Reference
Staff
617.227.0270
phone
617.227.5266 fax
10 1/2 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts
02108-3777
Reference Department
Email
Make an appointment for the Special Collections Reading Room
Location
Guides to the
Cutter and Library of Congress Collections
Guide to Cutter Books
Guide
to Library of Congress Books
Rare, Special Collections,
and Off-site Storage
Now
Athenæum members can search Infotrac and Newsbank from home. Call the Reference
Department for the password and click on the link below.
Massachusetts
Library and Information Network (MLIN) Database Link
JSTOR
The Athenaeum now participates in JSTOR, the electronic archive of important scholarly journals. Conceived as a project at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, JSTOR was originally seen as a solution to the problem academic libraries faced in finding shelf space for long runs, or back files, of serial publications. It has since become a unique and complete digitized collection of core scholarly journals in many disciplines. (JSTOR is not, however, a “current issues” database; there is typically a one to five year gap between the most recently published journal issue and the content available on JSTOR).
Researchers are able to access 359 journals contained in three “Arts & Sciences” collections, at the public terminals in the library, and through the wireless Internet connection available to patrons using laptop computers on the Fifth Floor; members of the staff have access through their desktop computers.
Using JSTOR:
Use this link to get to JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/
or
Go the Search Screen in Athena and for “Title” type in jstor. Click on "JSTOR search or browse" link. This will bring you to the JSTOR database.
Searching: Enter basic and advanced searches of keywords, topics, titles, authors, and dates by clicking on “Search JSTOR” and typing information about your search requirements. You may perform cross-disciplinary searches by selecting several journals in one search.
Browsing: Find journal issues and articles by clicking on “Browse,” and then the name, volume, or issue of the journal that interests you.
Navigating: Everything you need to move through JSTOR is on the navigational tool bar located at the top of the screen.
Printing: Journal articles are often many pages in length. It is recommended that you take notes by hand from the articles you have called up, or download the article onto your own diskette.
Online
Reference Requests
Members of the Athenæum may make online reference queries
by sending an email message to the following address: reference@bostonathenaeum.org
Inquiries may include reference questions or be used as a request for books from our Online
Catalog to be held at the Circulation Desk or mailed to the member's home.
The
online Reference Query Form
must be used if you have an in-depth request or are not
an Athenæum member.
Interlibrary
Loan
The
Athenĉum encourages members to make use of the automated interlibrary loan system
to obtain printed material or microfilm not held by the library or readily available
locally. Requests for loans may be made by
email, in the Reference Department or by calling 617.227.0270 ext. 280.
Book
Mailing Services
Mailing services are provided to members, and book requests may be made either
by phone or by email. Summer
reading lists are welcome. Circulation regulations are the same as for books checked
out at the front desk; however, oversized books and volumes in fragile condition
are seldom mailed. Materials from special collections do not circulate and are
never mailed. Detailed information about the charges for this service is available
through the Circulation department. Databases
and Files
The
Athenæum has several paper and online databases related to the collection.
Available for use in the Reference Department are a number of unpublished research
tools, including Ogden Codman's extensive compilation of Boston, New York, and
Newport, Rhode Island, family genealogies, and an index of obituaries in the Boston
Evening Transcript, 1830-1874, prepared by Dorothy Wirth.
The Boston African Americana Collection, a collection of digitized materials relating to African Americans falls broadly within the categories of slavery, the abolition movement, free blacks, the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, rural life, urban life, social life, advertising, and depictions of men, women, and children, and consists of broadsides, caricatures, illustrations, manuscripts, pamphlets, political cartoons, portraits, and views. The database contains images and transcriptions of over five hundred items spanning the years 1770 to 1950, with the bulk of the collection falling around 1865.
The on-line Athenæum Database of Boston African Americans,
1820-1863, is a unique directory of names, addresses, and occupations for
over 5,000 adult citizens of Boston, with information gathered from the city directories,
census records, and tax assessors' books.
The On-line
Boston Athenæum Theater Database is a guide to the theater programs
and playbill collection at the Boston Athenæum. More than 90% of the material
represented in the database consists of playbills or portions of playbills from
about 45 Boston theaters, many of which no longer exist. The bulk of the playbill
collection dates from circa 1860 to 1900, an especially vibrant period in the
city's theater history when Boston was a theatrical beacon drawing to its stages
some of the world's finest actors.
Suggested Reading Lists
*Director's Choice: Ten Years, Ten Books,
1997-2007 by Richard Wendorf
*Staff Recommendations
*Nonfiction Recommendations
*Notable Fiction from the New York Times & Washington Post
Issues Book Suggestions:
*Books on Global Warming
*Books on the Iraq War
Literary Prizes:
*The Man Booker Prize Winners, 2004-2006
*Pulitzer Prize
Click
here for information on the Athenæum's book bound in human skin as highlighted
on "Chronicle."
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