* *"'*'* 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIKT OK 
 
 > l8 9 o- 
 
 No. 
 
 Received 
 Accession No. Xc? 
 
 
 L^vWW .>SS>uM.-ia 
 
 

A SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 OK CINCINN AT I 
 
 18771886 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 CINCINNATI 
 
 ROBERT CLARKE & CO 
 1886 
 
12* 
 
At a special meeting of trustees of the " Women's 
 Art Museum Association of Cincinnati," held April 
 3, 1886, at the rooms of the "Historical and Philo- 
 sophical Society of Ohio," 115 West Eighth street, on 
 motion of Mrs. Louise N. Anderson, it was 
 
 "Resolved, That as the object in view of which the Association 
 was formed is accomplished by the opening of the ' Cincin- 
 nati Museum ' in Eden Park, the trustees recommend that 
 the organization be dissolved ; and hereby refer the decision 
 to the Association." 
 
 Motion carried. 
 
 Also, on motion of Mrs. A. S. Winslow, 
 
 " Resolved, That, if the Association be dissolved, the money 
 left on hand, after the payment of all just debts, be applied 
 to the publication of a sketch of the history of the Associa- 
 tion to be prepared by the president. A limited edition 
 only of the sketch to be published, for the members of the 
 Association and a few friends not for general circulation." 
 
 Motion carried. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Association, held April 
 22, 1886, at the house of Mrs. Perry, 238 Auburn 
 avenue, the resolution of the Trustees was consid- 
 ered, and on motion of Mrs. Davies Wilson, it was 
 unanimously carried. 
 
 (3) 
 
In undertaking to fulfill the requirement imposed 
 upon me by the resolution of the trustees, I shall have 
 no better opportunity, perhaps, of expressing the sat- 
 isfaction which we all share in the pleasant relations 
 that have existed among us unbroken, and which I 
 hope will not cease with the accomplishment of the 
 purpose at which we have been aiming so many 
 years. I hope the friendly ties which have grown 
 up by our long association together, will not be weak- 
 ened by the fact that the purpose we have had in 
 view has been taken hold of by citizens who can ap- 
 preciate it as highly as we did, and who bring to it 
 the necessary power to guarantee its triumphant 
 success. 
 
 238 Auburn avenue, April, 1886. 
 (4) 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 ncRsr 
 
 Ox- / 
 
 The sources from which the material for a familiar 
 sketch of the " Women's Art Museum Association of 
 Cincinnati " must be gleaned, are the annual and other 
 official reports of the Association, contemporary news- 
 paper notices, personal reminiscences, and letters; 
 and it seems admissible to draw freely from all these 
 sources in the preparation of a sketch intended, not 
 for public circulation, but to revive, for the entertain- 
 ment of those who were actively interested in its 
 work, pleasant memories of their long and intimate 
 association together. Much of the material here col- 
 lected has before been published, but so long ago that 
 it will perhaps bear repetition. Some of the letters 
 given in full, or quoted from, may seem unimportant, 
 yet they revive memories of experiences all interest- 
 ing at the time they were made, and not uninteresting 
 now as reminiscences. The insertion of others of 
 them seemed the best mode of bringing together in 
 consecutive form, the leading events of the work of 
 the organization. 
 
 The Association did not expect, and made no effort, 
 to raise money for so great an undertaking as the es- 
 tablishment of an Art Museum ; its object was lim- 
 ited to the effort to awaken and cultivate an interest 
 in the establishment of such an institution, with 
 schools for training in the tine and industrial arts, 
 and thus provide here at home the means which shall 
 raise the general standard of taste, and in time give 
 us our own skilled designers and workmen; considera- 
 
 (5) 
 
6 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 tions which, perhaps as much as an^y other, in the last 
 quarter of the 19th century, enter into questions of 
 commercial prosperity, so far as it is affected by the 
 artistic quality of national manufactures. 1 find no 
 evidence to show that this Association was not the 
 first organized effort, and the only one, in the direc- 
 tion of an Art Museum in Cincinnati, down to the 
 time of Mr. Charles W. West's gift of one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars for a building fund. 
 
 As this organization grew directly out of the ex- 
 periences of a previous association of women, it seems 
 proper, and maybe interesting, to note the connection 
 which existed, and which led directly from the Cen- 
 tennial Committee of Cincinnati to the later organi- 
 zation. 
 
 Beyond this, as far back as 1854, an association ex- 
 isted, called the " Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts," 
 the aims and accomplishments of which seem to me 
 so interesting that I am tempted to give some details 
 of it as a kind of prelude to the work assigned me. 
 There exists no connection between this women's as- 
 sociation of 1854 and our own; the motive which led 
 to its formation, while distinctly in the direction of 
 providing means for the cultivation of taste, and the 
 practice of artistic work, was, in point of time, in ad- 
 vance of the Art Museum idea; the great exposition 
 of England was held in 1851, but the South Kensington 
 Museum, the great example of this modern phase of 
 education, was not established till 1857-9. 
 
