Alexandre Vattemare

Photo of Alexandre Vattemare in The Public Library of the city of Boston: a history by Horace G. Wadlin, 1910, 1911

Nicolas Marie Alexandre Vattemare (1796 in Paris – 1864), also known under the stage name Monsieur Alexandre, was a French ventriloquist and philanthropist who created the first international system for the exchange of items among libraries and museums.

Career as ventriloquist Around age seven, Vattemare discovered a talent for ventriloquism and the ability to imitate sounds. He trained as a surgeon, but was refused a diploma after making cadavers seem to speak during surgical exercises. He first proposed the unification of Boston's major social libraries and a committee to investigate this idea appointed by mayor, Josiah Quincy. In 1853, the system of exchange was expanded considerably with the participation of 130 libraries around the world, including the Boston Public Library. He created the American Library of Paris, which in 1860 contained 14,000 volumes from the early United States. Vattemare donated several cases of objects to the fledgling Smithsonian Institution, which set up a system of cultural exchange inspired by Vattemare's. Vattemare is credited with inspiring the expansion of the library system in the United States, and his exchange system is regarded as a forerunner of later cultural exchange systems, including UNESCO. Books and other documents exchanged through Vattemare's system can still be found in libraries throughout the world, particularly Boston and Paris. Those collections include many rare and valuable publications of great interest to modern historians.