History | Officers | Directions

Library Hours:
Tue - Wed - Fri: 1 PM to 5 PM
Thursday: 5 PM to 9 PM
Saturday: 10 AM to 2 PM
Closed Sunday and Monday.

Closed most holidays - please call ahead.

History

The Social Library was an outgrowth of the Monday Evening Club, one of many social clubs for wealthy residents that were common in the era. The Monday Evening Club counted among its members many of Salem's most prominent merchants, lawyers, and religious leaders and other members of Salem's cultural elite.

In 1760 a group of Club members donated 175 guineas toward the foundation of a library for their mutual use. The new Social Library was stocked both by donations from members' own libraries and by new purchases from London booksellers. Membership was not technically restricted as long as applicants could meet the £11 yearly cost (approximately $1500 in current dollars).

The Revolutionary War took a heavy toll on the Social Library. The cost of living soared, as goods were difficult to attain, and most members were preoccupied with the war and protecting their own interests. A number of members were loyalists and fled Salem altogether.

The Philosophical Library was founded in 1781 from the spoils of war. The ship Pilgrim, a privateer sailing out of Beverly, captured the Duke of Gloucester, the first of her nine valuable prizes, on September 5 in the Irish Channel. The Duke of Gloucester had sailed for Bristol from Galway that same day with a load of kelp and the library of Richard Kirwan (1733-1812). Kirwan had recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his research in chemistry, and anticipated re-locating indefinitely from his family estate, Castle Cregg in County Galway, to London. His library was captured with the ship and the 116 volumes were transferred to the Pilgrim and subsequently auctioned on April 12, 1781 in Salem.

Reverend Joseph Willard of the First Church in Beverly learned of the Kirwan library and gathered a group of associates to pool resources to purchase the lot. Organized as the Philosophical Library, the volumes were circulated to members and remained at Willard's residence in Beverly until he was elected President of Harvard College, at which time the collection was transferred to Reverend John Prince at the First Church, Salem. Over time, members added the latest scientific works and serials, increasing the collection threefold. The costly serial subscriptions kept the annual assessments high, and were a contributing factor to the eventual decision to merge with the Social Library to form the Salem Athenæum.

By 1810, much of the membership of the Social Library also belonged to the Philosophical Library, and the two bodies were merged to create the Salem Athenaeum. When the Athenaeum was founded, there were more libraries in Salem then there were in Boston (and indeed Boston's first library had only been founded in 1804!). This gives some hint as to the prominence of Salem at the time as a center of culture and learning. In addition to the Philosophical library and the Social Library, there were also the Library of Arts and Sciences, the Fourth Social Library, and the extensive holdings of maritime information, artifacts and curiosities at the Essex Institute.

The very name "Athenæum" is an artifact of that era, deriving from "Athena," the Greek goddess of wisdom. Its early members, as with the two previous institutions, were men and women of the Enlightment who aimed to increase each other's knowledge and to pursue the improvement of society and themselves through its application and dissemination. Membership in the Athenæum was initially limited to 100 patrons, but (in keeping with the spirit of its founding mission) membership was eventually opened to all for a yearly fee, though ownership of the institution still resided in the original 100 shares.

For the first four decades of its existence, the Athenæum had no permanent home, occupying quarters at four different locations in Salem. In the 1850s, a bequest from Caroline Plummer enabled the Athenæum to erect a building at 132 Essex Street which was its home until the 1900s.

In 1905, the Athenæum sold the building at 132 Essex Street to the Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum), and with the proceeds constructed the building it currently occupies, at 337 Essex Street. Dedicated in 1907, this handsome red brick structure was modeled on Homewood, an estate in Maryland built by Charles Carroll (a signer of the Declaration of Independence) for his son.

Today the Athenæum is home to over 50,000 circulating volumes and as its bicentennial approaches is dedicated to renewing its commitment to its core mission: to enrich the lives of its members and its North Shore community by lending, preserving, and adding to its collection of books and documents, by maintaining and enhancing its historic buildings and grounds, and by offering cultural and educational programs that provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and life-long learning.

Prominent members and patrons of the Athenæum have included Edward Augustus Holyoke, physician and a founder of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Reverend Dr. William Bentley, author Nathaniel Hawthorne, mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch, author of the still-used New American Practical Navigator, United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, American Impressionist painter Frank W. Benson, and Charles Grafton Page, an early inventor of the electric motor.

Officers

Director
Jean Marie Procious

Directions

Find your way to the I-95/MA-128 loop around Boston.

Follow Interstate 95 North / MA-128 North toward New Hampshire. When I-95 and MA-128 split in Peabody, stay on MA-128 North toward Gloucester. (Travelers coming from points north: From I-95 South, exit onto MA-128 North in Peabody and continue as follows.) Take the second exit, #26 (Lowell Street toward Salem and Peabody), and turn right at bottom of ramp. Follow Lowell Street through downtown Peabody into Salem, where it becomes Boston Street. Once in Salem, Boston Street will terminate at Essex Street.

Turn left onto Essex Street. The Athenaeum is 337 Essex Street, about 1/4 mile down on your right. Free street parking may be available on Essex Street. Metered municipal lots are located further along on Essex Street. Travel straight through the traffic light at North Street, and the lots are on either side of the next intersection.