 It is difficult to go so far back in the history of 
 Cincinnati that we can not find evidence of effort in 
 the direction of the cultivation of taste and the prac- 
 tice of the arts; for example, we find, in 1838, a 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 7 
 
 " Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts," instituted Oc- 
 tober 18, 1838, having for its object " the mutual im- 
 provement of its members in the various departments 
 of the line arts." From its published announcements 
 the membership appears to have been made up of 
 both artists and amateurs. Regular meetings were 
 held for practice in drawing, painting, or modeling. 
 In order to gain funds for tbe purchase of casts from 
 the antique and other objects worthy of study, an ex- 
 hibition of paintings, busts, etc., was opened. The 
 officers, at the time of the first exhibition, were : 
 
 JOHN L. WHETSTONE, President. 
 
 JOHN H. LOVEJOY, Secretary. 
 
 GEORGE K. STILLMAN, Treasurer. 
 
 T. W. WHITREDGE, Superintendent. 
 
 Standing Committee. 
 
 JOHN H. LOVEJOY, T. W. WHITREDGE, 
 
 G-EO. K. STILLMAN. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements. 
 JAMES II. BEARD, J. 0. GORMAN, 
 
 ALONZO DOUGLASS, MINER K. KELLOGG. 
 
 The " Western Art Union " was established in Cin- 
 cinnati in 1847; incorporated by act of legislature 
 1847-8. 
 
 " The object of this institution is the encourage- 
 ment of the fine arts. Every subscriber of five dol- 
 lars a year is a member for one year, and is entitled 
 to a copy of a highly-finished original engraving, the 
 annual report, and the published proceedings and ad- 
 dresses at the yearly distribution. 
 
8 
 
 "All the funds of the society, after defraying the 
 necessary expenses, will be devoted to the purchase 
 of American works of art painting, sculpture, etc. 
 which will be publicly distributed by lot among all 
 the members on the first Monday of November of 
 each year." 
 
 The officers for the first year of the association 
 were : 
 
 CHAS. STETSON, President. 
 
 JAMBS F. MELINE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 JAMES M. DOUGLASS, Recording Secretary. 
 
 SAMUEL E. FOOTE, Treasurer. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 JOSEPH LONGWORTH, JAMES H. PERKINS, 
 
 CHARLES ANDERSON, JAMES HALL, 
 
 WM. P. STEELE, MILES GREENWOOD, 
 
 GRIFFIN TAYLOR, GEO. K. SHOENBERGER, 
 
 JOHN P. FOOTE, E. L. MAGOON. 
 
 The " Ladies' Academy of Fine Arts " comes next 
 in order of time. It was formed in 1854. Of this an 
 extended notice will be given a few pages further on. 
 
 The organization known as the "Associated Artists 
 of Cincinnati" was instituted for the purpose of pro- 
 viding means for a more thorough knowledge of art, 
 and rendering it available to the many students in 
 our midst, by keeping in operation life and antique 
 schools supplied with suitable models and otter ap- 
 pliances for study. 
 
 The association opened its first annual exhibition 
 in 1866-7, which was not a speculative enterprise, but 
 designed to further the interests of art, and pave the 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 9 
 
 way for the creation of a permanent gallery. The in- 
 tention was announced of devoting any profit which 
 might arise to the purchase of casts, models, etc., for 
 the use of the school. 
 
 The officers, in 1866-7, were: 
 
 C. T. WEBBER, President. 
 
 ISRAEL QUICK, Vice- President. 
 
 D WIGHT BEN TON, Secretary. 
 
 J. B. CHADWICK, Treasurer. 
 
 Council. 
 
 TOM D. JONES, 0. T. WEBBER, 
 
 J. INSCO WILLIAMS, ISRAEL QUICK, 
 
 WM. P. NOBLE, HENRY MOSLER, 
 
 J. B. CHADWICK. 
 
 Of this association only the catalogue of the first 
 annual exhibition is found. 
 
 In 1868-9 we find the " Cincinnati Academy of 
 Fine Arts," an incorporated association, with the ob- 
 ject of cultivating a love for the beautiful, and im- 
 proving the taste for the fine arts. With that pur- 
 pose it was resolved, in the first instance, to have 
 semi-annual exhibitions of pictures, and as soon as 
 possible to establish a permanent gallery for the ex- 
 hibition of pictures and statuary in this city. 
 
 Of this association the first officers and trustees, 
 1868, were : 
 
 W. S. GROESBECK, President. 
 
 H. PROBASCO, Vice- President. 
 
 GEO. W. NICHOLS, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 JULIUS DEXTER, Recording Secretary. 
 
 LEWIS E. MILLS, Treasurer. 
 
