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Holiday
Closing Reminder
Please
remember that the Athenaeum will be closed for Martin Luther King Day, Monday
January 19th.
Banner Image: 6th and Walnut Sts. by Frank H. Taylor, 1914.
Athenaeum Member Goes Above and Beyond
 Historic clock specialist Gordon Converse shares his expertise with a class of eighth-graders from St. Mary Interparochial School, concentrating on the Isaiah Lukens Clock in the Busch Room. When purchased on July 30th, 1859, at an auction of items from the old Philadelphia Bank at 4th and Chestnut streets, the Lukens clock cost the Athenaeum twenty-three dollars. Its case, constructed of pine grained to resemble mahogany, is decorated with carved scrolls, laurel leaves and berries. A portrait of Isaiah Lukens (1779 – 1846), attributed to Rembrandt Peale, hangs next to the clock.
Above: Gordon Converse
examining the Lukens clock. Photo by Bruce Laverty.
Bernie Cleff Collection Continues to Grow
 This
fall the Athenaeum has added substantially to its photograph collection through
the generosity of retired Philadelphia photographer, and Athenaeum member,
Bernie Cleff. In 1987, Cleff transferred more a thousand photographs and
negatives of the Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square Historic Districts.
Since then, Cleff has added to the collection with a dozen new accessions,
including the archival photos of his work for Philadelphia:
Sculpture of City. This recent accession adds a set of images that
depict the delivery and installation of Jacques Lipchitz’s sculpture Government
of the People on the plaza of the Municipal Services Building. The
latest materials also include images of Penn’s Landing,
30th Street Station and Cape May.
 Last
month, the Athenaeum acquired still more Cleff photos through the gift of Monika
Burke, daughter of the late Bobbye Burke, co-author of Historic
Rittenhouse: A Philadelphia Neighborhood. Ms. Burke donated her mother’s
research files which included dozens of Bernie’s photos for the Rittenhouse
Square neighborhood taken in the mid-1980s.
Above:
Bernie Cleff in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.
Right:
Installation of Government of the People by Jacques Lipchitz. Photo
by Bernie Cleff.
Regional Digital Imaging Center Scans
Another Founding Document
 In
December, the Athenaeum's Regional Digital Imaging Center scanned a copy of the
Declaration of Independence for Independence National Historical Park (INHP).
The copy was produced in Philadelphia in 1846 by John Jay Smith using the
anastatic printing process. During the anastatic process, diluted acid is
applied to the original page. The page is then pressed onto a zinc
plate. The acid in the spaces between the letters on the page corrodes the
zinc, leaving raised letters, while the acid on the letters is diluted by the
ink and has no effect on the plate. The result is a plate with a raised
image of the original document which can be used to make additional
prints.
According
to Karie Diethorn, Chief Curator at INHP, this particular Declaration facsimile may be the one described in
the July 7, 1846 Philadelphia Public Ledger as "an exceedingly appropriate ornament"
for the newly refurbished Assembly Room on the first floor of Independence Hall where the original Declaration of Independence was signed.
The
Regional Digital Imaging Center has previously scanned New Jersey's copy of the
Bill of Rights, the Union League's copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed
by Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington and Robert Morris manuscripts
from the Rosenbach Library & Museum.
Above: Museum
Technician, Jonathan Miller (L), and Museum Curator, Bob Giannini (R), from Independence
National Historical Park hold the 1846 copy of the Declaration. The Athenaeum's
Cruse Scanner is in the background. Photo by Jim Carroll.
Robert Roper Talks About
His Book Now The Drum of War
 The
Friends of The American Philosophical Society Library and The Athenaeum of
Philadelphia invite you to a lecture, reception, and book signing:
Now the Drum of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers in the Civil War by Robert Roper.
Now the Drum of War represents Robert Roper’s exploration of the American Civil War through the eyes of Walt Whitman and his family. It presents new insights into the impact of the Civil War on America’s great poet, but it also provides a detailed family biography of the Whitmans through Roper’s investigations of their letters.
Robert Roper has won awards for his fiction and nonfiction alike. His most recent book,
Fatal Mountaineer, a biography of the American climber/philosopher, Willi Unsoeld, won the 2002 Boardman-Tasker Prize given by London’s Royal Geographical Society. His works of fiction include
Royo County, On Spider Creek, Mexico Days, The
Trespassers, and Cuervo Tales, which was a New York Times Notable Book.
His journalism appears in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, and others. He teaches at Johns Hopkins, and lives in Baltimore and California.
DATE: Friday, February 6, 2009
TIME: Reception: 5:30 PM, Program: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Benjamin Franklin Hall, 427 Chestnut Street
RSVP: sduffy@amphilsoc.org, or call the APS Reception Desk 215-440-3400.
Save
the Date:
January
3: First Saturday (Athenaeum Open 10:00-2:00).
January
13: Socrates Cafe, 11:00AM
February
6: Robert Roper Lecture at Benjamin Franklin Hall, 5:30PM
See
the Event
Calendar for details and additional
events.
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