What do we share
in common?
Drag to compare. The home our Shareholders voted to build, in an early 20th-century photograph from our collections and today.
For more than thirty years after its founding in 1814, The Athenaeum had no home of its own. In 1845, its Shareholders met to decide whether to borrow the money to build one.
They could not agree. How they settled it says a great deal about the people who built this place, and about what they shared in common.
The vote
The Shareholders had $36,000. The lowest estimate for a new building came in $6,000 over. Should they borrow the difference and build a home of their own at Sixth and Adelphi Streets?
A bare majority
Passed by one vote
Those supporting the building initiative won by a single ballot. Then they refused the win. One vote, they decided, was not enough to commit every Shareholder to a debt.
Everyone came back
Passed, 148 to 80
They called the whole membership back to vote again, and 228 people came. The Athenaeum would have its home.
“Some personality was exchanged.”A Shareholder’s diary, the night of the first vote
Both sides wanted the same thing. What they shared in common was not a plan. It was a stubborn love for this place.
The work that keeps the doors open
That love, and the support it inspired, built The Athenaeum we know today. The building was won in 1845. What happens inside it is renewed every year, and the Annual Fund pays for it.
People
The staff who greet you by name and help you find what you came for.
Collections
Care for a growing library and the architectural record of Philadelphia.
Programs
Lectures, concerts and conversations that bring strangers and friends together.
Heat and light
A warm, bright Reading Room on a winter afternoon, open to every reader who comes in.
Keeping our 1847 home warm and lit costs about $160 a day, around the clock. This counter runs from midnight.
Membership dues cover about sixteen cents of every dollar it takes to run The Athenaeum.
One for every Shareholder who came back: 228
Last year, 195 people gave to this appeal. This year we’re hoping for 228, one for every Shareholder who turned out to vote on building this place.
Every gift counts toward that number, whatever its size.
Count me inWhat your gift does
Choose an amount to continue to our secure gift form. Every gift, whatever its size, counts toward the 228.
About seven hours of heat and light. Our building costs about $7 an hour to keep warm and lit.
About a day’s worth of new books for our circulating library.
A speaker’s honorarium for one of the evening lectures that bring our community together.
About the teaching fee for one of our writing workshops.
About six days of heat and light for our historic building.
Joins the 1814 SocietyEvery gift counts toward the 228. Annual Fund support goes wherever it’s needed most.
Figures are approximate, drawn from our operating budget.
Make my giftPrefer to give monthly? Choose “monthly” on the form. Monthly gifts count toward the 228 too.
The care to protect what we’ve inherited and the drive to share it with more people are both still at work here, 181 years after that vote. Generosity is what makes them possible. Thank you for being part of it.
With sincere gratitude,
Beth Shalom Hessel
Executive Director
Other ways to give
By check
Payable to The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
Donor-advised fund
Recommend a grant to The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, EIN 23-1352027.
From your IRA
If you’re 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution can come straight from your IRA.
Employer match
Many employers match their employees’ gifts. Check with your HR or benefits office.
Questions? Write to [email protected] or call 215-925-2688.
The 1814 Society recognizes gifts of $1,000 or more above dues in a fiscal year. Every gift since July 1 counts.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is a 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) not-for-profit public charity (EIN 23-1352027). The official registration and financial information of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.