2. Records of the Directors

Abstract Woodhouse, a medical doctor and a scholar, was Acting Director of the Museum from 1923 to 1925, Associate Director until 1927, and Advisor in the 18th Century Industrial Arts until 1928. The collection contains primarily correspondence regarding acquisitions. Several long sets include: correspondence with dealers and scholars, especially in the field of furniture and letters from the officers in the Corporation, including John D. McIlhenny and others. There is a small amount of...

Abstract

From 1971 to 1974 Botwinick was the first Assistant Director for Art, a newly created post. He left here to become the Director of the Brooklyn Museum and, beginning in 1982 served as Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. His records consist of exhibition files, curatorial department records, and Museum subjects.

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

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

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 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

Langdon Warner, a scholar of Asian art and an archaeologist, was Director of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art from 1917 to 1923. Warner also served as Curator of the Wilstach Collection. The Langdon Warner records contain correspondence of Langdon Warner, museum Director between 1917 and 1923, and E. Hamilton Bell, Acting Director during Warner’s absence while he traveled in Asia.

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 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 Dr. Jean Sutherland Boggs was a prominent art historian and expert scholar on Degas who served as director of several major North American museums. She was appointed as the first female director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and served from 1970 to 1982. The Jean Sutherland Boggs records contain the general correspondence and administrative records of Dr. Boggs. The records date from 1977 to 1983 and include correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, financial records,...