engineering

Redwood Library and Athenaeum

Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Redwood Library and Athenaeum rather than just read about it. In short: The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed in March 1750, was the first purposely built library in the United States, and the oldest neo-Classical building in the country.

Key takeaways

Redwood Library and Athenaeum belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Redwood Library and Athenaeum to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Redwood Library and Athenaeum from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed in March 1750, was the first purposely built library in the United States, and the oldest neo-Classical building in the country. It has been in continuous use since its opening. The building is part of the Kay Street–Catherine Street–Old Beach Road Historic District, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

History

18th century The Company of the Redwood Library was established in 1747, in Newport, Rhode Island, by Abraham Redwood and 45 colonists with the goal of making written knowledge more widely available to the Newport community. The original section of the building was constructed between 1748 and 1750 by architect Peter Harrison. Only the Library Company of Philadelphia is older, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin. The Redwood Library and Athenaeum predates the Charleston Library Society (founded in 1748), New York Society Library (founded in 1754), and the Boston Athenæum (founded in 1807).

It was the first classical public building built in America, designed in the manner of Italian Renaissance Architect Andrea Palladio, in the Georgian-Palladian style. The main facade facing Bellevue avenue is based upon a plate in Edward Hoppus' Andrea Palladio's Architecture published in 1735. The oldest section, today called the Harrison Room, still houses the majority of the original books that were purchased as a collection in London. Occupying British troops allegedly looted numerous books (many of which were later returned) prior to the Battle of Rhode Island during the American Revolution. Ezra Stiles was one of the most prominent librarians at the Library, the influential founder of Brown University and later president of Yale University.

19th century In 1833 the Library furthered its abilities as an institution, and re-established itself as The Company of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. By 1858, the membership and collection had grown so much that an expansion was needed. This expansion, which became known as the Roderick Terry Reading Room, was produced by George Snell of Boston. Within 10 years of the Reading Room being completed, architect Richard Morris Hunt was contacted to furnish another expansion for the library. His plans ultimately called for "an entirely new and enlarged structure of stone and marble shall (that) take the place of the existing wooden erections." Ultimately, Hunt's plans were rejected, although it is unclear whether that was due to monetary restriction on the part of the Redwood Library, or their disapproval of what could be construed as Hunt's irreverence for Peter Harrison's architecture. In 1875, plans did go forward to develop another expansion to the Library. The Rovensky Delivery Room was designed by famed architect George Champlin Mason. At the time, the collections were in closed stacks, and when a book was requested, the librarian would retrieve it and bring it to the member in the delivery room.

20th century In 1915, historian and architect Norman Isham restored the eighteenth century Harrison room to what he concluded was its original appearance. The Library's modern collection now includes more than 200,000 volumes as well as a museum collection of art and artifacts. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Gallery

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Redwood Library and Athenaeum

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Redwood Library and Athenaeum claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Redwood Library and Athenaeum before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Redwood Library and Athenaeum ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Redwood Library and Athenaeum

In research: Redwood Library and Athenaeum appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Redwood Library and Athenaeum in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Redwood Library and Athenaeum is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1747 establishments in Rhode Island, Art museums and galleries in Rhode Island, Buildings and structures completed in 1750, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Redwood Library and Athenaeum outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Redwood Library and Athenaeum in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Redwood Library and Athenaeum means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Redwood Library and Athenaeum out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Redwood Library and Athenaeum in simple terms?

Why does Redwood Library and Athenaeum matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Redwood Library and Athenaeum?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Redwood Library and Athenaeum.