Registration for Programs
Sustainability: Water, Urban Growth, & Biodiversity Richard Weller, “Designing a Planet- for better or worse?”
Tuesday, December 10, 3:00 PM
This lecture will explore ways in which planners, designers and conservationists are now trying to reconcile urban growth and environmental values on a planetary scale.
Richard Weller is the Meyerson Chair of Urbanism and Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture and co-executive director of the McHarg Center at The University of Pennsylvania. In over 30 years of practice he has worked simultaneously as an academic and a consultant specializing in the formative stages of design and planning projects ranging across all scales. Weller’s creative work has received numerous awards, predominantly in international design competitions, and in both 2017 and 2018 he was noted by ‘Design Intelligence’ as one of North America’s most admired teachers. He has published over 100 academic papers and 6 books and is the creative director of LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture. His research has concerned scenario planning for cities, megaregions and nations and most recently, global flashpoints between biodiversity and urban growth.
Eventbrite Registration
Monday, December 16, 9:30 AM
Costuming THE CROWN features 40 iconic costumes from the Emmy® award-winning Netflix series, a dramatized history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. This exhibition provides a behind-the-scenes look at how costume design is used to create drama and to re-create history. The focus is on the contributions of Emmy®- and BAFTA-winning designers Michele Clapton and Jane Petrie to seasons 1 and 2 of The Crown. Discover how costumes play a major role in storytelling and character development in this fictional portrayal of the British royal family. Jeff Groff, Winterthur’s Estate Historian and a co-curator of Costuming THE CROWN will lead a tour through the exhibition pointing out highlights and talking about how it came together. Discover one of the Brandywine Valley’s most spectacular holiday showcases! Yuletide at Winterthur embraces the warmth and festivity of the season with a magnificent holiday tour of Henry Francis du Pont’s mansion as well as breathtaking trees, dazzling room displays, a magical dollhouse, and the opportunity to shop, dine, and create new memories. Transportation to and from the Athenaeum provided Lunch provided
Heat and Dust
Monday, January 6, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org
Building Philadelphia
Alexander Garvin, The Heart of the City: Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century
Wednesday, January 8, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Whether a downtown has been continuously growing or has become resurgent, if it is thriving, it also is rapidly changing. These vibrant downtowns are being transformed from single-use business districts into high-density, mixed-use downtowns.
Book signing to follow. Athenaeum members free, General Admission: $15
The Liberty of The Ballot: The History & Legacy of the 15th and 19th Amendments
Eric Foner, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution?
Tuesday, January 14, 5:30 PM
This talk will examine the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, what they were meant to accomplish, how different Americans tried to expand their meaning, and how the Supreme Court in the late nineteenth century systematically dismantled their protections, with consequences we still live with today.
Book signing and reception to follow. Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $20
Eventbrite Registration coming soon
Engaging Art and Literature: Immersion Opportunities
Zentangles with Marie Simons
January 16th, 23th, 30th
Two hour class staring at 12:00pm
"The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being." Limited space available. Each class $50
Opera Philadelphia- Verdi's Requiem
Talk: January 21, 3:00pm
Performance: January 31, 8:00pm
Please join us at 3 pm on Tuesday, January 21, when Opera Philadelphia visits the Athenaeum to explore Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. Its soaring solos, enchanting melodies and soul-stirring horns make for a spellbinding musical experience. Be enthralled as Opera Philadelphia chorus members perform excerpts from this masterpiece during an enchanting hour preview of the opera.
Opera Philadelphia is proud to be the first U.S. professional company to perform the Verdi Requiem since 2017. Join Manager of Audience Development, Steven Humes, as we explore the history and significance of this monumental work. Chorus Master, Elizabeth Braden will lead a select group of Opera Philadelphia chorus members as they perform excerpts from this masterpiece. Often considered more opera than mass, the Requiem has also been described as Verdi’s greatest and most personal work.
We have secured a block of prime seats to the 8 pm January 31 performance at the discounted price of $128 each. Contact our Events Coordinator, Tess Galen, at 215-925-2688 by Monday, December 16, to purchase tickets or click here. If you plan to attend the January 31 performance, please consider joining other Athenaeum friends prior to the performance for dinner at Estia, directly across Locust Street from the Academy. Please let Tess know of your intention to join us for dinner by Friday, January 17, so we can make appropriate reservations.
