Peabody Institute Library and Concert Halls

At the SE corner of Washington Monument Park at 17 E. Mt. Vernon Place, stands the main entrance to the Peabody Institute, home to the magnificent George Peabody Library (today, one of the Johns Hopkins’ Sheridan Libraries), featuring an atrium surrounded by five tiers of cast-iron balconies and gold-scalloped columns, and rising over 60 feet to a latticed skylight.

Bequeathed as part of philanthropist George Peabody’s larger gift of the Peabody Institute to Baltimore’s citizenry to reward their “kindness and hospitality” over his 20+ year residency between 1815 to 1837, the George Peabody Library is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. Both the library, including its collection of approximately 300,000 volumes dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries, and its adjoining exhibitions gallery, are open to the public without appointment between Tuesday and Saturday, at times specified on the library’s webpage.

“In the Stacks,” a series begun in 2017 by music students who wished to create an after-hours classical musical program in the library that was relevant to the Baltimore community and worthy of the library’s amazing legacy, periodically hosts a variety of artistic programming including music, art, film, dance, and drama with historic and contemporary/experimental elements. On February 18, 19, and 20, Submersive Productions, LLC, a Baltimore-based collaborative artworks company, will host free, 45-minute immersive theatrical performances starting at three performance times each evening (at 6, 7 and 8 PM), described as “a choose-your-own adventure in one of the most beautiful libraries in the world!”

Currently on exhibit through March 1 in the library’s exhibition gallery is City People: Black Baltimore in the Photographs of John Clark Mayden, presenting over fifty of Baltimore-born Mayden’s black-and-white photographs seeking to capture a street-level view of life (particularly, black life) in Baltimore, taken since the early 1970s. Also on view are historical photographs of Black Baltimoreans, from a collection of individual and group portraits dating from the 1890s through more recent times.

Also accessible through the Peabody Institute’s main entrance is the Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, one of the oldest and most venerable recital halls in the US. Other, smaller concert halls, including the Leith Symington Griswold Hall and the Joe Byrd Hall are also located in this space. Free, noteworthy upcoming performances here include Peabody Jazz Combos, at the Joe Byrd Hall on March 4, 7:30 PM; and the Beethoven 250 Preview at the Leith Symington Griswold Hall on March 8, 3 PM. Tickets can be obtained through the Peabody Box Office by calling (667) 208-6620 or online at www.peabody.jhu.edu/events.