Blogpost 3

George Peabody Library, Maryland, U.S.A

The Peabody Institute was founded in 1857 by philanthropist George Peabody and dedicated to the citizens of Baltimore. The library building opened in 1878, comprising a free public library, a lecture series, a conservatory of music and an art collection. The Institute is now a division of The Johns Hopkins University.

The building design is renowned for its grand architectural interior; the Peabody Stack Room contains five tiers of ornamental cast-iron balconies, which rise dramatically to the skylight 61 feet above the floor. 

The library consists of a general reference collection on virtually every subject but music. It contains more than 300,000 titles most of which date from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Notable strengths in the collection are archaeology, British art and architecture, British and American history, biography, English and American literature, Romance languages and literature, Greek and Latin classics, history of science, geography, and exploration and travel including a large map collection.

Between July 2002 and May 2004, the Peabody underwent a $1 million renovation effort to refurbish the library and modernize the heating and air conditioning system to preserve the historic collection of over 300,000 volumes. Major financial support for the renovation came from a Save America's Treasures grant.  

George Peabody Library "A Room with a View"

I navigated many sites to locate pod-casts on the Peabody library and failed to find anything.  However, I did find an interesting video on an exhibition of rare books in the history of scientific discovery which brings together some of 300 works and is valued at more than $2 million that were donated to the Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 2010.

Although I wanted to originally focus on libraries, history and architecture; I have found that what is 'NOW' of interest to the fusion of past, present and future - notable to good libraries. 

The university's benefactor was the late Elliott Hinkes, a Hopkins alumnus, rare book collector and California oncologist. The Hinkes Collection is rare because of the way it sweeps across cultures and centuries, exploring the history of human discovery.  One extract mentions the collection represents the entire history of science. The exhibit includes an artifact that is both famous and rare but that isn't, strictly speaking, a scientific discovery — a leaf from one of the 21 remaining copies of the Gutenberg Bible printed in the 1450s. This found article delivers a more in depth look at the 'Eureka' rare books collection.

When the Peabody Library opened its doors in 1878, it was a national news story. Here's what the Times-Picayune reported on October 3, 1878:

Completed: The Peabody library building in Baltimore.  It cost $400,000 and was constructed according to the plans of the great philanthropist . . . . By George!  Peabody was a great, good body. 

 

REFERENCES 

George Peabody Library c2005, History, George Peabody Library, viewed 19 April 2012, <http://www.peabodyevents.library.jhu.edu/history.html>.  Sheridan Libraries 2012, Special Collections and Archives, Sheridan Libraries, viewed 19 April 2012, <http://guides.library.jhu.edu/content.php?pid=205178&sid=1712833>

 JSTOR c1979, The Journal of Library History, JSTOR, viewed 19 April 2012, <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25540958?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=56020987373>.

 The Baltimore Sun 2012, Exhibit brings together 'Eureka' moments in science : Works from Copernicus to Darwin featured in Peabody Library, The Baltimore Sun, viewed 19 April 2012, <http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-31/entertainment/bs-ae-peabody-eureka-20111231_1_rare-books-eureka-moments-johns-hopkins-university>.