Past Events

Register online for an event.
All events are for members only unless otherwise noted.

February 2012

7 Tuesday Lecture, James Reid-Cunningham, Roll to Codex to Kindle: Books and Libraries in the Age of Digitization 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

6 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Prints & Photographs 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

January 2012

31 Tuesday Annual Torrence C. Harder Endowed Lecture, Robert Darnton, Jefferson's Taper 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

28 Saturday Film, Lassie Come Home 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

26 Thursday Book Talk, Alan Lightman, Mr. g: A Novel about the Creation 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

24 Tuesday Piano Concert, Aaron Jackson, The Book of Watching. 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

19 Thursday SOLD OUT:Lecture, David McCullough, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

17 Tuesday Book Talk, Cullen Murphy, God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

16 Monday Library Closed, Monday January 16th 8:30 am - 8:30 am

11 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

9 Monday SOLD OUT. First Mondays Library Orientation, Rare Books & Manuscripts 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

2 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

December 2011

31 Saturday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

26 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

24 Saturday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

17 Saturday Book Talk, Sara Hoagland Hunter, The Lighthouse Santa 10:30 am - 11:30 am

15 Thursday Book Talk, Jack Gantos, Dead End in Norvelt 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

8 Thursday SOLD OUT, Annual Thomson Endowed Lecture, Dava Sobel, A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

6 Tuesday Lecture, Jonathan Manton, "Many thanks for the long weekend" : Britten in America 1939-1942 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

5 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Archive 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Thursday Lecture, Bevis Longstreth, Shifting Styles in a Career of Writing: One Man’s Migration from Legalese to Historical Novels 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

November 2011

29 Tuesday SOLD OUT: Christopher Kimball, in conversation with Christopher Lydon, Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook: 2000 recipes from 20 years of America’s Most Trusted Food Magazine 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

25 Friday Library closed 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

24 Thursday Library closed 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

23 Wednesday Library closes at 5:30 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

19 Saturday My Athenaeum, Family Day in the Library 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

17 Thursday Book Talk, Max Egremont, Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

15 Tuesday An Illustrated Lecture, David B. Dearinger, The Curious History of Robert Ball Hughes’s Monument to Nathaniel Bowditch 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

15 Tuesday Book Talk, Judith Tankard, Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

11 Friday Library closed on Friday, November 11, for Veterans Day 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

9 Wednesday Lecture in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation, Jeremy Musson, Celebrating the English Country House Interior: Patriotism, Patronage and Pride 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

7 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Fine Arts 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3 Thursday Concert, Duncan Cumming and Frank Glazer, Music For Four Hands 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

2 Wednesday A Tour of the Conservation Laboratory 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Tuesday Lecture, Duke Collier, Artists' Books: An Appreciation 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

October 2011

29 Saturday Steinway Society Concerts, Steinway Society Piano Concert Winners 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

27 Thursday Book Talk, William M. Fowler Jr., American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown 1781-1783 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

25 Tuesday Concert, Aaron Jackson, Songs Without Words 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

25 Tuesday Lecture, D. Brenton Simons, View from the Family Tree 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

22 Saturday Steinway Society Concerts, Steinway Society Piano Concert Winners 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

20 Thursday Annual Calderwood Lecture on Teaching and Writing, Murray Biggs, The Great War and Irish Drama 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

18 Tuesday SOLD OUT. Book Talk, Roz Chast, What I Hate: From A to Z 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

15 Saturday Steinway Society Concerts, Steinway Society Piano Concert Winners. 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

11 Tuesday Exhibition Reception, ARTISTS’ BOOKS: BOOKS BY ARTISTS 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

10 Monday Library Closed 8:30 am - 8:30 am

6 Thursday Lecture in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation, Michael Hall, “Sleeping Beauty’s Palace” on the Thames: Ham House 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

4 Tuesday Book Talk, Christopher Krebs, A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s “Germania” from the Roman Empire through the Third Reich 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

3 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Maps & Atlases 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

September 2011

27 Tuesday Book Talk, Susan Kern, The Jeffersons at Shadwell 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

5 Monday Library Closed, Monday Sept. 5th. 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

3 Saturday Library Closed, Saturday Sept. 3rd. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

August 2011

31 Wednesday Toddler Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

30 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

27 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

24 Wednesday Toddler Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

23 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

22 Monday .The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

22 Monday Summer Film, "Little Women" 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

18 Thursday SOLD OUT. The Boston Globe Lecture Series, Matthew Bernstein, Having our Say: Letters to the Editor 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

17 Wednesday Toddler Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

16 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

13 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

10 Wednesday Toddler Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

9 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

6 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

3 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

3 Wednesday Toddler Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

2 Tuesday Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am 10:30 am - 10:30 am

July 2011

30 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

28 Thursday SOLD OUT: Boston Globe lecture, Ty Burr, What Happened to all the Great Movies? 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

