Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

Admission to the library is free. Gallery exhibits are free and open to the general public. Materials may be used in the library or checked out by members. Borrowing privileges are limited to members only. Books may be checked out for 4 weeks, and all CDs, videos and DVDs for 2 weeks. Materials may be reserved in advance. Our history began in 1894, when a small group of pioneer La Jollans formed the La Jolla Reading Club. In 1898, a Reading Room was constructed at the corner of Girard Avenue and Wall Street, thanks to a generous donation from Florence Sawyer. In 1899, the group was incorporated as Library Association of La Jolla, our legal name today, fulfilling the function of a membership library, and Ellen Browning Scripps was elected as the first president of its Board of Trustees. By the 1920s, the library had outgrown its space. With generous support from Ellen Browning Scripps and others, a new library building was designed by William Templeton Johnson, architect of many of San Diego's most important civic structures, including Balboa Park's San Diego Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History. The gracious Spanish Renaissance-style building was dedicated and opened to the public in 1921. For many years, Library Association, a private institution, supported a general library. In 1955, the City of San Diego agreed to take over the operation of the library as one of its public library branches, and rented the space from Library Association of La Jolla, or Athenaeum, as it became known from then on. The Athenaeum donated the bulk of the library holdings to the public library, retaining certain books on music and art as the nucleus of a collection for the newly named Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. That same year, artist and architect William Lumpkins was hired to design an adjacent building that would complement the larger library structure. This is the building that houses the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room, and is noted for its striking rotunda the Athenaeum's trademark' image. The Athenaeum was dedicated on June 27, 1957. By 1989, with the Athenaeum's increasing collections and larger membership, the one-room library could no longer serve the needs of the organization and the community. When the general library moved to a new La Jolla branch of the public library on Draper Avenue, the Athenaeum was able to expand into part of the William Templeton Johnson building. La Jolla architect David Raphael Singer designed the expansion, joining the Athenaeum (Lumpkins ) building with the 1921 (Templeton ) library building. Since the first expansion in July 1990, under the directorship of Erika Torri, the Athenaeum has taken on an increasingly active role in the cultural life of San Diego. The library has added a large number of year-round events and programs, including art exhibitions, concerts (chamber, jazz and new music ), lectures, and art classes at two studio locations. During this time, the Library's membership has doubled, and income from membership, donations, events, and admissions has increased by a factor of 10. In 1999, the Athenaeum celebrated its 100th Anniversary in a whirlwind of activities and publicity that celebrated, as well, its position as one of San Diego's outstanding cultural institutions.