10 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 W. S. G-ROESBECK, LEWIS E. MILLS, 
 
 JOSEPH LONGWORTH, JULIUS DEXTER, 
 
 HENRY PROBASCO, M. F. FORCE, 
 
 WM. KARRMANN, GEO. W. NICHOLS, 
 
 C. T. WEBBER. 
 
 The data from which these brief statements were 
 taken were found in the Historical and Philosophical 
 Society of Ohio; but in each instance the material 
 found was so fragmentary and imperfect that but 
 little could be gleaned. 
 
 It is not unlikely that other movements in the 
 same general direction were made in Cincinnati, but 
 these mentioned are all of which any record is found 
 in the Historical Society, and they sufficiently ac- 
 complish the object of showing how early and con- 
 tinuous were such expressions of the taste of the 
 people. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 11 
 
 CINCINNATI ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS. 
 
 AN ASSOCIATION OF LADIES. 1854. 
 
 In the year 1854, an association of ladies was 
 formed in Cincinnati, under the intelligent leadership 
 of Mrs. Sarah Peter, for the purpose (quoting from 
 the articles of their constitution) " of founding and 
 maintaining an academy of Fine Arts." The consti- 
 tution provides that the Association shall be called 
 " The Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts ;" and, also, 
 that the object of the Association shall be "the collection 
 and preservation of copies of paintings and sculptures, 
 in view of the improvement of the public taste, and 
 the encouragement of art." 
 
 In the first year of the existence of this Association, 
 the ladies opened a temporary exhibition of paint- 
 ings, loaned by citizens. 
 
 An introduction to the catalogue of this loan ex- 
 hibition (in which the aims of the Association are set 
 forth) is signed by the following members : 
 
 Mrs. ROB'T BUCHANAN, Mrs. RUFUS KING, 
 
 " ROB'T BURNET, " JOHN KILGOUR, 
 
 " GEO. CARLISLE, " N. LONGWORTH, 
 
 " JOHN W. COLEMAN, " D. B. LAWLER, 
 
 " W. II. DAVIS, " E. D. MANSFIELD, 
 
 " D. K. ESTE, " HENRY MILLER, 
 
 " L. FLETCHER, i( JUDGE McLEAN, 
 
 " JOHN P. FOOTE, " S. W. POMEROY, 
 
 " WM. GREENE, u S. PETER, 
 
 " WALTER GREGORY, " WM. RESOR, 
 
 " GEO. GRAHAM, u DR. ROELKER, 
 
 " R. HOSEA, " DR. RICHARDS, 
 
 " JUDGE HALL, " REUBEN SPRINGER, 
 
12 
 
 Mrs. E. S. HAINES, Mrs. GEO. SHOENBERGER, 
 
 " H. FEBIGER JONES, " PROF. SODEN, 
 
 And many others. 
 
 It is to be regretted that only this imperfect list of 
 the membership could be found. 
 
 Their efforts seem to have enlisted public sympathy, 
 for it is recorded that the receipts of money from all 
 sources were nine thousand two hundred twenty-one 
 dollars forty-three cents. This amount was secured 
 by the annual membership dues, contributions, and 
 the profits of the exhibition of pictures. One thou- 
 sand dollars was given by Mr. Charles McMicken, for 
 the purchase of plaster casts, which it was stipulated 
 should form part of the collection made by the ladies, 
 until a School of Design should be established, to 
 which they were then to be transferred. 
 
 In the summer of 1854, the ladies decided to devote 
 five thousand dollars to the purchase of paintings, 
 copies of the old masters. 
 
 In reference to this step, the following letter is in- 
 teresting : 
 
 Cincinnati, July 2, 1854. 
 MRS. PETER: 
 
 Madame The managers of the Ladies' Academy 
 of Art in Cincinnati, highly appreciating the gener- 
 osity and self-sacrifice which has induced you to un- 
 dertake, at your own expense, a voyage to Europe, 
 actuated by noble enthusiasm for the advancement of 
 the fine arts in our beloved country, hasten to avail 
 themselves of this liberality, by requesting you, in 
 becoming their agent for the disbursement of the sum 
 of five thousand dollars, to lend them the advantage 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 13 
 
 of your cultivated taste in the selection of such copies, 
 casts from fine statuary, engravings, etc., as your judg- 
 ment and experience gained in a former visit to the 
 most celebrated museums may suggest. 
 
 [Signed] 
 
 LUCIA A. COLEMAN, ELIZABETH H. HEWSON, 
 
 SARAH B. CARLISLE. C. G-. ROELKER, 
 
 KATE L. DAVIS, . ELIZABETH JONES, 
 
 MARY S. LINCOLN, HARRIET N. HOSEA, 
 ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, Managers. 
 
