Exhibits Featured in the Randall Gallery
Randall Room Exhibition Gallery
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The research library and the exhibition gallery are on the third floor of the building at 6-8 Market Square adjoining the Athenaeum building.
Looking Ahead: Upcoming Exhibit
Feb. 16, 2024 First in the Nation: New Hampshire Presidential Primaries – 1920 to 2020 Mary-Jo Monusky, Ceal Anderson, and Mara Witzling.
Previous Exhibits
2023
Apr. – July “The Wentworth Takeover: How One Family Came to Dominate Portsmouth and New Hampshire 1715-1775” Sandra Rux
Aug. – Nov. “Peace, Love & Portsmouth: Celebrating the City’s Cultural Renaissance through the Lens of J. D. Lincoln” James Smith
Dec. – Jan. 2024 Twenty-seventh Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2022
June – July “Standing Together: Seacoast LGBTQ+ Social and Support Groups” Tom Kaufhold
Aug. – Nov. “George S. Wasson, Artist and Author of Kittery Point” Dave Kaselauskas, Lauren Gallant, Dean Gallant, and Wendy Lull
Dec. – Jan. 2023 Twenty-sixth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2021
June – July “The Georgian Garden in Print and in Portsmouth” Tom Hardiman
Dec. – Jan. 2022 Twenty-fifth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2020
Feb. – June “Hampton Beach, Summer of ’83” Peter Randall
Dec. – Jan. 2021 Twenty-fourth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show [online]
2019
Feb. – Apr. “The Many Faces of George Washington” Sandra Rux
May – July “Seacoast LGBT History: 50 Years of Rainbow Reflections” Tom Kaufhold
Aug. – Nov “By the Bottle or the Barrel: 400 Years of Brewing in Portsmouth” Sandra Rux
Dec. – Jan. 2020 Twenty-third Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2018
Mar. – June “What Hawthorne Read, from the collections of the Salem Athenaeum” Elaine von Bruns
July – Nov. “Painting Portsmouth Notables: 1750-1850” Sandra Rux & Tom Hardiman
Dec. – Jan. 2019 Twenty-second Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2017
Jan. – Mar. “Treasures of the Portsmouth Athenaeum: Part I 1817-1839” Linda Cheetham
Apr. – May “Treasures of the Portsmouth Athenaeum: Part 2 1840-1899” Sandra Rux
June – Aug. “Treasures of the Portsmouth Athenaeum: Part 3 1900-1979” Ronan Donahoe
Sept. – Nov. “Treasures of the Portsmouth Athenaeum: Part 4 1980–2017” Richard Candee & Deborah Child
Dec. – Mar. 2018 “The Show of Shows: 20 Years of Athenaeum Exhibits 1996-2016” Barbara Adams, Joan Graf, Richard Candee & Robert Chase
2016
Feb. – July “The North End: A Lost Portsmouth Neighborhood” James Smith
Aug. – Nov. “The Architectural Heritage of the Piscataqua: John Mead Howells photographs” Jeffrey Hopper
Dec. – Jan. 2017 Twenty-first Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2015
Feb. – June “Cosmopolitan Consumption: New England Shoe Stories 1750 –1850” Kimberly Alexander
July – Nov. “Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail” Astrida Schaeffer
Dec. – Jan. 2016 Twentieth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2014
Feb. – May “The 1749 Model of the H.M.S. America: The Athenaeum’s First Object – 1820” Elizabeth Aykroyd
June – Sept. “First Congregational Church of Kittery and the Pepperrell Family” Sandra Rux, Elizabeth Aykroyd, Tom Hardiman
Sept. – Nov. “Norma Bernstein Smith: Talented Artist, Adventuresome Spirit” Kitty Clark, Joan Graf, Barbara Adams & Robert Chase
Dec. – Jan. 2015 Nineteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2013
Feb. – May “Going to Blazes: Portsmouth Fires & Fire Societies” Joyce Volk & Sandra Rux
June – Sept “Ephemera: The Art of Everyday Printed Matter” Carolyn Marvin & Susan Hamilton
Oct. – Nov. “The House That Beer Built: Frank Jones’ Maplewood Farm” Tom Hardiman
Dec. – Jan. 2014 Eighteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2012
Apr. – June “Portraits of Portugal: the Photographs of David Schirmer” Douglas Wheeler
July – Sept. “Height of Propriety: Fashions Through Time of the Proprietors of the Portsmouth Athenaeum” Sandra Rux
Oct. – Dec. “Downton Abbey: A Portsmouth Family’s Connection” Ronan Donahue
Dec. – Jan. 2013 Seventeenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2011
May – Sept. “Fire on the Water: Portsmouth’s Kearsarge sinks the Deadly Confederate Raider Alabama” Richard Adams
Oct. – Nov. “Money, Revolution & Books: The Athenaeum’s Library of John Fisher of London” Tom Hardiman
Dec.– Feb. 2012 Sixteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2010
Feb. – Apr. “Treasures of the American Independence Museum” Wendy Bergeron
