PROPRIETORS OF THE SALEM ATHENAEUM
337 ESSEX STREET, SALEM, MA 01970 www.salemathenaeum.net

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Organizations Filed Purposes: THE MISSION OF THE SALEM ATHENAEUM IS TO PRESERVE AND EXCITE THE LITERARY AND CULTURAL PASSIONS OF THE NORTH SHORE.

Library operations include: reference and research services to members, students, scholars, and the general public; circulation of books and materials to members and their children; management of the current and historical collections of 50,000 discreet items; and 2-3 exhibitions per year. Special projects include on-line cataloging of the collection and an adopt-a-book program that has provided for the conservation of over 100 volumes since 2012. Programs include author readings, lectures, literary courses, concerts, writing workshops, dramatic performances, and discussion and writing groups.

The Salem Athenaeum is a vibrant cultural resource for the North Shore of Massachusetts that serves over 2,500 people annually. Offerings include a library of circulating and research collections, educational classes, lectures, writing groups and workshops, language and book discussion groups, exhibitions, and concerts. Our music series, If Music Could Talk which features live music and a question and answer session with the musicians, continued with Jason Anick and the Rhythm Future Quartet and Fin de Sicle String Quartet. This series pairs with the three-concert series organized by the Cambridge Society for Early Music, which has been presented at the Athenaeum for over a decade. Established and aspiring writers participated in three workshops during the year. Each addressed a different genre such as young adult, journaling, and finding sources of inspiration. The Athenaeum hosted two live storytelling events, which featured a total of ten local authors who told their own original stories live and without notes. As our Athenum writing community continues to grow, a new writing group, Emerging Voices/The Monday Group was formed in January 2020 to encourage writers at the beginnings of their careers. Lectures topics in 2019-2020 included agricultural history, economics and evolution of the workplace, American literature, British literature, the art and science of polling, architecture, and Salem history. The library also held a marathon reading of Leaves of Grass in honor of Walt Whitmans bicentennial. The Athenum had the distinct honor of hosting the years Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Dr. David Blight for the 2019 Adams Lecture. Blight presented Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom on November 18.The Athenaeum was also a stop on the 40th annual Christmas in Salem Holiday House Tour. Over 1,000 visitors, many setting foot in the Athenum for the first time, toured the library, which was decorated with various book-related crafts. The focal point of the decorations was a substantial book tree in the center of the Reading Room that was constructed of a selection of books written by the authors who have presented at the Athenum over the past 20 years. Since becoming the primary presenter of the Salem Literary Festival in 2017, The Salem Athenaeum has doubled the festival's size and attendance. In 2019, over 50 authors presented panels in two Salem locations over three days. Keynote presenters were Whitney Schaeffer and Hank Phillippi Ryan. Partnership with the Salem Public Library was established to present children's programing at the festival. Additionally, Sunday of the festival weekend centered on Young Adult, a fast-growing genre.

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