 During the absence of Mrs. Peter abroad, the pros- 
 pects of the Association were clouded by general finan- 
 cial troubles at home. The annual report of the sec- 
 retary for this year makes allusion to the feeling of 
 depression consequent upon this circumstance, and 
 also gives us some insight into the proposed work of 
 the Association. No apology is needed for the ex- 
 tracts here given from this interesting and able re- 
 port : 
 
 u Dependent as the Association has been from the 
 beginning upon voluntary subscriptions and contribu- 
 tions, it has by no means escaped the adverse influ- 
 ences which have operated upon the monetary con- 
 cerns of the business world during the past twelve 
 months : addressing itself simply to the taste of the 
 people, it was indeed among the first to feel the pres- 
 sure of the times. It administered to a luxury that 
 had not yet grown to be a necessity ; and while the 
 love of art in which it originated, and which had on 
 more than one occasion illustrated itself in Cincinnati, 
 had not been diminished by the circumstances re- 
 ferred to, the friends of the gallery feel with regret 
 
14 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 that the rapid growth and development of usefulness 
 they anticipated for the institution in the commence- 
 ment, must be greatly retarded. 
 
 "The plan of founding this gallery of art was con- 
 ceived by a few ladies of our city during a season of 
 general prosperity; the rapid growth of Cincinnati in 
 population and wealth, and the fact that her facilities 
 for the diffusion of general knowledge already equaled 
 those of older cities, seemed to make it desirable to 
 establish an institution for the cultivation of those 
 tastes which, if they do not lie at the base of social 
 systems, have always accompanied the march of na- 
 tions toward the highest grade of civilization. 
 
 " The ladies interested in the undertaking had no 
 expectation of being able to develope in its fullest 
 dimensions the institution they had in view. The 
 means to do this were evidently beyond their reach; 
 but they believed that they might furnish an example; 
 that they might plant a twig, as it were, which in 
 time, with growth more or less rapid, would undoubt- 
 edly take root in our soil, and ultimately bring forth 
 its proper flower and fruit. 
 
 " The support they received from the public when 
 they commenced their efforts, fully justified their 
 anticipations in this regard, and they believed them- 
 selves justified by the kind reception their plan and 
 views seemed to meet in the entire community, in 
 making a spirited commencement, even upon very lim- 
 ited means. An agent was accordingly at once author- 
 ized to proceed to Europe to make a selection of such 
 objects of interest in the schools of painting, sculpture, 
 and design, as might form an attractive nucleus, and 
 by thus gratifying the friends of the Association and 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 15 
 
 the lovers of art, secure a continuance of public pat- 
 ronage. Mrs. Sarah Peter, the untiring President of 
 the Board of Managers, to whose suggestion the gal- 
 lery owed its existence, and by whose efforts it has 
 been mainly established, became the agent abroad, 
 visiting Europe at her own proper cost, and wholly 
 without charge to the Society. . . . 
 
 " Some of Mrs. Peter's very interesting letters have 
 been laid before the public through the papers of the 
 city. They fully testify to her capacity and disinter- 
 estedness. During her absence, however, a change 
 came over the affairs of the Association. The altered 
 condition of the business world began to curtail its 
 receipts, and to impose a stricter limit upon our agent's 
 purchases than had at first been imagined to be nec- 
 essary, so that when the agent, after having ordered 
 copies from the Louvre to the amount (agreed upon), 
 informed the Board that, relying on the continuing 
 prospects of the Society, she had contracted for a copy 
 of Raphael's ' School of Athens,' at a cost of two 
 thousand dollars, they found themselves obliged to 
 request her, if practicable, to rescind the agreement. 
 This, unfortunately, she was not able to do ; and the 
 work, when finished, must be paid for by the Society, 
 unless transferred to a party from Virginia, who were 
 anxious, we understand, to assume the contract. . . . 
 
 " It would be wrong not to state in this connection, 
 that during Mrs. Peter's absence, the difficulties in 
 which the Association found itself involved, prevented 
 the punctual remittances that she had every reason to 
 expect, but that, upon these occasions, with her char- 
 acteristic liberality, she paid what was necessary out 
 of her own resources, thus increasing still further the 
 
16 
 
 obligations under which her conduct, in its regard, 
 has placed the Association. 
 
 "But while the possibility of release from the con- 
 tract for the 'School of Athens ' is thus suggested, it 
 is earnestly hoped that it will be unnecessary to trans- 
 fer to Virginia what was ordered for Ohio, and that 
 even if it should require a special collection for the 
 purpose, this noble work of art in its counterfeit pre- 
 sentment, may yet adorn the Ladies' Gallery of Cin- 
 cinnati. . . . 
 
 "A part of the plan of the gallery is the establish- 
 ment of a School of Design, wherein art may be taught 
 as an occupation, and from which genius and skill 
 may go forth with the means of obtaining honorable 
 livelihood b} T the exercise of their accomplishments 
 and tastes. . . . The school it is proposed to es- 
 tablish here has received a noble gift in Mr. Charles 
 McMicken's donation of one thousand dollars, and it 
 is earnestly hoped that this most praiseworthy exam- 
 ple will be followed, until the plan, shall be endowed 
 with means adequate to its successful prosecution.". . . 
 LUCIA A. COLEMAN, Secretary. 
 
