St. Johnsbury Athenaeum

Infobox_Library
library_name = St. Johnsbury Athenaeum
library_
location = St. Johnsbury, Vermont
established = 1871
num_branches =
annual circulation =
annual circulation =
pop_served =
budget =
director = Irwin Gelber
num_employees = | website = http://www.stjathenaeum.org/

The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum is located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It is significant due to the construction, the American landscape paintings and books from its original role as a public library and free art gallery, and funding by Horace Fairbanks, manufacturer of the world’s first platform scale. The art collection contains a number of Hudson River School paintings. This unaltered building retains a strong, Victorian (French Second Empire) flavor of the 19th century. [ [http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2192&ResourceType=Building National Historical Landmarks government website] ] It is one of about ten athenaeums in the United States. [ [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/resources.htm#athenaum List of athenaeums] ]

History

Infobox_nrhp | name = St. Johnsbury Athenaeum"'
nrhp_type = nhl


caption =
location= St. Johnsbury, Vermont
lat_degrees = 44 | lat_minutes = 25 | lat_seconds = 6.38 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 72 | long_minutes = 1 | long_seconds = 15.72 | long_direction = W
area =
locmapin=Vermont
built =1871
architect= John Davis Hatch III
architecture= Second Empire
designated= July 18, 1996cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=393&ResourceType=Building
title=New York Public Library|date=2007-09-16|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = July 18, 1996cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Local
refnum= 96000970

When the library opened, the collection consisted of 9,000 books selected by bibliographer William F. Poole.

Art Gallery

In 1873, Fairbanks added a small art gallery. This is now the oldest gallery still in its original form in the United States. [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/gallery.htm St. Johnsbury Athenaeum official website] ]

The walls and floor are black walnut. The art gallery is lighted naturally from an arched skylight in the ceiling. Cases on two sides of the room contain art books in tooled leather bindings. Gilt-framed paintings are displayed. [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/gallery.htm St. Johnsbury Athenaeum official website] ]

One hundred works of art are displayed. Besides originals by American artists, there are also copies of European masterpieces. [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/gallery.htm St. Johnsbury Athenaeum official website] ] The major part of the collection is by American and European artists from the late eighteenth century to the middle nineteenth century. Hudson River School painters include Asher B. Durand, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Sanford Gifford, a Luminist painter, James and William Hart pastoral landscapes with cattle. Western scenes are portrayed by Samuel Colman and Worthington Whittredge. Dominating the room is a canvas, ten by fifteen feet, of the "Domes of Yosemite", by Albert Bierstadt. [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/gallery.htm St. Johnsbury Athenaeum official website] ] [ [http://www.discoveryeditions.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/product/C-TPLA-00001-01-100/BierstadtYosemiteDomes/overview.html "Domes of Yosemite"] ]

European painters represented by original works of art include: Bouguereau ("Raspberry Girl"), Felix Ziem ("Venice"), [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Euphrasie_Kuwasseg|Carl Kuwasseg] , and Louis Pinel de Grandchamp. [ [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/painters_paintings.htm St. Johnsbury Anathaeum listing of paintings] retrieved June 20, 2008]

Footnotes

External references

* [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/docs/stj_at_a_glance.pdf Athenaeum at a glance]
* [http://photos.igougo.com/pictures-photos-b338140-p325224-Inside_the_Atheneum.html Photos of Athenaeum]
* [http://www.stjathenaeum.org/docs/archive%20guide.pdf St. Johnsbury Community Archives]

ee also

* [http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~twp/architecture/secondempire/ Other examples of Second Empire]