The third-floor Shaw Research Library and Randall Gallery are open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday thru Saturday. For elevator access, please call (603) 431-2538.
Check our calendar for tours of the first-floor Sawtelle Reading Room.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- September 28, 2023
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Tour of Sawtelle Reading Room
September 28, 2023 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
The first-floor Sawtelle Reading Room in the 1805 building is open for tours. Donations accepted.
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Author Nancy Hammond Book Signing and Talk
September 28, 2023 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Portsmouth Athenaeum, 9 Market Square, Portsmouth, NH 03801, USAA presentation and book signing by Proprietor Nancy Hammond, whose new book, The Life and Times of Jonathan Mitchel Sewall, 1748-1808, Poet – Lawyer – Patriot, resurrects a forgotten Portsmouth celebrity.
As a young man, Sewall revered Gen. George Washington, and he was in attendance for President Washington's visit to Portsmouth in 1789, penning three odes and performing them to the country's first president. Sewall also wrote a versification of Washington's farewell address when he left office and an eulogy of Washington; both items are in the Athenaeum collection.
Through Nancy's research, you learn about Sewall's fascinating life as well as Portsmouth during the Colonial era and into the New Republic.
Please RSVP to 603-431-2538 for the discussion in the Shaw Research Library.
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- October 3, 2023
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Mission Statement Talk
October 3, 2023 @ 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Keeper and Executive Director Tom Hardiman will hold an informal discussion session to gather members' input on the new statements and talk about how we might make the Athenaeum better and stronger for the future. NO RSVP necessary.
The discussion will be in the third-floor Shaw Research Library at 5 p.m.
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HOURS
Shaw Research Library &
Randall Gallery
Tuesday through Saturday
1 to 4 p.m.
Reading Room Tours
Volunteer Dependent
Some Saturdays &
Thursdays this summer
1 to 2 p.m.
(Check our calendar.)

2023 PACM Concert: Rasa String Quartet
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 3 p.m. RASA STRING QUARTET at St. John's Episcopal Church, 101 Chapel Street, Portsmouth Currently in residence at Philips Exeter, Boston-based Rasa String Quartet violinists Maura Shawn Scanlin and Kiyoshi Hayashi, violist Emma Powell, and cellist...
Nancy R. Hammond Book Signing and Talk
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 5:30 p.m. Shaw Research Library A presentation and book signing by Proprietor Nancy R. Hammond, whose new book, The Life and Times of Jonathan Mitchel Sewall, 1748-1808, Poet – Lawyer – Patriot, resurrects a forgotten Portsmouth...
2023 PACM Concert: Noree Chamber Soloists
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 3 p.m. St. John's Episcopal Church, 101 Chapel Street, Portsmouth The Portsmouth Athenaeum Chamber Music series presents Noree Chamber Soloists. A frequent visitor to Portsmouth, NH, Noree Chamber Soloists is a NY-based chamber music ensemble...
We, the Proprietors of the Portsmouth Athenaeum, associate to promote learning and advance useful knowledge among our constituents and the wider community by facilitating convivial interchange and intellectual discourse; maintaining our historic buildings and library; and collecting and preserving materials relevant to the history and culture of Portsmouth and the Piscataqua Region.