 Through the energetic efforts of the managers of 
 the Association at home, who borrowed a sum suffi- 
 cient for the purpose, Mrs. Peter was relieved of her 
 embarrassment in reference to the " Scliool of Athens" 
 picture. This picture was made by Baize, a French 
 artist of reputation, who was employed as a copyist 
 by the authorities of the Louvre. In the subscription 
 book of one of the managers is found a list of persons 
 who loaned small sums to pay for this painting. 
 
 In Mrs. Peter's subscription book is found the fol- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 17 
 
 lowing note : " Charles McMicken gives one thousand 
 dollars for the purpose to aid in founding a School of 
 Design of Cincinnati, Ohio, under the assistance and 
 management of Mrs. S. Peter, and for the purchase of 
 models, which may he placed in the Ladies' Academy 
 of Fine Arts." 
 
 Among the memoranda found is a note in reference 
 to a class for instruction, here given : " This class is 
 formed for the benefit of those who wish to acquire a 
 lucrative profession, and it is intended for the benefit 
 of such alone as are resolved by perseverance and in- 
 dustry to obtain from it the means of subsistence. 
 None can be admitted upon other terms. The appli- 
 cant must be in circumstances which require her to 
 support herself, and it must be her intention to prac- 
 tice some department of the arts of design for her 
 livelihood." 
 
 From this it would appear that the projected class 
 was intended for the benefit of women only. 
 
 At this period, 1854, the elements were concen- 
 trating, which, in 1857, crystallized into the South 
 Kensington Museum. The awakening which, in 
 England, led to the application of artistic principles 
 to the industries of the country, can not be said to 
 have begun to stir the people of the United States. 
 The impulse which animated Mrs. Peter and her as- 
 sociates to raise the standard of taste by providing 
 means for its culture, seems to have been in advance 
 of the demand in that direction, and in the discourage- 
 ments which overtook them, their work may have 
 seemed to them a failure; but looking back nearly a 
 third of a century, we see it take its place as one of 
 
18 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 the earliest (perhaps the earliest) expressions of the 
 sentiment which in one way and another, at one time 
 and another, has gained strength, and taken shape, 
 until the Cincinnati School of Design has an endow- 
 ment ample for its maintenance a liberal building 
 fund and connected as it now is with the Cincinnati 
 Museum, occupies a position for usefulness second to 
 none in the country. 
 
 The paintings procured by the efforts of these ladies 
 form a choice selection of creditable copies of the old 
 masters; and, down to 1881, when Mr. Joseph Long- 
 worth gave to the Museum the Leasing collection of 
 studies and paintings, they were the only material 
 available for the use of classes, and, in connection 
 with the casts provided by Mr. McMicken, have been 
 of value in forming the taste of the thousands of 
 pupils of the School of Design. 
 
 Finding it no longer possible to interest the public 
 in their enterprise, the ladies, after deliberation, re- 
 solved to close their organization, and made what they 
 conceived to be the best possible disposition of their 
 gallery for future usefulness in its legitimate direc- 
 tion. 
 
 The paper here given is interesting, in reference to 
 this step : 
 
 To the Board of Directors of the McMicken University of 
 
 Cincinnati : 
 
 GENTLEMEN : I have the honor to inform you that 
 in pursuance of a call through the public prints, a 
 meeting of subscribers to the Ladies' Gallery of Art was 
 held June 16, 1864, at 5 o'clock p. M., in a room ap- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 19 
 
 propriated to their collection of statuary and paintings 
 in the Mechanics' Institute, to take into consideration 
 the future disposition of their collection. 
 
 Mrs. Peter, President of the Association in the 
 chair. 
 
 Present Mesdames Carlisle, Davis, Dominick, Jones, 
 Appleton. 
 
 After a free discussion of the condition and inter- 
 ests of the gallery, and in view of the manifest in- 
 difference of the public, with a few honorable except- 
 ions, to the strenuous efforts of the managers to 
 sustain its progress, the following preamble and reso- 
 lutions moved by Mrs. Hewson, seconded by Mrs. 
 Carlisle, were unanimously adopted: 
 
 " Whereas, the late Charles McMicken, Esq., by his 
 last will and testament bequeathed a large estate in 
 perpetuity to the city of Cincinnati for literary and 
 scientific purposes, and was moreover by far the most 
 magnificent contributor to the funds of the ladies' 
 gallery, which owes to him its entire collection of 
 statuary, and since it seemed no longer expedient for 
 the ladies to persevere in their attempt to enlarge 
 their collection, which is already valuable to all lovers 
 of the tine arts, but rather to place it in safe keeping 
 for further use, be it resolved, 
 
 u That the pictures be transferred to the Board of 
 Directors of the McMicken University on condition 
 that they assume the assets and liabilities, and the 
 care of removal, put the pictures in order, and give 
 them the best possible place for exhibition at present. 
 
 u Mr. McMicken having confided the charge of the 
 statuary especially to Mrs. Peter as a foundation for 
 a School of Design, she also, with the consent and 
 
20 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 approbation of the meeting, transfers the whole to the 
 Directors of the McMicken University for the fur- 
 therance of the objects of the donor. 
 
