What matters to you.
Sign Out
Play Live Radio
0:00
0:00
NEXT UP:
 
Top

Forum Network

Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

Funding provided by:
boston-athenaeum-logo-9x9.jpg

Boston Athenaeum

The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the United States, was founded in 1807 by members of the Anthology Society, a group of fourteen Boston gentlemen who had joined together in 1805 to edit The Monthly Anthology and Boston Review. Their purpose was to form "an establishment similar to that of the Athenaeum and Lyceum of Liverpool in Great Britain; combining the advantages of a public library [and] containing the great works of learning and science in all languages." The library and Art Gallery, established in 1827, were soon flourishing, and grew rapidly, both by purchase of books and art and by frequent gifts. For nearly half a century the Athenaeum was the unchallenged center of intellectual life in Boston, and by 1851 had become one of the five largest libraries in the United States. Today its collections comprise over half a million volumes, with particular strengths in Boston history, New England state and local history, biography, English and American literature, and the fine and decorative arts. The Athenaeum supports a dynamic art gallery, and sponsors a lively variety of events such as lectures and concerts. It also serves as a stimulating center for discussions among scholars, bibliophiles, and a variety of community interest groups.break

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org

  • Race and Place

    Tue, Mar 2, 2004
    Ted Landsmark discusses how demographic and educational changes affect Boston's near-term future, and the unanticipated ways in which our cultural identities are evolving. The formation of racial and ethnic identities were key aspects of 20th century American culture. As traditional racial dichotomies dissolve in the 21st century, some new, and some very old, elements of cultural identity are taking precedence in American life: artisanry, class, education, and a sense of place are emerging as significant shapers of identity. Even as media and commercial homogeneity aggregate and level our differences, immigration and rediscovered cultural roots are churning our perceptions of who we believe we are as Americans. Boston, a city generally viewed as both a portal for new populations and as a staid community where relatively few ethnic or racial minorities achieve high levels of political or cultural visibility, is undergoing some of the largest demographic and educational changes in its history.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living (1900-1939)

    Thu, Mar 11, 2004
    Virginia Nicholson explores the way of life of the Bohemian artists of the early 20th century - the majority of them artists, poets, writers, and composers - who were brave enough to jettison Victorian conformity and to invent a whole new way of living. Rebels and free spirits, they pioneered a domestic revolution, carrying idealism and creativity into every aspect of daily life. From Dylan Thomas to Robert Graves, Katherine Mansfield to Dora Carrington, they rejected tea parties, chaperones, monogamy, and mahogany. Deaf to disapproval, they painted, danced, and wrote poetry with passionate intensity, they experimented with homosexuality and open marriages, and often sacrificed comfortable homes to take to the road or to move into Spartan garrets. Yet their choice of a free life led all too often to poverty, hunger, addictions, and even death. This lecture brings to life the flamboyant, eccentric pioneers to whom we owe so many of our freedoms today.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • American West: Lewis and Clark Expedition

    Thu, Mar 18, 2004
    Clay S. Jenkinson employs the Chautauquan methodology of a stand-up, unscripted monologue in his first-person portrayal of Meriwether Lewis. His educational, humorous, and delightful monologue is followed by an in-character question and answer session with the audience, and ends with Jenkinson sharing his own insights into the character of Captain Lewis and the expedition. The Federalist called the Louisiana Purchase "the wildest chimera of a moonstruck mind"; Thomas Jefferson referred to it as a "two ocean continental empire for liberty"; and Meriwether Lewis, captain of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime to be the first citizen of the United States to step foot on the unexplored wilderness of the American West.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • How Genomes and Other Forces are Changing Your Life

    Thu, Dec 11, 2003
    Juan Enriquez discusses his book, *As the Future Catches You*, which puts the reader face to face with a series of unprecedented political, ethical, economic, and financial issues, dramatically demonstrating the cascading impact of the genetic, digital, and intellectual revolutions of life. **Juan Enriquez** is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the economic and political impacts of life sciences. He is chairman and CEO of Biotechnology, a company dedicated to the research and funding of startups that enable the genomic revolution. Enriquez is the director of the Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School, where he is building an interdisciplinary center focusing on how business will change as a result of the life sciences revolution.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Paths of Desire: Passions of a Suburban Gardener

    Thu, Apr 15, 2004
    Dominique Browning discusses her latest book, Paths of Desire: Passions of a Suburban Gardner.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Oath of a Surgeon Under Fire

    Thu, Oct 23, 2003
    Khassan Baiev discusses his experience as a doctor during the Russian-Chechen war. Little understood and largely ignored by the West, the Russian-Chechen war represents one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent memory, claiming upwards of 150,000 lives in the past 10 years. Dr. Khassan Baiev saw the worst of it as one of the few surgeons to remain behind after fighting began in 1994. *The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire* is his testament to the horrors of wartime and the first inside account to emerge by a native Chechen.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Sweetwater: Secrets of a Yankee Life

    Thu, Nov 13, 2003
    Roxana Robinson discusses *Sweetwater*, her story of a woman whose second marriage casts into sharp relief the painful echoes of her first. The book draws together the disparate strands of family complexities, social tensions, and the fragility of the natural world in this moving novel.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Gaining Ground: History of Landmaking in Boston

    Tue, Dec 2, 2003
    Historian Nancy Seasholes gives us the first complete account of when, why, and how Boston's land was created. Fully one-sixth of Boston is built on made land. Although other waterfront cities also have substantial areas that are built on fill, Boston probably has more than any city in North America. Seasholes introduces findings from recent archeological investigations in Boston and relates landmaking to the major historical developments that shaped it. At the beginning of the 19th century, landmaking in Boston was spurred by the rapid growth that resulted from the burgeoning China Trade. The influx of Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century prompted several large projects to create residential land (not for the Irish, but to keep the taxpaying Yankees from fleeing to the suburbs). Many landmaking projects were undertaken to cover tidal flats that had been polluted by raw sewage discharged directly on them, removing the "pestilential exhalations" thought to cause illness. Land also was added for port developments, public parks, and transportation facilities, including the largest landmaking project of all, the airport.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Defining the English Language

    Thu, Jan 15, 2004
    Jack Lynch, professor of English at Rutgers University, discusses Samuel Johnson's Dictionary. Two volumes thick and 2,300 pages long, Samuel Johnson's *Dictionary of the English Language,* published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language in desperate need of standards. No English dictionary before it had devoted so much space to everyday words and been so thorough in its definitions. Johnson's was the dictionary used by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontes and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde. This new edition, created by Levenger Press, contains more than 3,100 selections from the original, including definitions and illustrative passages in their original spelling. Bristling with quotations, the dictionary offers memorable passages on subjects ranging from books and critics to dreams and ethics. It also features three new indexes created from entries in this edition.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum

  • Wood, Wind & Water: Nantucket Opera House Cup Race

    Tue, Oct 7, 2003
    Annie Converse and Camie Ford discuss their collaboration on the photographic essay *Wood, Wind and Water*, and the creative process that took years to complete. They familiarize the audience with the world of classic wooden yacht racing and restoration, which they have chronicled both in the book and in a 26-minute documentary video. The book, set in Nantucket, offers a rich, salty, and often humorous look at a global subculture glued together by a passion for classic wooden yachts. The video documentary follows many of the characters from the book to Antigua, where they race in the Antigua Classic Wooden Yacht Regatta. This race, in 1999, was the first time the J boats Shamrock V, Velsheda, and Endeavor had raced against one another since the 1930's. Much of the footage in the documentary is shot aboard Shamrock V.
    Forum Network
    Partner:
    Boston Athenaeum
Load More