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John Brereton, executive director of the Calderwood Writing Initiative, gives an overview of the different grants given out by the Calderwood Writing Initiative to New England schools and colleges.

Katherine Wolff's lecture, "Whose Library? The Athenaeum's Dilemma", follows. Wolff discusses how, in the spring of 1853, when Boston was launching its public library, city leaders wanted the Athenaeum to become the site for the new institution. A heated argument between two prominent Athenaeum members ensued. What does their dispute reveal about openness and civic obligation in 19th-century Boston?

John Brereton has been the executive director of the Calderwood Writing Initiative at the Boston Athenaeum since its founding in 2004. He also teaches writing at Harvard and has published widely in the field of rhetoric and composition.

Katherine Wolff has worked as a freelance reviewer for The New York Times and Salon. In 2006, she earned her PhD in American history and literature at Boston University. Her first book, a cultural history of the Boston Athenaeum tentatively entitled Restless Readers, will be published by the University of Massachusetts Press next year.