 " Trusting that under your fostering care all these 
 beneficent objects may be fulfilled, and that our gal- 
 lery may continually increase in beauty and propor- 
 tion, I have the honor to be, with highest respect, 
 yours, SARAH PETER, 
 
 President." 
 
 CATALOGUE OF PICTURES BELONGING TO THE LADIES' 
 
 GALLERY. 
 
 School of Athens (copy), Raphael Sanzio. 
 Diogenes (landscape) (copy), N. Poussin. 
 Charles I. (copy), Vandyke. 
 Virgin of Seville (copy), Murillo. 
 Holy Family (copy), Raphael Sanzio. 
 Madonna with the veil. 
 Maid of honor, Louis XIII, Unknown. 
 Old Man, Unknown. 
 Two portraits from Rembrandt (copy). 
 Old Lady. Pastel. 
 
 Belle of Titian (copy). Presented by Mrs. Springer. 
 Mother and Child. Presented by Mrs. Springer. 
 St. Jerome. Presented by Mrs. Longworth, Sr. 
 The Fates (copy), Michael Angelo. Presented by 
 
 Mrs. Peter. 
 Angels. Water color. Presented by Mrs. Hewson. 
 
 CATALOGUE OF STATUARY PRESENTED BY MR. MCMICKEN. 
 Venus of Milo. From the fabrique of the Louvre. 
 Diana with the Stag. From the fabrique of the 
 Louvre. 
 
OP CINCINNATI. 21 
 
 Apollo Belvidere. From the fabrique of the Louvre. 
 Silene and the infant Bacchus. From the fabrique of 
 
 the Louvre. 
 
 Venus di Medicis. From the fabrique of the Louvre. 
 Wrestler. 
 Eve. Presented by D. B. Lawler, Esq. 
 
 STATUETTES FOR A DRAWING SCHOOL. 
 Group of the Laocoon. 
 Diana from the bath. 
 Dying Gladiator. 
 Diana. 
 
 Yenus stooping. 
 The Wrestlers. 
 Venus of Milo. 
 Bust of Antinous. From the fabrique of Colae and 
 
 Barbedienne, Paris. 
 Apollo Belvidere. 
 Manikin. 
 
 Sundry casts taken from moldings in the Alhambra. 
 Hands, feet, etc. 
 
 The gift of the ladies was accepted by the Directors 
 of the University at a special meeting, on the day on 
 which it was made, and their communication, and the 
 catalogue of paintings, sculpture, and casts is fully en- 
 tered on the minutes. Besides the paintings and stat- 
 uary, a large and beautiful collection of Studies both 
 in plaster and on paper were transferred. 
 
 The hall, occupying the entire upper story of the 
 building north-east corner of Third and Main streets, 
 was ordered to be appropriated for their reception. 
 
 Two years later January 27, 1866 a communica- 
 
22 WOMEN'S ART? MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 tion from T. D. Jones, and other artists, being pre- 
 sented to the board, and a conference had with them, 
 it was ordered that the hall, the paintings, casts, etc., 
 be put in charge of a special committee of five of the 
 artists, for a free school of art, under their instruc- 
 tion : a charge sufficient for their current expenses, 
 but no more, to be made to their pupils and, on May 
 17, 1866, four hundred dollars was appropriated by 
 the board to fit up and furnish the hall as a school. 
 
 Things went on in this way until November 23, 
 1868, when, in fulfillment of what was considered the 
 motive of the ladies, and the evident idea of Mr. Mc- 
 Micken as one of the chief promoters, it was resolved 
 to establish a "Department of Drawing and Design 1 ' 
 in the university, and Mr. Thos. S. Noble was em- 
 ployed, at a salary of two thousand dollars, to carry 
 out the plan. The school was opened in December, 
 1868. 
 
 When the observatory on Mt. Adams was about to 
 be removed to Mt. Lookout, Mr. Joseph Longworth 
 offered to give the income of the ground on which the 
 observatory stood to the new School of Design, if the 
 observatory would waive its rights. This was accom- 
 plished, and an agreement entered into by the city for 
 the university, the observatory, and Mr. Longworth, 
 by which the income, about three thousand dollars 
 $3,000 was secured to the School of Design. 
 
 Some time afterward, Mr. Longworth gave fifty 
 thousand dollars $50,000 in United States bonds, 
 or its income, provided the city would raise the income 
 of the School of Design to $10,000. This was agreed 
 to. Mr. Longworth afterward invested the $50,000 in 
 ground-rents, whereby the income was increased, in- 
 
Otf CINCINNATI. 23 
 
 eluding the $3,000, to $7,200, leaving the city only 
 $2,800 to provide annually. 
 
 The timely and intelligent help of Mr. Longworth 
 can hardly be overestimated in its effect upon the 
 taste and social habits of the people of Cincinnati. At 
 a time when there seemed little encouragement to lib- 
 erality in that direction, he established the School of 
 Design upon an independent footing. 
 
