{"id":57476,"date":"2022-11-25T03:47:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T03:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/?p=57476"},"modified":"2022-11-25T22:40:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T22:40:25","slug":"a-side-view-of-college-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2022\/11\/25\/a-side-view-of-college-st\/","title":{"rendered":"A side view of College St."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A side view of College St. Seen as part of a rare wide view of the Providence Athenaeum building, which offers an evocative side-glimpse of a spot half-way up the College Street Lovecraft knew so well. The perhaps c. 1900 card is here newly rectified, shadow-lifted and re-colourised.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/athana-col.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/athana-col.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"341\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-57477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/athana-col.jpg 1507w, https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/athana-col-528x341.jpg 528w, https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/athana-col-768x495.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here we see the spot marked on the 1918 Plat Book map, with Lovecraft&#8217;s last home as the other highlighted spot.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/collegest.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/collegest.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"335\" height=\"925\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57478\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A 1958 record-picture made on a glass plate shows much more detail, though is of course more than two decades after Lovecraft&#8217;s time and there&#8217;s been some overgrowth of the view. Still, one can see the John Hay Library behind the trees. Again, newly colorised.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"881\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-57486\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side-528x881.jpg 528w, https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side-768x1281.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/prov-ath-side-921x1536.jpg 921w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lovecraftian Mythos writers might wish to note the mysterious side-tunnel that this large image reveals&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/side-tunnel.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/side-tunnel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"514\" height=\"382\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57488\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Athenaeum claims a connection with Poe dating to 1848, when he &#8220;is said&#8221; to have met many times with Mrs. Whitman in such alcoves and nooks as the library could provide. Lovecraft adds that Poe &#8220;wrote his name at the bottom of one of his unsigned poems in a magazine&#8221; there. Thus Lovecraft sometimes included it on his whistle-stop tour of Providence for visitors, though I&#8217;m uncertain if that would have involved entrance and browsing or just exterior architectural appreciation. I know of nothing to suggest Lovecraft ever had a subscription or ticket to this private library, though some in the circle of his aunts did (e.g. the lady who catalogued Lovecraft&#8217;s library at his death). He used the city&#8217;s main Public Library all his life, for free, and also had a stacks card there. Though, late in his life, a letter reveals that he went to The Athenaeum to consult some scarce books on the history of the defunct Nantucket whaling industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A side view of College St. Seen as part of a rare wide view of the Providence Athenaeum building, which &hellip;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/2022\/11\/25\/a-side-view-of-college-st\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-postals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57476"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57654,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57476\/revisions\/57654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/tentaclii\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}