TheAthenaeum of Philadelphia, located at 219 S. 6th Street between St. James Place andLocust Street in theSociety Hill section ofPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, is a special collections library and museum founded in 1814. The Athenaeum's purpose, according to its organizational principles, is to collect materials "connected with the history and antiquities of America, and the useful arts, and generally to disseminate useful knowledge" for public benefit.[3]
The Athenaeum's collections include architecture and interior design history, particularly for the period 1800 to 1945. The institution focuses on the history of American architecture and building technology, and houses architectural archives of 180,000 drawings, over 350,000 photographs, and manuscript holdings of about 1,000 American architects.[3]
Since 1950, the Athenaeum has sponsored the annual Athenaeum Literary Award for works of fiction and non-fiction.
The Athenaeum's staircase in 1972The Anthenauem's façade in September 2017
The building was designed in 1845 by architectJohn Notman in theItalianate style, and was one of the first buildings in the city to be built ofbrownstone,[3] although it was originally planned to be faced inmarble. Brownstone was used because it was cheaper.[4] Notman's design was influenced by the work of the English architectCharles Barry.[4]
The building was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1976, as one of the nation's first examples of a building with apalazzo-style facade, and for its historic importance as an educational institution.[2][5] It is presently a museum furnished with American fine and decorative arts from the first half of the 19th century.
In 2019, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia entered into an agreement with the libraries of theUniversity of Pennsylvania to integrate their two collections, giving borrowing privilege to each other's patrons and making the Athenaeum's collection, which is focused on architecture, the built environment, and the decorative arts, searchable in Penn's online catalog.[6]
TheAthenaeum Literary Award is a literary award presented by Athenaeum of Philadelphia since 1950. It is awarded to authors who are "bona fide residents of Philadelphia or Pennsylvania living within a radius of 30 miles of City Hall".[7] Eligible works are of general fiction or non-fiction; technical, scientific, and juvenile books are not included.[7] The award was established in 1950 byCharles Wharton Stork (1881–1971), who was a board member of the Athenaeum from 1919 until 1968.[7]
Recipients
Source: Athenaeum Literary Award previous winners (1949–present)[8]
Robin Black,If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Stories
Stephen Fried,Appetite For America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire that Civilized the West
2011
No award.
2012
Liz Moore,Heft: A Novel
Steven Ujifusa,A Man and His Ship: America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S. S. United States
Robert McCracken Peck and Patricia Tyson Stroud,A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science
2013
Adrian Raine,The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime
George H. Marcus and William Whitaker,The Houses of Louis Kahn
2014
Jessica Choppin Roney,Governed By A Spirit of Opposition
2015
David Grazian,American Zoo: A Sociological Safari
Barbara Miller Lane,Houses for a New World: Builders and Buyers in American Suburbs
2016
Gino Segre and Bettina Hoerlin,The Pope of Physics
^ab"Athenaeum".National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived fromthe original on June 7, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 16, 2008.
^abGallery, John Andrew, ed. (2004),Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City (2nd ed.), Philadelphia: Foundation for Architecture,ISBN0962290815, p.51
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