We are a national favorite. In a 2007 survey conducted by the American Institute of Architects and Harris Interactive in celebration of AIA’s 150th anniversary, Americans ranked Richardson’s Crane Memorial Library 43rd out of 150 works of architecture recently selected as America’s Favorite Architecture.
And MSN city guides included the Thomas Crane Library on its 2008 list of the “America’s 10 coolest public libraries“. We’re about halfway down the page, right after the New York Public Library. Check out this slideshow of the “10 coolest”
Additional Reading
What follows is a list of sources you might consult for information about the Crane Memorial Library in Quincy Massachusetts. This original building of the Thomas Crane Public Library was designed by famous American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and dedicated to its benefactor Thomas Crane in 1883. Best known for Trinity Church in Boston Massachusetts nine miles north of Quincy, H.H. Richardson considered the Crane Memorial one of his most successful architectural designs.
This bibliography is broken into two major types of generally available sources that will overlap somewhat: cataloged print sources, which includes a (very) partial list of extant photographs of the Crane Memorial Library; and online sources.
I have organized the bibliography into sections designed to help anyone interested in learning more about this building, the man who designed it, and the people and circumstances who made it possible–beginning with general works and ending with special collections.
Do a subject search using “Richardson, H” in a major library catalog like worldcat.org and you will find plenty of titles about America’s first celebrity architect. My objective here is to choose and annotate what seem to me a few of the better, and various types of resources.
In addition to this selective rather than comprehensive bibliography, I have listed people alive today whose knowledge of this building and this subject lend depth, color, and immediacy to any study of the Crane Library, and the larger than life architect who designed it.
Special thanks for this project go to the late Allen Smith, Reference Professor at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science in Boston, Massachusetts. Professor Smith set the gold standard of librarianship for his students, inviting all of us to bring rigor, humor, and imagination to our work and to our profession. He will be missed–and remembered–by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
If you have any corrections, suggestions, or observations, please leave us a post. Likewise if you have visited the library and would like to share your thoughts or impressions. We would love to hear from you.
Monday -Thursday 9-9
Friday and Saturday 9-5
Sunday 1-5
Main phone number: 617.376.1301