Both of these events are for Athenaeum Members Only. Crucial Conversations
Jason DeParle, A Good Provider is One Who Leaves
Wednesday, January 22, 3:00 PM
The definitive chronicle of our new age of global migration, told through the multi-generational saga of a Filipino family, by a veteran New York Times reporter and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Book signing to follow. Free and open to the public.
Member’s Brown Bag Conversation, January 24, 12:00pm
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Author Talks
Marie Benedict, Lady Clementine
Sunday, January 26, 2:00 PM
Lady Clementine is the ferocious story of the ambitious woman beside Winston Churchill, the story of a partner who did not flinch through the sweeping darkness of war, and who would not surrender either to expectations or to enemies.
Hardcover copy of the book and tea reception included in price. Book signing to follow. Athenaeum Members: $40 General Admission: $45
A Room With A View
Monday, January 27, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Engaging Art and Literature: Immersion Opportunities
Therese Dolan, "A Moveable Feast: French Influences on Pennsylvania Impressionism"
Thursday, January 30, 5:30 PM
The sojourns in France taken by the Pennsylvania Impressionists, their exposure to the Impressionist aesthetic through the Paul Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York in 1886, and their contact with other American Impressionists helped them to see the potential of conveying their local subject matter in newly expressive ways.
Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $15
Howards End
Monday, February 3, 2:00 PM
Rev. Dr. Nathan C. Walker, "Political Contempt and Religion"
Tuesday, February 4, 6:00 PM
Will democracy rule from a place of contempt for the religious other, or from a state of passive political tolerance, or from a constitutional commitment to actively protect the rights of those with whom we disagree?
Member’s Brown Bag Conversation, February 5, 12:00pm
Holly A. Crocker, “Virtues that Matter: from Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women to Shakespeare’s Hamlet”
Thursday, February 6, 3:00 PM
Virtues that Matter: from Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women to Shakespeare’s Hamlet Crocker will detail the counter tradition of “vertues”— those material powers that animated bodies in late medieval and early modern discourse—that Hamlet actively suppresses in its thinking about Gertrude’s potential for ethical good.
Book signing to follow. Free.
Pam Jenoff, The Lost Girls Of Paris
Thursday, February 6, 5:30 PM
Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff shines a light on the incredible heroics of twelve brave and heroic women who were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance during WWII.
Book signing to follow. Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $15
The White Countess
Monday, February 10, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Crucial Conversations
Lauren Cristella, Chief Advancement Officer of the Committee of Seventy & President of the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia, “Champion Local Democracy”
Wednesday, February 12, 5:30 PM
As we are inundated with the political news of the day and the 2020 Presidential race roars on, we’re reminded that the future of our democratic republic will ultimately depend on citizens who are critical, effective, and responsible. It will depend on individual citizens who choose to acquire and practice the skills to evaluate the media they are consuming, participate in meaningful and productive conversations about the future of our communities, and take actions to advance the causes they care about at the ballot box and beyond. Join Lauren Cristella for a discussion about the habits of highly effective citizenship, the work and histories of the Committee of Seventy and the League of Women Voters, and how every citizen can be a champion of local democracy.
Lauren Cristella is the Chief Advancement Officer of the Committee of Seventy, a 115 year old nonpartisan nonprofit civic leadership organization, and the President of the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia. Lauren's passion for active citizenship, strong public leadership and practical policy-making has been a guiding force throughout her career taking her from the National Constitution Center, to Penn’s Fels Institute of Government and now at Seventy and LWVPHL.
Member’s Brown Bag Conversation, February 14, 12:00pm
Tour of Impressionism to Modernism at the Michener Art Museum
Thursday, February 13, 11:00am
Transportation and lunch provided Athenaeum members and their guests only: $60
Alan Gallay, “Walter Raleigh and the Origins of the English Empire”
Tuesday, February 18, 3:00 PM
Gallay offers a new origin story for the English Empire. He reconstructs the strange brew of science, mysticism, poetry, utopianism, and militarism against Spain, to demonstrate how English saw colonies and empires as not only their future but the central fact of human history.
