Boston Athenaeum

Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is one of the nation's oldest independent libraries, housing rare books, manuscripts, and fine art in its Beacon Hill building. Prominent 19th-century Boston authors and thinkers including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Nathaniel Hawthorne were among its users or associates. The Athenaeum continues to maintain special collections and exhibitions related to Boston's literary and cultural history.