The books did him good Polymath Ted Widmer reveals how he found inspiration at the Providence Athenaeum, the nation’s fourth-oldest library BY IAN DONNIS

They seemed destined for one another. Young Ted Widmer, who would cultivate an unusually varied background as an adult — historian, author, senior advisor to Bill Clinton, founding member of the Upper Crust, a concept band whose members dressed as 18th-century French aristocrats — found a world of childhood fascination at the Providence Athenaeum.

Nowadays, the pairing seems pretty natural. The Athenaeum, founded in 1753 as an independent membership library, "provides books and other materials to all, of any age, who love reading, appreciate literature, and enjoy cultural discovery," as its Web site (www.providenceathenaeum.org) notes. Widmer directs C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, which focuses on how the founding era continues to shape US culture, at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

During a free discussion this Sunday, November 13 at 3 pm, Widmer will reveal how his childhood investigations in the Benefit Street institution’s wide-ranging collections led him to pursue a fittingly wide range of experiences. His talk will inaugurate an occasional new series, "Inspired by the Athenaeum," in which guest speakers will describe how their explorations sparked discoveries that otherwise would not have been made. A native of Wayland Square, and a former columnist for this newspaper, Widmer seems a smart choice to draw the connections between the Athenaeum, Providence’s oldest cultural institution and America’s fourth oldest library, and contemporary culture.

He spoke with the Phoenix this week during a stop in New York City.

How did you discover the Athenaeum, and what kind of impact did it make on you?

I don’t remember the first moment, although I went there a lot as a kid. It served as a kind of babysitting place in the ’70s when parents thought nothing of dropping off their kids for hours. My mom would take me there. I remember just thinking it was an extraordinary place, not only because the rooms felt so old, and there are lots of secret little rooms opening off of other ones, but also because of the very unusual collections. You might see one pile of books with Bored of Rings, the Harvard Lampoon parody, and in another pile you’d see the town records of Providence in the 17th century.

It was extremely eclectic, and I’d say both the books themselves and the architecture of the building really supported the idea that books are an adventure. So I really loved going there as kid, going around this dark mausoleum of knowledge. I think it really taught me that knowledge is a kind of adventure, that books that might seem dry on the surface are not really dry at all.

I understand that some of your ancestors met there.

Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that. Around 1904, my great-grandmother was at the circulation desk. She was a recent college graduate — she had gone to Pembroke, the old girls’ school at Brown. And a man came in who was working on a nearby building project — an engineer — and he started talking with her, and they began to date, and got married, so my DNA is somehow in that funky building.

How would you describe how the founding era in the US relates to our current moment, considering the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s purported notion of spreading democracy in the Middle East?

That’s a good question. It would be hard to find clearer violation of what George Washington was telling us to avoid in his farewell address than the mess in Iraq; which is not to say that Washington was right about all future history. Obviously, the US needs to get involved in foreign crises as a responsible power, but Washington would have hated the complete lack of common sense with which we went into this thing. I think he would have felt it was unwise diplomatically. He had a very keen sense of America’s standing in the world, but at a basic gut level, I think he would have hated anything that [impacts] the American military so tragically, because he was a career soldier. He hated unnecessary waste of life.

What are you working on these days?

I’m working on a book called Ark of the Liberties: America and the World. It’s about the history of our feeling that we have an obligation to go out and liberate foreign peoples. It’s funny. It’s very similar to your question. It’s totally what I’m trying to think about.

We hear a lot about decreasing voting participation by young people. Where do you see this leading, and can it be effectively challenged?

I don’t know this at all, but I think we’re headed toward a crisis of some sort. The war in Iraq, and the many missteps of the Bush administration will probably galvanize young people voting in the next election; I certainly hope so. We have no idea who the next presidential candidates will be, but it’s becoming clearer and clearer that mistakes at the highest level are having a severe impact on the lives of young people. So I’m hoping that they will feel a strong sense of engagement in the next set of elections, not only ’08, but ’06 as well.

What did you take away from working in the Clinton White House, and how do you think history will judge his presidency?

I’d say I came away from it with a profound respect for the work of government. It’s very hard work, it doesn’t pay terribly well, and there are thousand of devoted Americans who do it out of a sense that they can make a difference. I lost a lot of the cynicism that I had built up over years of living in Providence and Boston.

I think history will judge Clinton more favorably than he has been judged so far. I fact, there’s a conference at Hofstra University this weekend. It’s the first major academic conference on Clinton — and we’ll see what people say — but I think over time, the emphasis is shifting from scandals and personalities to the actual achievements of the Clinton administration, which were numerous. There’s no easier way to argue this than to point out what we’re lacking right now — which is peace to begin with, and broad-based prosperity; prosperity that affects people at every economic level, not just the top; and responsive daily government. That if there’s a crisis or a natural disaster, you have a real sense that smart people are working very hard to solve the problem, and it doesn’t matter how rich you are, that you expect the federal government to be on your side simply because you’re an American

Shopping not uncommonly seems like the official state religion of America. What is your sense of how this impacts our civic life?

I don’t have anything against shopping. I think liberals tend to be a little too suspicious of thriving economies, and successful business people. One of Clinton’s strengths was he thought business was great. He wanted to help small business people and corporations with progressive policies, and self-employed people. He wanted everyone to have meaningful jobs, but he also wanted people with jobs to feel some responsibility for their fellow citizens

How was the Upper Crust conceived, and how did being in an AC/DC-style rock band of faux French aristocrats affect your life?

It was just a kind of diversion while I was doing a million other things. I liken it to a Monty Python sketch. It was something that was tried out for fun and which then developed a life of its own. But it’s been a longtime now since those days.

What influence, if any, did the Upper Crust draw from the Young Adults?

Such a big influence that I’m embarrassed to admit it, because we basically stole every idea they ever had. Some day I’ll buy Rudy Cheeks dinner as a first step toward repayment. I should admit a literal borrowing. As we were starting, [Young Adults’ keyboardist] Jeff Shore lent me his platform shoes, and they were later stolen, and I’ve been looking for years for a proper pair to send to Jeff.

The Young Adults rank just below Roger Williams in terms of their importance in Rhode Island history.

There are reports of your involvement in a new band whose songs are exclusively about Wayland Square.

I have some very old friends who I grew up with, and we sometimes get together and write songs. It’s true, we’re all obsessed about Wayland Square, and especially Wayland Square in the past. It may surprise some readers to know that Wayland Square’s past is actually different from its present, because it seems that time stands still there. In a way, that’s exactly the point of the band, which is to remember the distant past and how it shaped us. I don’t think this band will ever actually perform. It’s just old friends getting together and it’s called Van Winkle. It’s a mixture of Van Halen and Rip Van Winkle.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.