William Henry Fox (WHF) records, bulk: 1913 - 1933, 1908 - 1935
Scope and Contents
The records of William Henry Fox’s administration comprise a single subject and name series, arranged by randomly assigned file numbers. Files document all activities of the Museum and include correspondence with donors, lenders, and vendors; Board of Trustees members; New York City agencies; Museum staff; and staff of other museums and cultural institutions.
The activities of the Museum’s curatorial departments can be tracked through the files on the individual curators or curatorial departments. These files may include letters reporting on activities during expeditions abroad, information that may not be available elsewhere. In addition, the files document everyday activities, from routine memos to purchase requisitions for works of art. Among the most important curatorial correspondents are Stewart Culin and Herbert Spinden (Ethnology); William Henry Goodyear, Herbert B. Tshudy, and Andre E. Rueff (Fine Arts, Paintings), George P. Engelhardt and Robert C. Murphy (Natural History), Elizabeth Haynes (Decorative arts); Susan Hutchinson (Library and Prints); and Tassilo Adam (Oriental Art).
Correspondence with donors and potential donors documents the offer and acquisition (or rejection) of objects as diverse as a small curiosity or a major work of art. Bequest files also contain valuable information on the acquisition of objects and funds. The provenance of objects in the collection can often be traced through these files. Among the donors and artists found in the files are Edwin H. Blashfield, Charles Caryl Coleman, M.D.C. Crawford, Frank Crowninshield, Katherine and Dorothea Dreier, Michael Friedsam, Emil Fuchs, Albert E, Gallatin, Samuel E. Haslett, A. Augustus Healy, Paul Helleu, William H. Herriman, the Hewitt sisters, Alfred W. Jenkins, Joseph Pennell, Dick S. Ramsay, Augusta Saint-Gaudens, Louis Sparre, Joseph Stella, Theodora Wilbour, and Claggett Wilson.
Correspondence with Trustees also provides valuable insights into administrative matters and collecting policy and activities. Several Trustees, including Frank L. Babbott, Edward C. Blum, A. Augustus Healy, Adolphe Lewisohn, Luke V. Lockwood, John Hill Morgan, and Caroline A.L. Pratt took a very active interest in the day-to-day activities of the Museum and generated a significant amount of correspondence.
During Fox’s administration, a number of exhibition series were established, among them two biennials: “Water Color Paintings by American Artists,” beginning in 1921, and “Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings by American and Foreign Artists,” beginning in 1928. The Museum also hosted the annual exhibitions of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers from 1915, the Brooklyn Society of Miniature Painters from 1916, and the Brooklyn Society of Artists from 1922. The Director’s files provide important adjunct material to the primary exhibition documentation, which appears in the files of the curatorial departments.
Of particular significance are exhibition files documenting Fox’s organization of a number of circulating loan shows of contemporary art and decorative arts. While the role of the Office of the Director in exhibitions is often primarily administrative, Foxe acted as curator on a number of occasions, assisted by art critic Christian Brinton. The files include correspondence and lists compiled during his trips to Europe to visit museums and artists, select works of art, and arrange for loans; his efforts in the United States to arrange venues for the exhibitions after they were shown at The Brooklyn Museum; administration of the exhibition circuits; and critical reaction to the exhibitions. Among the exhibitions created by Fox were “Zuloaga” (1916-1917), “Art of France & Belgium from the Panama Pacific International Exposition” (1918), “Boris Anisfeld” (1918), “Artists of Switzerland” (1921), “Contemporary Russian Paintings & Sculpture” (1924), “Paintings, Sculpture & Arts & Crafts of Denmark” (1927), “Living Bavarian Artists” (1928-1929), “Peter Behrens & His Pupils, Master School of Architecture, Vienna” (1930), “Contemporary Belgian Paintings, Sculpture and Applied Arts” (1930), and “Carl Milles Sculpture” (1932).
