Hennepin County gives Athenaeum a home

In a climate-controlled room high above Nicollet Mall, gloved librarians Ted Hathaway and Heather Lawton carefully opened two books. One was an exquisite 2-by-3-foot volume of hand-colored Audubon bird portraits, the other a pocket-size 1698 book by Father Hennepin on his discoveries in l'Amérique.

"This," Lawton said, sweeping her hand over the Hennepin book, "was a best seller in Europe."

The books belong to the Minneapolis Athenaeum, a private subscription library founded in 1859 that gave birth to the Minneapolis Public Library, which in turn provided an early home for the nascent Hennepin County Library.

When Hennepin County took over the city's libraries in 2008, the Athenaeum became the county's ward by default. Now it's official.

Last week, the County Board voted to continue providing the Athenaeum with a home and staff support at the Minneapolis Central Library, just as the city had done for more than 100 years.

It's a satisfying quid pro quo for the county and the Athenaeum, a nonprofit with its own board and endowment.

"It's been a longstanding, mutually beneficial relationship," said Sue Mackert, the Athenaeum's board chair.

The agreement recognizes the Athenaeum's role in shaping the library and its ongoing contributions: more than 100,000 volumes in the general collection as well as special collections of 6,000 rare and valuable works, many focused on natural history, Indians, exploration and Aesop's Fables.

It all began just before the Civil War, when Minneapolis business owners -- many of them displaced New Englanders who felt the need for more literate pursuits in the wilderness -- organized a subscription library along the lines of the Athenaeum in Providence, R.I.

For years, the Minneapolis Athenaeum was the only library in the pioneer settlement. In 1885 it signed a 99-year operating agreement with the city's new public library, giving Minneapolis a ready-made and wide-ranging collection.

Today the Athenaeum is housed in the Hennepin County Library's special collections room, on the fourth floor of the Central library, accessible through a carved wooden arch, a remnant from the city's first library.

More than 3,000 people use special collections every year, said Hathaway, who manages the division. They range from Ph.D. candidates working on dissertations to school kids assembling their History Day projects.

The vast majority of users are researching Minneapolis history, including house histories and genealogies. The Athenaeum's collection draws a slightly different crowd; for instance, a wildlife artist consults its bird folios for insights on painting ducks. There are a wealth of primary sources on the Dakota Conflict of 1862, a collection that's sure to get a workout with the war's sesquicentennial next year.

It's all available to the public, although you may have to make an appointment to use some of the older materials. Meanwhile, work is underway to make the collections more accessible than ever. Many materials, as well as information on visiting special collections, already are available at www.hclib.org/pub/search/specialcollections.

"The department is focusing on digitization now. It allows us to balance access and preservation," said Lawton, who is leaving special collections after six years to become archivist for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

In January, an exhibit featuring the Athenaeum's sepia-toned Native American photographs by Edward Curtis will open for two months at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona.

"What we want to do, and expect to do, is get this collection out to the public," Mackert said.

Kevin Duchschere • 612-673-4455