These Vintage Photos of the Athenaeum Will Make You Want to Study for No Reason

Here's what Boston's book-filled sanctuary looked like in the early 1900s.

By Madeline Bilis· 12/6/2016, 11:12 a.m.

Photo by Digital Commonwealth/Creative Commons

Enter through the red leather doors of the Boston Athenaeum, and it’s like taking a step back in time. Peek at a few vintage photos of the place, and you’ll realize it hasn’t changed very much at all.

The institution’s time-honored, book-lined walls hearken back to a time before the internet. A sort of studious sanctuary, an athenaeum is defined as a membership library dedicated to research and the promotion of learning. The Boston Athenaeum was founded in 1807, and has since amassed a collection of more than 500,000 books.

Below, find photos of the Athenaeum from Massachusetts’ online archives—they depict the library as it was in the early 1900s. The photos show a place that still feels intensely scholarly, filled with leather-bound books, narrow staircases, rare paintings, and plenty of marble busts. It seems no matter what century it is, the Athenaeum makes for good eye candy for book worms—good luck fighting the urge to study.