2. Records of the Directors

Abstract

Alice Beamsderfer was the Assistant Director for Collections and Project Support at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is as of 2020 the Deputy Director. Following the unexpected death in June 2008 of Anne d'Harnoncourt, the Museum's Director and Chief Executive Office, Beamsderfer also was named Interim Head of Curatorial Affairs.

Abstract The Anne d'Harnoncourt Records correspond to the quarter of a century that Anne d'Harnoncourt (1943-2008) served as the George D. Widener Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), assuming the additional responsibilities of Chief Executive Officer in 1997. During her tenure, d'Harnoncourt led the Museum through milestones that transformed its collections, exhibitions, curatorial and educational missions, and physical environment. The records she compiled during that time provide the...

Abstract

As Assistant Director, Jolles' files include records and plans for the Bicentennial, records of the reinstallation in 1975, Corporate and Departmental Committee records and general correspondence. Also, there are eight feet of the Turner Records which deal with the transfer of authority from Turner to Jolles in 1977/1978. The first five series concern Jolles work as Assistant Director for Art, 1970-1977. The second five subseries concern Jolles role as Acting Director, 1977-1979.

Abstract Dalton Dorr played a key role in the early years of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (later known as the Philadelphia Museum of Art). Dorr was elected Secretary of the Corporation in 1880. In 1888 he acted as both Secretary and Curator, and by 1892 he was performing the duties of Secretary, Director, and Curator. In 1899 William Platt Pepper took over as Director of the museum, and Dorr continued on as Curator and Secretary. Dalton Dorr died on February 26, 1901. Shortly...

Abstract

Danielle Rice came to the Museum in 1986 as its first Curator of Education. In the previous decades, the title of the department head was Chief of the Division of Education. Rice worked as Curator and then Senior Curator for the next 15 years. Most of these records pertain to Rice's role as Senior Curator of Education, and consist primarily of program materials used in the Museum's teachers' workshop known as VAST (Visual Arts as Sources for Teaching).

Abstract The Directors Exhibition Records of the Philadelphia Museum of Art contain documentation of exhibition activities at the museum. These records are not a comprehensive account of exhibitions held by the museum, but an ongoing file produced by the executive office in the course of administering exhibitions between 1915 and 1981. Museum directors during this period included Edwin AtLee Barber, Langdon Warner, Fiske Kimball, Henri Marceau, Evan Turner, and Jean Sutherland Boggs. Additional...

Abstract

The Edwin Atlee Barber Records contains correspondence covering a broad range of topics and is especially rich in correspondence regarding acquisitions, appraisal, and the identification and authentication of artifacts. They provide information about Barber’s role as both Curator/Director and administrator of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and his activities as a scholar.

Abstract Evan H. Turner was an art historian, scholar, and Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) from 1964 to 1978. A mix of correspondence, inter-office memoranda, reports, minutes and other records document Turner’s role in the museum’s growth and transformation during that time, as well as exhibition and event planning, and the daily operations of the museum. The collection also reflects Turner’s work with professional organizations, his efforts to help the city of Philadelphia to plan...

Abstract From 1925 to 1955, Fiske Kimball served as director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, steering the institution from what he described as "a minor provincial position to become one of the leading museums of America." The Fiske Kimball Records document Kimball's efforts in achieving this transformation in collaboration with the museum's officers, staff, and the Fairmount Park Commission, and with the assistance of private benefactors and City funding. Comprised primarily of correspondence,...

Abstract Henri Gabriel Marceau was a scholar, art historian, architect, and served as Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1955 to 1964. This collection contains the records of the Director’s office during Henri Gabriel Marceau’s term as Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They represent both major developments and events at the museum, as well as daily administrative activities during that period. Many significant capital improvements took place during Marceau’s directorship,...