In addition, several important exhibitions organized by outside organizations were held at the Museum. Among these, the Société Anonyme’s “International Exhibition of Modern Art” (1926-1927), the “International Exhibition Organized by the Carnegie Institute” (1928), and the AUDAC (American Union of Decorative Artists and Craftsmen) exhibition (1931), are of particular significance. Circulating exhibitions from the American Federation of Arts also appeared at the Museum. While the depth of information seen above does not exist in these files, they do provide critical material not found elsewhere.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1913 - 1933
- 1908 - 1935
Creator
- Fox, William Henry, 1858-1952 (Person)
Biographical / Historical
William Henry Fox (1858-1952)
The son of Daniel M. Fox, lawyer and mayor of Philadelphia, William Henry Fox received both academic (1881) and law (1883) degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He also studied studio art and drew and painted as an amateur. Fox practiced law with his father and later reported on the arts for various Philadelphia newspapers, including the Public Ledger. He married Catherine T. Dobbins in 1904.
In 1904, Fox served as the Secretary of the Fine Arts Department of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, and the following year became the first Director of the Herron Institute, Indianapolis, supervising its construction, enlargement of the collections, and establishment of the art school. In 1910, he travelled to Rome to serve as Secretary General of the American Section of the International Exposition of Art and History. Fox and Joseph Pennell served as representatives of the Jury of Awards; Fox was elected its secretary.
Fox returned to America in October 1912 and began a short job search that brought him to Brooklyn. He was appointed Curator-in-Chief of the Central Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (The Brooklyn Museum) in January 1913 and then Director in January 1914, the first person to hold that office. His tenure at The Brooklyn Museum lasted the remainder of his career: Fox went on sabbatical in May 1933, leaving Philip Newell Youtz as Acting Director, and retired permanently in April 1934. The Governing Committee named him Director emeritus at that time.
When hired by Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences President Augustus Healy, Fox was charged with redressing an imbalance between Natural History and Fine Arts at the Museum, where Natural History exhibits had been receiving the most attention. In his early years at the Museum, he created a new atmosphere in the overcrowded galleries by retiring many exhibits and creating alcoves with movable screens. In order to create a special niche for the Museum in the New York art world, Fox began presenting the works of contemporary American and European artists. He also worked to involve members of Brooklyn society in the institution, creating the Museum’s membership program in 1916 and hosting gala social events at the Museum.
The Museum building itself underwent some change under Fox’s administration with the construction of the superstructure of Sections F and G in 1913-1914 and the final completion of interior spaces of those sections in 1923-1925.
During Fox’s administration the three original curatorial departments (Fine Arts, Ethnology, and Natural History) were expanded and subdivided to include Prints (1913, under the care of the Librarian), Decorative Arts (1925), Oriental Art (1929), and Egyptology (1932). The emphasis on fine and applied arts grew increasingly strong, eventually resulting in the transfer of Natural History collections and activities to the Children’s Museum, beginning in 1929.
The collections grew steadily during Fox’s two decades in office, through donations, purchases, bequests, and loans as well as by means of frequent Museum-sponsored collecting expeditions. The Museum Collections Fund was established in 1913; funds for the purchase of objects were raised by yearly Collections Fund drives. In addition to installations of the permanent collection, Fox inaugurated a regular series of “special exhibitions” of loaned works. Many of these exhibitions were organized by Fox himself and circulated to other institutions after showing at The Brooklyn Museum.
Two publications were established during Fox’s tenure, the Brooklyn Museum Quarterly, of which he was editor, and the Children’s Museum News.
Educational activities were extremely important. Ties to the New York City Board of Education and the School Art League were forged in 1913 and continued throughout Fox’s administration. Public school art teachers’ training courses were added in 1920. In 130, links were forged with local colleges to offer credit for Museum courses and college students began teaching children’s art classes. A full series of lectures and docent-led tours were supplemented by the introduction of motion pictures in 1915. Radio lectures on WNYC brought the Museum to an even broader audience. Fox was also committed to encouraging the use of the collections and the Museum by members of the design industry, establishing a designers’ room in 1918, and also by artists, for whom a print lab was set up starting in 1914.
Fox was active in the art world and in community affairs, including memberships on the Advisory Board of An American Group; the Fine Arts Advisory Committee of the Century of Progress International Exposition; the board of the Art Students League; the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; the Carnegie Corporation Advisory Group on Museum Education; and the France-America society.
Extent
15.416 Linear Feet (37 document boxes (DB))
Language of Materials
English
Source
- Fox, William Henry, 1858-1952 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Brooklyn Museum Archives Repository