Franklin D. Roosevelt - American Heritage Center, Inc.

FDR SPECIAL COLLECTION

The Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center is very pleased to collaborate with Ann E. McLaughlin, Director of the Thomas Crane Public Library, 40 Washington Street, Quincy, Massachusetts, and the wonderful people of Quincy in a cooperative arrangement to display our Special Collection pieces of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the New Deal memorabilia and other historical ephemera. The FDR Special Collection will be housed within the Henry Hobson Richardson Room on a revolving basis in cooperation with the Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center Museum, located on the second floor of the historic Union Station, 2 Washington Square, in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center is proud to have a major presence in Quincy, Massachusetts, across the street from the final resting places of two other American Presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. On display on a revolving basis are numerous items from the FDR Museum's collection within the renovated Henry Hobson Richardson Room, named in honor of the original and famous architect of the library.

The Henry Hobson Richardson Room contains a unique FDR American Heritage Center Special Collection display area. The renovated Henry Hobson Richardson Room is the original library building dating back to 1882. There is also a meeting area and grand fireplace that will be adjacent to the FDR Special Collection display section, and cooperative interactive and school-based programs between the FDR American Heritage Center and Quincy will be initiated. Quincy's Thomas Crane Public Library also encompasses a 1908 addition to the 1882 Henry Hobson Richardson building (now the Henry Hobson Richardson Room), as well as a 1939 addition that was funded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration through the PWA (Public Works Administration), and a 2001 addition that nearly doubled library space, and added many other special features and functions for the library.

The original library building, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, and funded by Albert Crane in honor of his father, Thomas Crane, is built in the Romanesque style. It is considered Richardson's masterpiece in the field of library architecture. The foundation is of Quincy granite, the upper structure of North Easton granite, and the trimming of Longmeadow brownstone.

At the entrance there appears a seal of the City of Quincy, the date in Roman numerals (1881), and a crane in honor of the Crane family. The interior woodwork is of North Carolina pine. Designs for the handcrafted decorations were planned in Henry Hobson Richardson's office and carried out by a Mr. Evans.

Overhead to the left of the fireplace is the grill which was used to separate the reading room from the closed stacks before the ell was added. Hand carved native plants and berries form part of the ornamental woodwork of the fireplace.

The "Old Philosopher" stained glass window in the front of the building was done by John LaFarge as a memorial to Thomas Crane and is considered a masterpiece of stained glass work. There are seven pieces of glass in the ear alone and a total of about a thousand pieces.

At the left of the fireplace is another LaFarge window, "Angel at the Tomb," given in memory of Thomas Crane's son, Benjamin Franklin Crane. The quotation "And his leaf shall not wither" carved in wood was originally under this window. It was shifted to the rear of the ell when the window was moved from its original place adjacent to the front door.