Free.
"From Vivaldi to Eleanor Rigby"
Friday, February 21, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Christine Lamprea, celloJordan Dodson, guitar
Athenaeum members and their guests only. $15 for each performance, $40 to attend all three
Shakespeare in Love with Cole Porter with Steven B. King
Weekly, 8 session course starting February 24 at 5:30pm
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is offering a discussion class of The Taming of the Shrew and films based on or related to Porter’s life and work or describing the development of musical theater in the century between 1850 and 1950. The class will learn about the life and music of Cole Porter and will study Kiss Me Kate, one of Porter’s last and probably his most acclaimed Broadway hit. Based on The Taming of the Shrew, Kiss Me Kate is the modern‑day story of a divorced couple whose new show opening parallels the Shakespeare comedy.
Limited space. Athenaeum Members only: $150
Nancy Moses, Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds
Thursday, February 27, 3:00 PM
What’s real? What’s fake? Why do we care? In this time of false news and fake science, these questions are more important than ever. Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds takes readers beyond the headlines, tweets, and blogs to explore the true nature of authenticity and why it means so much today.
Book signing and reception to follow.
Athenaeum Members Free, General Admission: $20
What’s Your Story? A Memoir Writing Class Lynn Rosen
Bi-weekly, 4 session course starting March 4 at 10:00am
You have a story to tell. Maybe it’s your life story, or maybe it’s just a certain time in your life, or a crucial and momentous incident in your life. Either way, you want to write this story down and you want to share it with others. But how to make your story into a compelling narrative that draws the interest of readers? What narrative voice should you use? How will you structure your story? And what if your story includes the lives of others – what to do then? We will begin by discussing overarching issues such as motivation, structure, and voice. We will look at how to address the challenges of writing a longterm and personal writing project such as memoir. Participants will receive practical tips and advice on how to improve their memoir projects.
Limited space. Athenaeum Members: $110, General Admission: $130
"Across the Centuries: From Bach to Ravel"
Friday, March 6, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Zachary DePue, violinSophie Shao, cello
Jen Manion, "What is the Purpose of Punishment?"
Wednesday, March 11, 5:30 PM
This talk will draw the founding period of the penitentiary in early national Pennsylvania and New York to consider the aims and contradictions of carceral culture in the lives of the indentured servants, formerly enslaved, laboring poor, and countless immigrants who were most affected by its reach. Book signing to follow.
Member’s Brown Bag Conversation, March 13, 12:00pm
Seeking Athena: Women’s Inspiration and Wisdom
Catherine Kerrison, Jefferson’s Daughters
Thursday, March 12, 3:00 PM
This talk will explore the different life paths that Thomas Jefferson’s three daughters, Martha, Maria and Sally, chose to see both the possibilities and the limitations for women and people of color as a result of the American Revolution.
Book signing to follow.
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Seeking Athena: Women’s Inspiration and Wisdom
Molly Lester, "Preserving Minerva: (Re)Discovering the Work of Architect Minerva Parker Nichols"
Tuesday, March 17, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Minerva Parker Nichols (1862-1949) built a career and clientele of architectural and social significance in the late nineteenth-century’s professionalizing field of architecture. Trained as an apprentice, Nichols designed over 60 commissions nationwide yet, she is rarely recognized today for her contributions to the field of architecture.
Kathy Peiss, “What Sarah Josepha Hale Wrought: Women’s Magazines and the Contradictions of American Womanhood”
Wednesday, March 18, 3:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Sarah Josepha Hale, the pioneering editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, had a profound impact on the publishing industry and on American women’s attitudes. This talk explores Hale’s influence long after Godey’s heyday. Addressing the needs and dreams of American middle-class women, her innovative work shaped the history of women’s magazines and their readers through the twentieth century, even down to the present day.
The Liberty of The Ballot: The History and Legacy of the 15th and 19th Amendments
Ann D. Gordon, “Citizenship & Suffrage: Lessons from the Movement for Woman Suffrage”
Thursday, March 26, 5:30 PM
While pursuing their rights, the women who wanted to vote explored many constitutional nooks and crannies looking for a way into the body politic. This talk will follow some trails they marked.
