Open Winter 2022
Salem Confidential
Curator Elaine von Bruns has assembled an astonishing exhibition of the Salem Athenaeum’s seldom-seen art and books that tell surprising stories about Salem people.
The tantalizing tidbits and tales within must be seen to be believed!
- Early prints (1883) of the artists, Frank W. Benson and Joseph Lindon Smith
- Pamphlets written by a Salem-born author with a famous name promoting a fraudulent investing scam in the 1910s
- A literary hoax about witchcraft which was a best-seller in the 1840s
- Rare 1830 pamphlet about the murder of Capt. White and the sensational trial.
- Hawthorne’s signature on a Custom House document
- Sheet music for The Wreck of Hesperus, a cantata based on Longfellow’s poem and set off the coast of Gloucester.
- Sheet music for Puritania, an opera about a Salem girl accused of witchcraft.
- Rare books by Salem abolitionists
Salem Confidential is free and open to all during the Athenaeum’s regular open hours:
Tuesday – Friday, 1:00–6:00 P.M.
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 P.M.
Past Exhibitions:
Quinton Oliver Jones (1903-1999)
What Hawthorne Read
from the Collections of the Salem Athenaeum
Celia’s Salon: America’s First Artists’ and Writers‘ Colony
Samuel Hall: Patriot Printer of the Revolution
Early Birds: Portraits by the Fathers of American Ornithology
Upcoming Events
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Jun. 22:
Reappraisal Reading Circle: Picking Next Year’s Authors
3:00 p.m. -
Jun. 24:
Joe Keohane: The Power of Strangers
6:00 p.m. - Jul. 8:
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Jul. 25:
Writing Workshop: Young Writers Summer Simmer (ages 11-15)
July 25-29, 9:30-11:30 a.m