June – Sept. “A Family Portrait Gallery: the Benning Wentworth House . . . in the Cushing Years” Elizabeth Aykroyd
Sept. – Nov. “Nothing by Halves: The Life of Frank Jones” Richard Adams
Dec. – Feb. 2011 Fifteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2009
Feb. – Apr. “Through the Eye of the Needle: Sewing Stories and Family Stories” Kimberly Alexander
June – Oct. “Selections from the Ogunquit Museum of American Art” Susan Hamilton
Dec. – Jan. 2010 Fourteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2008
Feb. – May “Preservation Then & Now” Historic New England
June – Sept. “Russell Cheney: New England Master: Paintings of Kittery & Southern Maine 1910-1945” Richard M. Candee
Sept. – Nov. “Farms & Mountains: Photographs by Walter H. James of Portsmouth” Peter Randall
Dec. – Jan. 2009 Thirteenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2007
Jan. – May “Women of The Moffatt-Ladd House” Barbara Ward & Sherry Cullimore
June – Oct. “Abandoned in the Arctic: Adolphus W. Greely & the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, 1881-1884” Dr. Geoffrey Clark
Dec. – Jan. 2008 Twelfth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2006
Jan. – Apr. “Coming Home: Treasures of the Warner House” Joyce Volk
June – Oct. “Literary Lions: Celebrating 250 years of Print in the Seacoast” J. Dennis Robinson & Rose Eppard
Dec. – Jan. 2007 Eleventh Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2005
Jan. – Apr. “New England Miniature: Treasures of The Old York Historical Society” Thomas Johnson
June – Oct. “War & Peace: Images from the Russo-Japanese War 1904 -1905” Fred Scharf
Dec. – Jan. 2006 Tenth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2004
Jan. – May “We Tell Portsmouth Stories: Treasures from the Portsmouth Historical Society” Ursula Wright & John Mayer
June – Oct. “The Artistic Legacy of John Prentiss Benson” Nick Baker & Margaret Betts
Dec. – Jan. 2005 Ninth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2003
Apr. – July “A New Hampshire Treasure: The Wood Engravings of Herbert Waters” Susan Hamilton
Aug. – Nov. “Freeing The Line: Etchings by Charles Woodbury” Ken Turino & Tufts University students
Dec. – Jan. 2004 Eighth Annual Proprietor’s Art Show
2002
Feb. – June “The Artful Life of Thomas P. Moses” Richard Candee
July – Nov. “Cheek by Jowl: The Athenaeum’s Collection of Early Portraits” Carl Crossman
Dec. – Jan. 2003 Seventh Annual Proprietor’s Art Show
2001
Mar. – June “The Art of Charles V. Goodhue: Scenes of Portsmouth in the 1950s” Peter E. Randall
June – Sept. “One Woman’s Work: The Visual Art of Celia Thaxter” Sharon Stephan
Dec.– Feb. 2002 Sixth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
2000
Jan. – Feb. The Coolidge Family at Little Harbor, 1886 – 1954: Photographs and Paintings” Catherine Vaillancourt
Mar. – June “Frederick A. Bosley & Alice Ruggles Sohier: Paintings by Two Students of Edmund Tarbell” William Brewster Jr.
July – Nov. “To Restore Our Glorious Union: Portsmouth & The Civil War” Richard Adams
Dec – Feb. 2001 Fifth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
1999
Mar. – June “Heavy Weather and Hard Luck: Portsmouth Goes Whaling” Ken Martin
July – Nov. “History for the Taking: Portsmouth Souvenirs, 1875 – 1930” Joyce Volk & Deborah Child
Dec.– Jan. 2000 Fourth Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
1998
Feb. – Mar. “Byways & Waterways of Portsmouth: Photographs by Richard Haynes”
Mar. – May “18th Century Printing for New Hampshire” Hollis Broderick
June – Sept. “Susan Ricker Knox: Portsmouth and Beyond” Deborah Child & Jane Kauffman
Sept. – Dec. “Times of Turbulence and Triumph -Prints & Printing Pertaining to NH 1700 -1783” Fran Lord & Steve Fowle
Dec. – Feb. 1999 Third Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
1997
Feb. – Mar. “Black Elders of 20th Century Portsmouth” Valerie Cunningham, curator; Kel Edwards, photographer
Apr. – May “Around Portsmouth in the Victorian Era: Photography of the Davis Brothers” Jim Dolph & Ronan Donohoe
June – Sept. “Gosport Remembered: A Lost Island Community -the Last Village at the Isles of Shoals” Mary Ellen Burke
Sept. – Dec. “Families from Afar: Settling in Portsmouth, 1900–1930” Ellen Fineberg
Dec. – Jan. 1998 Second Annual Proprietors’ Art Show
1996
June – Aug. “Russell Cheney: Artist of the Piscataqua“ Patricia L. Heard, curator
Oct. “New Hampshire: A Living Landscape” Photographs by Peter Randall
Nov. – Dec. “Portsmouth, NH Samplers 1740 -184: In Female Worth & Elegance” Rita Conant & John La Branch
Dec.– Jan. 1997 First Annual Proprietors’ Art Show