Exhibitions

In addition to the Kirwan Collection on permanent display in the Wendt Room, the Athenæum hosts several exhibitions each year showcasing materials from the collections and related works. Subjects have included Salem imprints, children’s books and their illustrators, decorated book covers, Jacob Bigelow’s American Medical Botany, works on insects, archival records about the planning and construction of Plummer Hall in 1907, and popular reading from 1760-1810.

We encourage members to curate an exhibition of their interest or of their own collections.

Digital Exhibitions

Honorary curator, Elaine von Bruns, has created most of the exhibitions in recent years, and has now helped us create our first digital exhibition. Displaying rich marbling, tiny decorative patterns, and mood-setting illustrations, Under the Covers: The Hidden Art of Endpapers is now a permanent on-line feature. Click below to take a tour under the covers of the Salem Athenæum collection.

View Under the Covers