 The influence of the school is a pleasing commen- 
 tary upon the foresight and wisdom of his often 
 quoted saying, that he did it " for the benefit of the 
 idle rich, as well as for the industrious poor." 
 
 After the establishment of the " Cincinnati Mu- 
 seum " the scheme of which was broad enough to in- 
 clude training schools Mr. Joseph Longworth, who 
 had already done so much for the School of Design 
 and the Museum, ardently desired to see the two insti- 
 tutions united under one organization the one being 
 the natural supplement of the other. This required 
 the consent of the trustees of McMicken University, 
 and also some legislation both of which were hap- 
 pily accomplished and a few months after the death 
 of Mr. Longworth the transfer was made, with an en- 
 dowment by the heirs of Mr. Longworth in accord- 
 ance with his known plans, of $371,631 for the Art 
 School. (See Annual Reports of Cincinnati Museum 
 Association.) 
 
 Mrs. Peter, and her associates, are entitled to an 
 honorable place in the historic memories of the city. 
 It can not be said of them that they " builded wiser 
 than they knew ;" for the evidence is clear that they 
 aimed to establish a practical School of Design. 
 " The little twig " which they planted, has taken root in 
 our soil, and brought forth "its proper flower and fruit." 
 
24 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF 
 CINCINNATI. 
 
 The "Women's Centennial Committee" of Cincin- 
 nati met for its final session on January 18, 1877, in 
 the rooms of the " Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion." The ladies had been called together, and in- 
 vited to form an Association, by Mrs. General Noyes, 
 centennial commissioner for Ohio. The organiza- 
 tion was formed on October 29, 1874, from the com- 
 mon impulse which led to similar organizations 
 among women throughout the United States, namely : 
 to 'secure a creditable representation of women's 
 work at the approaching " Centennial," and to bear 
 the expense of its transportation and exposition at 
 Philadelphia. The women of Cincinnati had done 
 their full share in this work, and had reason to feel 
 they had done it well. They entered upon it with in- 
 terest, and carried it out with enthusiasm. Through 
 their efforts, Cincinnati was represented in the dis- 
 play of women's work by a large exhibit from the 
 School of Design of Cincinnati. The amateur work 
 in over-glaze china painting, by Cincinnati women, 
 was surpassed by none, in quantity or quality, shown 
 at the great exposition by women from other parts of 
 the country and it formed an important part in the 
 first public indication of the dawn of a new and inter- 
 esting industry in the United States. Numerous 
 other branches of fine and industrial work were also 
 represented by the Cincinnati committee. 
 
 The expense had been considerable : packing, trans- 
 portation, and insurance: traveling expenses, and 
 wages of a carpenter, to go on and unpack goods : 
 salary of person in charge during the period of six 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 25 
 
 months. Five thousand dollars had been contributed 
 toward that afterthought, the " Women's Pavilion." 
 The ladies had reason to congratulate themselves that 
 good, living wages had been paid for all service ; and 
 that no one's work had been cheapened by them. 
 The receipts of money from all sources were $14,465 95. 
 The interesting national celebration had come, and 
 gone: the exhibits were dispersed: the bills all 
 paid : a little balance remained in the treasury, and 
 the committee had met to close its organization. 
 
 The close personal association during the two years 
 had strengthened old ties of friendship, and new ones 
 had been formed : the thoughts of the committee had 
 naturally been directed to a consideration of what 
 might prove profitable branches of work in the fu- 
 ture for women, especially with the benefits of tech- 
 nical training, the value of which had been the great 
 lesson taught by the display of skilled work at Phil- 
 adelphia. 
 
 The subject of a new organization in the direction 
 indicated had been for sometime thought of by the 
 ladies, and now, as the closing act of the " Centennial 
 Committee," it was 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the wish of this committee 
 that they reorganize as an Association, to advance 
 women's work, more especially in the direction of in- 
 dustrial art ;" also, 
 
 "Resolved, That Mrs. Aaron F. Perry be requested, 
 at a suitable time, to call a meeting for deliberation, 
 and lay before it a definite plan of work." 
 
 As a result of these resolutions, a meeting was held 
 January 27, 1877, at which Mrs. Perry read the fol- 
 lowing paper : 
 
26 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 "At the final meeting, January 18, 1877, of the 
 Women's Centennial Executive Committee of this 
 city, it was resolved to reorganize as an Association, 
 to advance women's work, more particularly in the 
 direction of industrial art. I was requested by the 
 resolution to prepare a definite plan to be laid before 
 this meeting. In compliance with this request, I have 
 endeavored to inform myself somewhat, in the direc- 
 tion of what I suppose to be your wishes, and present 
 the following, not as a definite plan, but for your con- 
 sideration : 
 
 " Within a few years there have been established in 
 the United States several museums of fine and indus- 
 trial art, whose object it is to represent, by copies, if 
 not originals, the best results of art which have come 
 down to the present day, and, in connection with 
 training schools, to encourage the application of the 
 principles of art and science to manufactures and 
 practical life. 
 
