Reminder: The Athenaeum will be closed on December 24th and 25th for
Christmas and January 1st and 2nd for New Year's.
Banner Image:
Detail of Athenaeum front steps. Photo by Jim Carroll.
Toby Lester Lecture and Book Signing
The Fourth Part of the World is an epic adventure story about the creation of the map that introduced Europe to America and ushered in the New World.
Toby Lester is a contributing editor to and has written for The Atlantic on subjects that include the sociology of new religions, the attempt to reconstruct ancient Greek music, the struggle to change alphabets in Azerbaijan, and the chance harmonies of everyday sounds. His work has also been featured on the radio show
This American Life. This is his first book.
Co-sponsoring the Toby Lester lecture on December
16th made our librarians and curators think again about the many rare Athenaeum holdings in the areas of exploration and geography. One of those, a gift of Mrs. Edward Browning, Jr., in memory of her husband, is the two volume report by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
The Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition,
1907-1909, published in 1909 in London. This special edition was limited to 300 copies, of which the Athenaeum owns number 262 which was inscribed in 1913 by Shackleton as a gift to Jasper Brinton “in remembrance of pleasant hours in Philadelphia, and with sincere good wishes for the coming Christmas.” Another distinction of these rare, vellum-bound volumes is that both black-and-white and color illustrations have survived in pristine condition as have the three folded maps and one folded illustration which are contained by a special flap in volume 2. A third, companion volume, which we also have in our collection, was published with autograph signatures of the members of The British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909.
The Antarctic continues to beguile; a new title acquired by the Athenaeum is
The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton and Antarctic Photography by David
Hempleman-Adams. This picture book is on the new book truck for December.
Above:
Illustration from The Heart of the Antarctic.
Association
for Preservation Technology Recognizes Henry J. Magaziner and Frank S. Welsh
On Monday November
16th, at a reception held in the members reading room, longtime Athenaeum
members, Henry J. Magaziner EFAIA and Frank S. Welsh were inducted into the College of Fellows of the Association for Preservation Technology (APT). This honor recognizes
their lifetime of service to preservation causes. Henry is a founding member of
the Delaware Valley Chapter of APT, he contributed significantly to the
preservation of historic sites while serving as Regional Historical Architect
for the National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Region. Frank is an award
winning writer and technical researcher whose analysis and understanding of
historic building materials and construction has allowed the field of historic
preservation to grow its knowledge base and whose recognized mentoring truly
embodies the spirit of APT.
Also announced that evening was the accession by the Athenaeum of the APT Archives (all 350 cubic feet). The archives will be transferred from a warehouse in Williamsburg to the Athenaeum sometime later this month and will be available for research by July 2010.
Above
Left:
Henry Magaziner, Dec. 2008. Hyman Myers, Photographer.
Above
Right: Frank Welsh. Photo from www.welshcolor.com
Member Critics
Dick
Francis with Felix Francis. Even Money. New York: E. P. Putnam
Sons, 2009.
The focal character is a racetrack bookie. The Francises (father and son) would like us to know that racetrack bookies, while not Franciscans, are not Bernie Madoffs either. You will be reassured to know that the good guys beat out the bad guys.
Submitted by Dr. Harold Rashkis.
Do you
have a book that you loved (or hated), and would you be willing to share that
opinion on the Athenaeum e-newsletter? If so, please send your short essay
to sltatman@philaathenaeum.org.
Save
the Date:
December
5: First Saturday, Athenaeum open, 10:00am-2:00pm.
December
7: Coffee Day in Members' Reading Room.
December
8: Socrates Cafe, 11:00am.
December
16: Toby Lester Lecture, The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends
of the Earth and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America its Name,
5:30pm.
The
Athenaeum is open 9:00AM to 5:00PM, Monday-Friday and the first
Saturday of the month from 10:00AM to 2:00PM. The
building is accessible to persons with disabilities. Group
tours and research visits are by appointment only. Please visit
our website www.PhilaAthenaeum.org
for more information, or call 215-925-2688.
The Fourth Part of the World is an epic adventure story about the creation of the map that introduced Europe to America and ushered in the New World.
Co-sponsoring the Toby Lester lecture on December
16th made our librarians and curators think again about the many rare Athenaeum holdings in the areas of exploration and geography. One of those, a gift of Mrs. Edward Browning, Jr., in memory of her husband, is the two volume report by Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
The Heart of the Antarctic, Being the Story of the British Antarctic Expedition,
1907-1909, published in 1909 in London. This special edition was limited to 300 copies, of which the Athenaeum owns number 262 which was inscribed in 1913 by Shackleton as a gift to Jasper Brinton “in remembrance of pleasant hours in Philadelphia, and with sincere good wishes for the coming Christmas.” Another distinction of these rare, vellum-bound volumes is that both black-and-white and color illustrations have survived in pristine condition as have the three folded maps and one folded illustration which are contained by a special flap in volume 2. A third, companion volume, which we also have in our collection, was published with autograph signatures of the members of The British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909. 
On Monday November
16th, at a reception held in the members reading room, longtime Athenaeum
members, Henry J. Magaziner EFAIA and Frank S. Welsh were inducted into the College of Fellows of the Association for Preservation Technology (APT). This honor recognizes
their lifetime of service to preservation causes. Henry is a founding member of
the Delaware Valley Chapter of APT, he contributed significantly to the
preservation of historic sites while serving as Regional Historical Architect
for the National Park Service, Mid-Atlantic Region. Frank is an award
winning writer and technical researcher whose analysis and understanding of
historic building materials and construction has allowed the field of historic
preservation to grow its knowledge base and whose recognized mentoring truly
embodies the spirit of APT. 
Also announced that evening was the accession by the Athenaeum of the APT Archives (all 350 cubic feet). The archives will be transferred from a warehouse in Williamsburg to the Athenaeum sometime later this month and will be available for research by July 2010. 
Dick
Francis with Felix Francis. Even Money. New York: E. P. Putnam
Sons, 2009.
