Officers and other overseers, 1922-1954, undated

This series documents the individuals who in various degrees and capacities oversaw the operation and progress of the museum. With these people and their affiliated entities noted below, Kimball worked to define the museum's goals, establish its policies, negotiate its funding, and promote its service to the public as a major institution of art. Most of the individuals in this series wore several hats in their service to the museum. Therefore, the positions noted below with these individuals are not their only connection to the museum but instead reflect the roles most fully documented in these records. Most were board members, and many served on several museum committees simultaneously. Many were also donors and lenders, contributors and sometimes advisors or negotiators in the museum's purchase of art objects. The overseeing bodies defined in the various subseries underscore the museum's unique position as a private corporation partially funded by the City. While the corporate officers and committees represent the museum's operation as a private institution, the Fairmount Park Commission was its municipal link through which the museum's public funding was appropriated.

Because these records contain limited documentation regarding the activities of the Board of Trustees, no subseries is devoted to that entity. As the museum's corporate secretary, Julius Zieget regularly reported to Kimball on the actions and resolutions taken at Board of Trustee meetings. His correspondence is part of this series, in the "Corporate officers" subseries. A special committee that included Board members is documented in this series as part of the "Committees, chairs and others" subseries, "Other committees" sub-subseries. There are a few miscellaneous files concerning the Board in the "Administrative issues" series, "Subjects" subseries, "Other administrative topics" sub-subseries.

Although the bulk of material consists of correspondence and related papers, there are also a substantial number of reports, namely committee meeting minutes and financial statements.