Redwood Library & Athenæum
This postal card commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Redwood Library and Athenæum of Newport, R.I. The Redwood Library is the oldest lending library in the country, and the original building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, is the oldest library building in the U.S. The anniversary celebration began Aug. 24, 1997, and continues through 2000, marking the following anniversaries: 1747 (granting of the charter), 1748-49 (construction and collection years) and 1750 (opening). The Redwood Library and Athenæum is named after Abraham Redwood, who generously contributed to the purchase of books for the library. Designed by Peter Harrison, the building is considered by architectural historians to be one of the most significant surviving public buildings of the Colonial period. The postal card features a reproduction of a black-and-white engraving of the library from the book Views of Newport, published circa 1871 by Thomas Nelson & Sons. The engraver is unknown.