappled garden, magical. I kicked myself for waiting so long to discover this little gem of a library. From that night 20 years ago, I was hooked.
A Place for Everyone
Had my preconceived notions of the Salem Athenaeum held me back? I’d thought independent libraries were exclusive clubs for folks who could trace their lineage to Salem’s founding (or The Mayflower), and as the daughter of an immigrant, and someone who didn’t live in Salem’s McIntire Historic District, I wouldn’t fit in. I expected that membership would be expensive, too. I was wrong on all counts. That snowy night, I found an inclusive community of curious, creative people that yes, love books, but also love music, art, game nights, and writing. And they know how to throw a fun party too.
For others who might have misjudged the Salem Athenaeum, here is a short primer of what the nonprofit organization offers.
A Brief History of the Salem Athenaeum
While the Salem Athenaeum’s charter and name date to 1810, the organization’s roots sprung from a cultural social club, the Monday Evening Club, formed in the mid-1700s. The club counted among its members many of Salem’s most prominent citizens and cultural elite.
Historical maps and artifacts.
In 1760 a group of Club members donated funds towards the foundation of a Social Library for their mutual use, stocked both by donations from members’ own libraries and by new purchases. Another library, the Philosophical Library was founded in 1781 with the scientific volumes captured by a privateer during the Revolution. In 1810 the two organizations merged to become the Salem Athenaeum.
The Salem Athenaeum and other membership libraries served as cultural hubs and were the precursors to today’s public libraries. At the time of the Salem Athenaeum’s founding, Salem had more libraries than Boston. Today, only nineteen membership libraries exist in the United States.
The Salem Athenaeum Today
The Salem Athenaeum is open to the public and offers a plethora of programming: summer salons in the garden, concerts and performances, readings and lectures, youth programming, book and affinity groups, educational walks and meet ups, and an annual spring garden party and winter fundraiser – the lively list of social gatherings goes on and on.
Concert in the Reading Room.
The Athenaeum also nurtures established and upcoming writers and artists through writers’ groups, poetry groups, and young writer’s programs like this summer’s Young Writers Summer Simmer for youths ages ten to sixteen. Each week the Athenaeum offers on average three programs or groups, usually more, and many are free or free with membership. A full list of events can be found on their calendar.
Exhibitions in the Wendt Room showcase materials from the Athenaeum’s collections and related works. Subjects have included Salem imprints, children’s books and their illustrators, decorated book covers, Jacob Bigelow’s American Medical Botany, and works on insects. Last year’s Fashion Through the Pages exhibit featured everything from big wigs at the courts of Louis XIV and XV in Diderot’s Encyclopédie to Mary Todd Lincoln’s personal dressmaker and the dazzling gowns in the color plates of period novels like Pride and Prejudice. The current exhibit, Enchanted Lands: Wonderland, Oz, Neverland & Beyond is well worth a visit.
Membership Benefits
And it should not be forgotten that the Salem Athenaeum of today is still an active membership- driven lending library, and home to over 50,000 volumes. Its circulating and research collections range from rare historical books going back to 1497 up to and including today’s bestsellers. Non-members are welcome to visit the reading room and garden, but membership does have its privileges.
Books requested in advance are waiting for pickup, and members’ reading preferences and interests are well known; helpful suggestions of what to read next abound. To all, the Atheneum offers a quiet location for work, reflection and reading. Poetry, manuscripts, and various work projects have been birthed – and completed – at the Athenaeum.
19th century book cover designs.
The Salem Literary Festival
Young writers hard at work.
Beginning on September 4th and running through September 8th, the Salem Athenaeum will host the fifteenth Salem Literary Festival, a beloved, free, and largely in-person festival held in various locations around Salem. A few authors will present online. This year the lit fest features 60 writers from across genres, sharing their stories and writing advice with each other and festival attendees.
Highlights of this year’s festival include:
One Book, One Salem, a live, in-person event on Sunday, September 8th at the Salem Academy Charter School where all are invited to participate in a community read and author discussion with Ilyon Woo, the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography winner for Master Slave Husband Wife who will be in conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Herbin-Triant of Amherst College and author of Threatening Property: Race, Class, and Campaigns to Legislate Jim Crow Neighborhoods. The event will be live translated into Spanish.
Online Keynote Session with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Geraldine Brooks; she will speak about her internationally best-selling historical fiction sensation, Horse, with long-time Salem Lit Fest supporter and internationally best-selling author Brunonia Barry.
Enduring Hawthorne at The House of the Seven Gables, Friday evening, September 6th is an event inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Creatives are invited to perform works influenced by Nathanial Hawthorne during the open mic session of the event.
Children’s Lit Fest authors Scott Magoon, Cathy Ballou Mealey, and Lori Haskins Houran will give a reading at the Community Life Center in Salem on Saturday, September 7th. The event will include snacks, crafts, and a special sensory-sensitive session. Visit www.salemlitfest.org for a complete schedule.
So, What is the Salem Athenaeum?
A couple of years ago, the Athenaeum created a series of short video vignettes, What is the Salem Athenaeum? One video asks people to describe the Athenaeum in one word, always a challenge for people who love language, though “community” came up time and again.
But my favorite comment was the Salem Athenaeum is a “cool tree house for adults.” That’s it! I remember sitting in the crook of a large tree, reading when I was a kid. For me, adventure and possibility came alive in books. And it comes alive at the Salem Athenaeum.
Annual garden party.
Liz Vago is a writer and nonprofit executive recruiter – and longtime Salem Athenaeum member.
