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Greetings from the Executive Director,
Like many other institutions
the Athenaeum is now in a strategic planning process, designed to encourage
Board, members and staff to examine our organization, its strengths and
weaknesses. Out of this we
hope to create a plan that will reflect the desires of the membership as well as
the wider views of our community, local foundations and other libraries and
museums. We are ably led in this
process by a consultant recruited by the Business Volunteers for the Arts. The
Board and staff really depend upon your insights and ideas regarding the
Athenaeum; and, therefore, we are holding three meetings when members can get
together to talk about the Athenaeum and its future.
These meetings will be held on the following dates, and you can reserve
your place by either calling Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or e-mailing her at sgallo@philaathenaeum.org
April 28, 2008, 2:00 PM
May 14, 2008, 10:00 AM
June 2, 2008, 5:30 PM
How
can you contribute to this effort if you cannot attend one of the meetings?
You have two ways – either fill out the paper survey which is available
at the front desk of the Athenaeum, or complete and submit this online
survey.
Banner Image: The Athenaeum Member's Reading
Room, by Alfred Bendiner, c. 1962.
Architectural Shades & Shadows: The
Continuing Tradition of the Beaux Arts
 This
exhibition, designed to mark the reprint of John F. Harbeson’s seminal text on
the Beaux-Arts method, The Study of Architectural Design (1926), combines
the work of Harbeson with that of John Blatteau, a modern-day practitioner of
the Beaux-Arts style.
The exhibition will be open 9:00-5:00, Monday-Friday, through May 30, 2008.
Admission is free.
Gallery talks will take place on April 16 at 3:00 PM, and
May 28 at 5:30
PM. Reservations are required for the gallery talks. Contact Susan Gallo
at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org
Above: The Casino of a Country
Club, by John Harbeson, 1910. John Harbeson Collection, The Athenaeum of
Philadelphia.
Are You Getting All That You Need From
The Athenaeum Website?
 If
you would like more information, join Jill Lee, Bruce Laverty, and Michael
Seneca for a training session designed to reveal all of the special features of
our website -- how to find books and
drawings, how to search in the Philadelphia
Architects and Buildings site, and where to read archived
e-newsletters. This session will be
held on Tuesday, April 29th, at 9:30 AM in the Busch Room.
Reservations are necessary, so please call Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or
e-mail her at sgallo@philaathenaeum.org.
Light refreshments will be served.
Photo
by Jim Carroll.
Athenaeum Images Appear on City Bus
Shelters
 Next
time you’re waiting for the bus in Center
City, take a look around. You may see some historic images from the Athenaeum’s
collection. Beginning in 2007, the
Center City District (CCD), which oversees signage on bus shelters across town,
began incorporating historic images supplied by the Athenaeum into their bus
shelters. These views provide
transit riders (or more accurately, transit waiters) a glimpse of what a
particular block may have looked like 50, 75, or 100 years ago.
Printed on the reverse side of new, easy-to-read bus route maps
installed by the Central Philadelphia Transportation Management Association,
these historical images are accompanied by current views and explanatory text.
If you read the small print, you’ll see a credit line for the Athenaeum.
There’s even a plug for the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project,
which CCD used to make its image selection.
For a list of the 38 shelters featuring Athenaeum images click
here.
For a larger view of the sign, click the photo above.
Photo: Bus shelter at 7th
& Chestnut Sts. Photo by Jim Carroll.
Where In The World Is This Painting?
 You
would know the answer to this question if you had attended one of our popular
“insider” tours in February and March.
You have another opportunity to find the painting this May when the
“insider” returns. Call or
e-mail Susan Gallo sgallo@philaathenaeum.org
and reserve your space for Tuesday, May 13th, at 3PM.
If you cannot attend on May 13th, don’t despair.
We will hold another tour this summer.
Painting by Emanuel Leutze.
In The Next
Issue: Another hidden treasure from the Athenaeum's
collections.
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