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[cars rumbling on cobblestone]

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-I'm Caroline Cumming.

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I'm the executive director of

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Folio, the Seattle Athenaeum.

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and we're here at Pike Place
Market overlooking Elliott Bay.

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[seagulls squawking]

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We're a little bit hard to find.

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We're in the Economy Building
above DeLaurenti.

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We're also not far from
the fish throwers,

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and you can take the
elevator, the last elevator,

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up to the beautiful
library there as well.

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♪♪

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We have a collection
of over 11,000 books,

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and we have a lot of
diverse programming

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with author readings,
musical evenings,

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book discussions, open
mics, poetry clubs,

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philosophy clubs, and
lots of other programming

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that brings our literary
community together

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here in Seattle.

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♪ ♪

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-I'm a member.

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I come here as often
as I can because I'm

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in grad school for poetry.

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So I get to read and I get to
write and to be surrounded

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by people who are also
reading and writing.

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It's a great energy.

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The book is by a poet
named Terrance Hayes.

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At Pegasus.

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They are like those crazy
women who tore Orpheus

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when he refused to sing.

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These men grinding in the
strobe and black lights of

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Pegasus, all shadow and sound.

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♪ ♪

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-The original libraries
in America were

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subscription-based libraries,
the first one being the Library

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Company, founded by Benjamin
Franklin in Philadelphia.

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We are here to connect readers
and writers and thinkers.

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And the Athenaeum itself
is that space, a space to

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come, to read, to study.

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So a place where you can
actually come and really support

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your own intellectual growth,
your own literary pursuits

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and just a place to be
quiet and reflective.

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-I've been a member
since November 2025.

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I chose “America's Women:
400 Years of Dolls,

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Drudges, Helpmates, and
Heroines” by Gail Collins.

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When I look back through
all American history,

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the one moment that stays
with me is the image

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of women standing on the
deck of the Mayflower,

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staring out at a whole
continent of dense forest.

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Plenty of male Europeans
had made the same

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voyage before them, but
they were explorers or

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traders or fishermen out
to get what they needed

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and they returned home.

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For women, this was going
to be the only trip they

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would ever know again.

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The real job of
settling was theirs.

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Most of them would die before
they could put down real roots,

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but those who survived
generationally went

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on to have big families
whose descendants took

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special pride in knowing
that they shared the DNA

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of those simple, sacred,
and determined women.

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♪ ♪

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-What we're finding is that more
and more people are coming to us

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as this quiet oasis above
the noise and the hubbub and

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the vibrancy of the market.

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[urban noise, crowds talking]

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We do have quite a lot
of the people who work

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in the market come up and
read during lunchtime

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and take a book off the
shelf and come back the

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next day and start the
next chapter wherever they

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were and it's a beautiful thing
to see and of course it's so

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quiet. It's crazy down there,
it's crazy outside the

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door and we hear that all
the time and they're like

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this is like an oasis,
this is like a hidden gem,

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a place where you can
just find yourself again.

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♪ ♪

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-I chose “Angel Down”
by Daniel Kraus.

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It's a book that Lillian, our

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librarian, recommended to me.

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I read it and I rarely
read books twice even

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though Lillian always says
you know you've never

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read a book till you've read it
twice. I didn't want to read any

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other book after this so I
just started it all over again

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and it was just one of
the most compelling books

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I've ever read. It's a
World War I story.

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It's all one sentence, but

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don't let that intimidate you.

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It's very readable.

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♪ ♪

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-I've chosen “Jazz Life”
by William Claxton.

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This is a photography book
that shows off the height

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of the jazz scene.

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The photographer is excellent at

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capturing the love of music.

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He seems to get it in the shot.

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And as a musician myself,
like I can feel that

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through the photography.

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This is a Mahalia
Jackson performing at

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her home on Chicago's
South Side.

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There's the
traditional telling

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of the Southern story with
African-American artists

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and their influence
early on in jazz.

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But then we reach
photographs like this

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and there's a non-segregated
group of musicians

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playing together in
a social setting.

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I always loved that they
captured that energy

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'cause jazz is about
community and color in here.

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And there's a lot of that
in this photography.

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♪ ♪

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-It's an Irish poet, Tmuric Colum
or Padraic, as some people say,

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and it's called 'A Cradle Song'.

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O men from the fields, come
softly within, Tread softly,

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softly, O men coming in.

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Mavourneen is going from me
and from you, Where Mary will

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fold him with mantle of blue.

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From reek of the smoke and cold
of the floor, and peering of

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things across the half-door,
O men from the fields,

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soft, softly come through.

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Mary puts round him
her mantle of blue.

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♪ ♪

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It's definitely a place
for the surprise and

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delight of exploring and
finding something new.

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and also really getting
that curiosity going

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about what else is
there on the shelf?

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What else is there to explore?

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♪ ♪