Special to the Sun
The Boston Public Library Fund (BPLF) is offering a chance for individuals to honor a family member or friend by dedicating one of the institution’s iconic reading lamps in Bates Hall. A tax-deductible gift to support the Library gives participants a brass plaque that is engraved with a personal message and installed on a selected lamp.
“Bates Hall is a beloved Boston treasure,” said Paula Sakey, the Fund’s executive director. “Thousands have studied under the glow of the green-shaded reading lamps, and this new opportunity invites individuals to honor their loved ones in a space that is dedicated to exploring knowledge and advancing education.”
Jean Gibran, a resident of Boston’s South End for 55 years, recently named a lamp in honor of the life and work of her late husband, Kahlil George Gibran, and husband’s cousin, the renowned poet Gibran Kahlil Gibran.
“My love of art and research was nourished and encouraged here,” she said. “It feels natural for me to give back to an institution that has given my family so much for many generations.”
Bates Hall is a Boston landmark located in the Central Library’s McKim Building. The hall’s signature green lamps have been in use since the building’s opening in 1895 and are featured prominently in photographs of the storied library. Patrons and scholars regularly visit the hall to research, study, and read while admiring the artwork and historic pieces that line the walls of the room.
To learn more about this opportunity, visit bplfund.org/illuminatingbates.
The mission of the Fund is to provide financial support to the Boston Public Library, ensuring that it remains viable, engaging, accessible, and free to all. The Fund fulfills this mission by working in partnership with the Library, donors, and other funders in supporting BPL programs and special initiatives. Support from the Fund supplements, but does not supplant, other BPL resources, including City of Boston funding.