The Phillips Library of the

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...

(PEM) is a rare books and special collections library. It is made up of the collections of the former

Peabody Museum of Salem The Peabody Museum of Salem (1915–1992), formerly the Peabody Academy of Science (1865–1915), was a museum and antiquarian society based in Salem, Massachusetts. The academy was organized in part as a successor to the East India Marine Socie ...

and the Essex Institute (which merged in 1992 to form the Peabody Essex Museum). Both had libraries named for members of the Phillips family. __TOC__

Locations

The Phillips Library and Reading Room moved in 2018 to the Peabody Essex Museum Collection Center in Rowley, Massachusetts, a building which had once been the headquarters for the Schylling toy company. Formerly located in the Essex Institute Historic District of Salem,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, the Phillips Library was in Plummer Hall on Essex Street, with offices in the connected

John Tucker Daland House The John Tucker Daland House (1851–1852) is an imposing, Italianate house designed by architect Gridley James Fox Bryant and is located at 132 Essex Street, Salem, Massachusetts, United States in the Essex Institute Historic District and now ow ...

. Plummer Hall was originally built for the

Salem Athenaeum The Salem Athenaeum, founded in 1810, is one of the oldest membership libraries in the United States. The Athenaeum is located at 337 Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts in the McIntire Historic District. In 2023, the athenaeum successfully co ...

in 1857. The Athenaeum provided for space for the Essex Institute and several other groups, and sold the building to the Essex Institute in 1907. The reading room, with its gold-leaf pillars and busts of

Nathaniel Bowditch Nathaniel Bowditch (March 26, 1773 – March 16, 1838) was an early American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. He is often credited as the founder of modern maritime navigation; his book '' The New American Practical Navi ...

and

George Peabody George Peabody (; February 18, 1795 – November 4, 1869) was an American financier and philanthropist. He is often considered the father of modern philanthropy. Born into a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody went into business in dry goods ...

, underwent restoration in 1998. The library closed in November 2011 for an extensive $20 million "renovation and restoration of the library's John Tucker Daland House and Plummer Hall. The project also included the digitization of the library's catalog." Slated for completion in 2013, the Phillips Library reading room reopened in August 2013 at a temporary location—with limited access to materials—at 1 Second Street,

Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Peabody is located in the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known ...

.Phillips Library at PEM
Retrieved 05 April 2012.Michael Kelley

Library Journal. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 05 April 2012. On August 31, 2017, the library's temporary location in Peabody closed, noting: "all access to collections will be suspended from September 1, 2017, through March 31, 2018." On December 8, 2017, Dan L. Monroe, PEM's Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, director and CEO, issued a press release announcing that the 42,000 linear feet of historical documents will be permanently relocated to

Rowley, Massachusetts Rowley is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,161 at the 2020 census. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Rowley. History The area was inhabited by the Agawam people under sachem ...

, and that Plummer Hall and Daland House, the two historic buildings which had housed the Phillips Library, will be utilized as office and meeting space. The move to Rowley allows the PEM to "provide the highest standards of preservation, care, and protection for the library collection" while offering space for its 1.8 million objects not currently on display at the museum. PEM "sank $15 million in the Rowley property between the site purchase and renovations. Many areas are still under construction, including a conservation lab, library digitization space, and a photography studio." The Phillips Library reading room opened in June 2018, with space for up to 14 researchers at a time. The announcement of the planned movement of the Salem documents collection to the town of Rowley—located about north of the Peabody-Essex Museum—has sparked protests by historians and interested Salem citizens who don't accept that unique documents regarding Salem's history should reside outside the city. Th
Friends of Salem's Phillips Library
formed in December 2017 after PEM announced it was moving Salem's largest and oldest archival collection from its permanent home at Plummer Hall to a collections center 40 minutes away and not accessible by public transportation.

Collections

The Phillips Library is best known for holding the majority of the original 1692 Salem witchcraft trials papers (on deposit from the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

Archives) and early works by

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (né Hathorne; July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associat ...

. Collection subjects include

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, Essex County, maritime history,

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, voyages and travels,

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, and Native American culture. Some featured collections include the C. E. Fraser Clark Collection of Hawthorniana, the

Frederick Townsend Ward Frederick Townsend Ward (; November 29, 1831September 22, 1862) was an American sailor and mercenary known for his military service in Imperial China during the Taiping Rebellion. He commanded the Ever Victorious Army, a joint Sino-foreign forc ...

Collection of Western-language materials on Imperial

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the Herbert Offen Research Collection.Offen Collection
Retrieved 05 April 2012.

References

External links

Phillips Library
webpage, Peabody Essex Museum
Historic Houses at PEM
Descriptions of Daland House and Plummer Hall.
Friends of Salem's Phillips Library
Group advocating for return of Phillips Library to Salem, Massachusetts.
Flickr
Photo of library interior, 2006
Flickr
Photo of library interior, 2010
Flickr
Photo of Daland House, Salem, 2010. Part of the Phillips Library occupies this building. 1820 Salem Massachusetts map bySaunders BPL 12094

1820 Salem Massachusetts map bySaunders BPL 12094

{{authority control 1992 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Salem, Massachusetts Libraries in Essex County, Massachusetts Peabody Essex Museum Libraries established in 1992 Special collections libraries in the United States

Locations

Collections

References

Further reading

External links