{"id":8052,"date":"2020-05-25T10:47:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T09:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theathenaeum.org.uk\/?p=8052"},"modified":"2020-05-25T10:47:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T09:47:18","slug":"the-story-of-the-athenaeum-p-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/the-story-of-the-athenaeum-p-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of The Athenaeum p.2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cCreating the Athenaeum\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first part of this history\nwe touched on the Georgian tendency to form groups of like-minded\nindividuals.  Of course, people had\nalways congregated in the alehouse, in the coffee house, and a more limited\nform in social groups based on these institutions, in Liverpool known as\n\u201cFiresides\u201d where the habitu\u00e9s of one tavern, who were linked by a shared\ninterest, occupation or employment would meet to talk and carouse.  In the Eighteenth Century, these assumed a\nmore formal aspect in organisations such as the \u201cUgly Face Club\u201d, the \u201cRoyal\nBucks\u201d, the \u201cMock Corporation of Sefton\u201d and numerous others which provided\nrecreational and alcoholic entertainment for their members, many of whom were drawn\nfrom the most important families of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there were those who\nsought a more serious and formal class of association but in the climate of\nLiverpool found it difficult to generate enthusiasm.  Newcastle on Tyne was in many ways a similar\ntown to Liverpool with its concentration of commerce, notably the London coal\ntrade.  In 1793 a non-conformist\nminister, the Rev. William Turner, had set up a \u201cconversation club\u201d and\nlibrary, soon to become known as the \u201cNewcastle Literary and Philosophical\nSociety\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after its foundation,\nthough the date is not recorded, Edward Rogers \u2018very highly and deservedly\nrespected\u2019 [Bickerton p57]   Liverpool merchant was on Tyneside, attended\nthe \u201cLit and Phil\u201d society. Impressed by the visit, on his return to Liverpool\nhe described his experience to the banker, Thomas Taylor, and they discussed\nthe possibility of setting up a similar organisation in Liverpool.  They were joined in the discussion by several\nof the leading cultural figures of the leading cultural, including Drs Rutter\nand Currie and, of course, William Roscoe. \nIt was felt that there was no guarantee of success.  This was despite the poor quality of the\nnewsrooms provided in the hotels and inns, where access to newspapers was\ndifficult and often the number of men competing for a paper was such that \u201cthey [the subscribers] could not avail\nthemselves of privilege to which they alone were entitled\u201d.<\/em>  The account by Dr Rutter goes on \u201cWe, however, never lost sight of the subject\nbut mentioned it repeatedly to our friends\u201d<\/em>  [Bickerton p57].   They were also dissatisfied  with the library provision in the town and\nconsidered that  a new library might be combined\nwith a newsroom within one building,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As dissatisfaction grew the cabal\ndecided to launch the idea to the public. After a meeting at the Theatre Tavern\nin Williamson Square on 22 November 1797 Rutter wrote a prospectus and 500\ncopies were circulated.  Meanwhile,\nTaylor, with the assistance of Alderman George Case, found a site and\ncommissioned the architect John Foster to design a building to provide a\nnewsroom and Library, at least partially financially supported by the inclusion\nof several shops \u2013 an idea subsequently abandoned until the new building of\n1928 was designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 27 November a public meeting\nwas held in the Council Rooms in Brunswick Street \u2013 the Town Hall being\nunavailable after the fire two years earlier \u2013 the room was crowded with many\nof the principal business and professional men of the town.  Dr Currie took the chair and after\noverwhelming support was received an ad hoc committee was formed to further the\nscheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first priority was to erect the building on a site which could be acquired in Church Street to house what was soon to be called The Athenaeum rather than the other proposed name The Liverpool Newsroom and Library. Foster\u2019s amended design \u00a0– the idea of the shops had been quickly aborted – proposed a three-story structure with extensive cellars, which were to provide staff accommodation and possibly be let to outside bodies for storage.\u00a0 The newsroom was located on the ground floor with a direct entrance from Church Street. \u00a0\u00a0The whole design was in a rather weak classical mode with a rusticated appearance on the ground floor. The Newsroom was completed by January 1799, though the Library did not open until May of 1800. \u00a0On completion the workmen were rewarded by a gift of Gns 10 {\u00a310.10s.od \u00a310.50] \u00a0to buy beer for a celebration.\u00a0 As the price of beer at the time was a penny a pint, it must have been quite an occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

George Case First President of the Athenaeum 1798 \u2013 1801. This is one of the Hargreaves\u2019 portraits of prominent Liverpool men from the Library collection. In the entrance hall to the left of the Presidents’ board is a newly adorned colourised painting of George Case, generously painted and donated by artist-in-residence Colin Langeveld. Regretfully a ‘picture of the picture’ could not be taken presently, but keep an eye out the next time you enter the Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manuscript<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minute Book of the Athenaeum\n1797 1809 vol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printed works<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bickerton t 1910] A Historical\nSketch of Dr. John Rutter Liverpool Medical and Chirugical Institute <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazendale D Georgian\nLiverpool  Lancaster 2007<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaw Carrick N & Ashton E L\nThe Athenaeum Liverpool 1797 -1997 \nLiverpool The Athenaeum  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of the Athenaeum 1798\n-1898 Liverpool The Athenaeum 1898<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCreating the Athenaeum\u201d In the first part of this history we touched on the Georgian tendency to form groups of like-minded individuals.  Of course, people had always congregated in the alehouse, in the coffee house, and a more limited form in social groups based on these institutions, in Liverpool known as \u201cFiresides\u201d where the habitu\u00e9s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8055,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052\/revisions\/8055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enda.studiodev.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}