27 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

26 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

23 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

20 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

19 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

18 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

16 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

12 Tuesday SOLD OUT: Lecture, Amanda Foreman, A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

12 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

9 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

6 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

5 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

4 Monday Library Closed, Monday July 4th 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

2 Saturday Library Closed, July 2nd 9:00 am - 9:00 am

June 2011

29 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

28 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

25 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

23 Thursday Lecture, Michael Sims, The Story of Charlotte’s Web: E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

22 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

21 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

20 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

18 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

16 Thursday SOLD OUT, Lecture, Paula Matthews, Stanford Calderwood Director and Librarian, The Piano in Boston: A Very Brief History 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

15 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

15 Wednesday story time 10:30 am - 11:30 am

14 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

13 Monday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

11 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

8 Wednesday Stories, songs & fingerplays for Toddlers and lapsitters 10:30 am - 10:30 am

7 Tuesday Story time and craft, for Ages 3 1/2 and up 10:30 am - 10:30 am

6 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Prints & Photographs 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

4 Saturday Family Story Time, all ages welcome 10:30 am - 10:30 am

1 Wednesday Conservation Wednesdays 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

May 2011

31 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

30 Monday Library Closed, Monday May 30th 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

28 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

28 Saturday Library Closed, Saturday, May 28th. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

26 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

25 Wednesday SOLD OUT. Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

24 Tuesday Lecture, Edna O'Brien, Saints and Sinners 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

24 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

23 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

21 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

19 Thursday Improvisational Performance, Comedy troupe Stranger than Fiction 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

19 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

17 Tuesday Lecture, Frederic Crowninshield: A Renaissance Man in the Gilded Age 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

17 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

14 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

12 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

11 Wednesday SOLD OUT Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

10 Tuesday Lecture, Rowan Jacobsen, Shadows on the Gulf: A Journey Through Our Last Great Wetland 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

10 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

7 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

5 Thursday Lecture, Maisie Houghton, Pitch Uncertain 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

4 Wednesday Conservation Wednesdays 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3 Tuesday SOLD OUT: Lecture, in conjunction with the Royal Oak Foundation, Oliver Everett, CVO, King George III: ‘A good connoisseur’ and Collector 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

2 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Rare Books 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

April 2011

30 Saturday SOLD OUT. Children’s Tea 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

28 Thursday Lecture, Carol Wallace, Leaving Van Gogh: A Novel 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

28 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

26 Tuesday Boston Globe Lecture, James Carroll, Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

26 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

25 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

23 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

21 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

21 Thursday Lecture, Molly Peacock, The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work at 72 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

19 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

18 Monday Library Closed: Patriots' Day 8:30 am - 8:30 am

16 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

14 Thursday Lecture, Joshua Kendall, The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

13 Wednesday SOLD OUT Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

12 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

9 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

7 Thursday CANCELED. Lecture, Stories from the Gorey House. 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

7 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

6 Wednesday CANCELED. Conservation Wednesdays 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

5 Tuesday Sold out: Lecture, Joseph Lelyveld, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

5 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

4 Monday SOLD OUT. First Mondays Library Orientation, Archive 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

2 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

March 2011

31 Thursday Poetry Reading, Kevin Young, Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

31 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

29 Tuesday Evening Concert, The Capital Trio and Guests. Music by Beethoven, Malsky, and Dvorak 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

29 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

28 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 6:00 pm

26 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

24 Thursday SOLD OUT. Lecture, in conjunction with The Royal Oak Foundation, David Henry George Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, Harewood: A Country House for the Twenty-First Century 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

24 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

23 Wednesday Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum. SOLD OUT 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

22 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

19 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

17 Thursday SOLD OUT. The John Hubbard Sturgis Eaton Annual Lecture, The Architect’s Dream: The Great Houses of Newport, Rhode Island 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

17 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

15 Tuesday Civic Discourse, Panel Discussion, Lisa Coyne, Children of Immigrants. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

15 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

12 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

10 Thursday SOLD OUT Lecture, Karen Wilkin, An Introduction to Edward Gorey; or, Preaching to the Converted. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

10 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

9 Wednesday Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum. SOLD OUT 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

8 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

7 Monday First Mondays Library Orientation, Director & Librarian. SOLD OUT 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

5 Saturday A Children’s Library Event, Suzanne Terry, Beatrix and Her Bunnies 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

5 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

3 Thursday Civic Discourse, Panel Discussion, James Jennings, Immigrants In Boston. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

3 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

2 Wednesday First Wednesdays in Conservation. Canceled 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

1 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

February 2011

28 Monday The Young Readers’ Book Group 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

26 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

24 Thursday SOLD OUT. Lecture, Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

24 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

23 Wednesday Afternoon Tea at the Boston Athenæum. SOLD OUT 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

22 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

21 Monday Library closed, Presidents' Day 8:30 am - 8:30 am

19 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

17 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm

15 Tuesday Exhibition Reception, Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

15 Tuesday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

12 Saturday Story Time 10:30 am - 10:30 am

10 Thursday Lecture, Jessica B. Harris, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

10 Thursday Story Time 3:30 pm - 3:30 pm