Reception to follow.
Leo Damrosch, The Club: Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped An Age
Thursday, April 2, 6:00 PM
Leo Damrosch will recreate a celebrated eighteenth-century London club whose members met at the Turks Head Tavern to eat, drink, and enthusiastically argue. Damrosch’s talk will also range beyond those weekly meetings to illuminate the larger careers of many of the members.
The Liberty of The Ballot
Brandywine River Art Museum Tour of Votes for Women Exhibition
Friday, April 17, 11:00 AM
Transportation and lunch provided
Athenaeum Members and their guests: $60
Opera Philadelphia- Madame Butterfly
Talk: April 21, 2:00 PM
Performance: April 29, 7:00 PM
Both of these events are for Athenaeum Members Only. At The Movies With Carrie Rickey: Political Parables
Shampoo
Monday, April 27, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org At The Movies With Carrie Rickey: Political Parables
Being There
Monday, May 4, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Society Hill- Hot and Healthy
Dr. Bidi McSorley, Instructor, Penn Program for Mindfulness
"Mindfulness Meditation: An Antidote for Today’s Anxious World"
Tuesday, May 5, 2:30 PM
Bidi McSorley, M.D., is a behavioral pediatrician with a practice in center city Philadelphia. She is also on the clinical affiliate faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She received her mindfulness teacher training through the Penn Program for Mindfulness. Using the powerful and therapeutic techniques of Mindfulness, Dr. McSorley teaches children, teens and adults skills to transform their lives, living with less stress, less anxiety and increased vitality and health.
Diana Schaub, “Booker T. Washington and the Lessons of Lincoln”
Thursday, May 7, 5:30 PM
Believing that civic friendship was a necessary foundation for constitutional liberty, Booker T. Washington worked diligently and deftly to reshape the American character in a way that would foster racial reconciliation. The lecture will examine how Washington employed the nation's memory of Abraham Lincoln to further his own redemptive moral vision and subtle statesmanship.
Election
Monday, May 11, 2:00 PM
Free. RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org Building Philadelphia
Thom Nickels, "Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Real Life Stories"
Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
The Grandeur of Philadelphia's Past Revealed: Philadelphia's grand mansions and architectural treasures reflect its status in American history. Author Thom Nickels presents the city’s most iconic homes.
Tour of Historic Strawberry Mansion
Friday, May 15, 11:00 AM
The Historic Strawberry Mansion is the largest of the seven historic Fairmount Park Houses. Formerly known as “Summerville,” Historic Strawberry Mansion was built in 1789 by Judge William Lewis, a well-known lawyer and abolitionist, as a summer home along the Schuylkill River.
Transportation Provided Athenaeum Members and their Guests only: $20
"Meeting of the Minds: Improv and Avant Garde"
Monday, May 18, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Eunice Kim, violinXavier Foley, double bass
Andrea Barnet, “Change-makers: Four Visionary Women who Made a Difference”
Wednesday, May 20, 3:00 PM
Rachel Carson warned us about poisoning the environment; Jane Jacobs fought for livable cities and strong communities; Jane Goodall demonstrated the indelible kinship between humans and animals; and Alice Waters urged us to reconsider what and how we eat.
Free. Book Signing to follow.
RSVP: Call 215-925-2688 or email events@philaathenaeum.org
Richard Bell, Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home
Wednesday, May 27, 6:00 PMMembers Reception, 5:30 PM
Philadelphia, 1825: five young, free black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slavers in the United States. Lured onto a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over four long months, their kidnappers drive them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a tight brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.
Their ordeal—an odyssey that takes them from the Philadelphia waterfront to the marshes of Mississippi and then onward still—shines a glaring spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery’s rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War.
Impeccably researched and breathlessly paced, Stolen tells the incredible story of five boys whose courage forever changed the fight against slavery in America.
Bettye Collier-Thomas, “In Politics to Stay: African American Women and the Vote”
Thursday, June 4, 5:30 PM