 " The following extract from an article by Prof. 
 Ware, of the Institute of Technology, Boston, may 
 not be out of place in this connection : 
 
 "'At the Universal Exhibition of 1851, England 
 found herself, by common consent, almost at the bot- 
 tom of the list, among all the nations of the world, in 
 respect to her art manufactures. Only the United 
 States, among the great nations, stood below her. The 
 first result of this discovery was the establishment of 
 schools of art in every large town. At the Paris Ex- 
 hibition of 1867 England stood among the foremost, 
 and, in some branches of manufacture, distanced the 
 most artistic nations. It was the schools of art, and 
 the great collection of works of art at the South 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 27 
 
 Kensington Museum, that accomplished the result. 
 The United States still held her place at the foot of 
 the column.' 
 
 " The South Kensington Museum and Schools, and 
 the results that have flowed from them, giving to En- 
 gland at the present time a foremost position among 
 the great nations, in respect of her fine and industrial 
 arts, is truly the best monument of the Exposition of 
 1851. 
 
 " Its nucleus consisted of gifts and purchases to 
 the amount of 9,000. 'Bit by bit it was built up; 
 treasure by treasure it was added to; no large sums 
 were voted for it ; here was a purchase, there was a 
 gift or bequest,' until at the present day more than 
 one thousand students annually obtain an education 
 from it, fitting them for designers, architects, instruct- 
 ors, painters, sculptors, connoisseurs, etc. 
 
 "The artistic excellence of the manufactures of 
 Great Britain formed one of the most attractive fea- 
 tures to many visitors at our Centennial Exposition 
 last summer. The results of training at the South 
 Kensington, and other schools, gave beauty and com- 
 mercial value not only to her most costly productions, 
 but to the simplest articles of household use. It was 
 visible in the designs, and in the harmony of tone 
 and color of her fabrics, in her hardware house- 
 fittings, her Lambeth faience and tiles, and other finer 
 potteries; in the coarse, but attractive gray Doulton 
 stoneware and terra-cottas ; in the rich jewelry, woven 
 laces, carpets, etc. 
 
 "This display of the schools and museums of Eu- 
 rope, in their application to the mechanical industries 
 of the civilized world, it is presumed, will not be lost 
 
28 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 on the American people. A new impulse has been 
 given to schools of fine and industrial art already in 
 existence, and the art collections in Boston, New York, 
 Philadelphia, and Washington have been enriched by 
 purchase and gift from the < Centennial ' of 187(3. 
 
 "A brief glance at what has been done in this di- 
 rection in some of our cities may not be uninterest- 
 ing. It would seem that the first practical movement 
 toward the establishment of museums and schools of 
 industrial art in this country was made almost simul- 
 taneously in Boston and 'New York, early in 1870. The 
 ^Boston Museum of Fine Arts' was incorporated in Feb- 
 ruary of that year. The city gave the land upon con- 
 dition that a building of the value of $100,000 should 
 be erected within three years; a term afterward ex- 
 tended to six years. The city of Boston appears to 
 have been systematically canvassed for subscriptions. 
 A large committee was appointed, and meetings were 
 held in private houses in the interest of the popular 
 undertaking. Money was collected from all sources; 
 from private individuals, business firms and their em- 
 ployees; from the teachers of the different schools; 
 from tableaux, fairs, and other entertainments; the 
 sums ranging from $25,000 (the gift of a lady) to 
 thirty -five cents. Before the summer of 1871, the 
 subscriptions reached the amount of $250,000. In ad- 
 dition, bequests, donations, and loans of works of art, 
 and collections were received, such as the bequest of 
 Charles Sumner ; the collection of Egyptian antiqui- 
 ties, donated by Mr. Way ; the Gray collection of en- 
 gravings from Harvard College, arid numerous others, 
 which were placed in the Athenseum until the corn- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 29 
 
 pletion of the Museum building, which was formally 
 opened July 3, 1876. 
 
 "In April, 1870, the < Metropolitan Museum of Art,' 
 of New York, was incorporated. A year later the 
 sum of $500,000 was granted by the state for the 
 erection of a building Ho be located in Central Park, 
 or on other public ground.' 
 
 "The impulse which resulted in the ' Pennsylvania 
 Museum and School of Industrial Art' is said to have 
 been inspired by the near approach of the Interna- 
 tional Exhibition. 
 
 "An Association was formed and incorporated on 
 the plan of the institution at South Kensington, for 
 the development of the art industries of Pennsylvania. 
 A considerable sum of money was devoted to the pur- 
 chase of master-pieces of fine and industrial art at 
 the Exposition, and the use of Memorial Hall in Fair- 
 mount Park after the close of the Exposition was 
 secured for the purposes of the Museum. 
 
 "The question naturally arises whether Cincinnati 
 shall not add to the advantages already possessed by 
 her, the nucleus of a museum and school which shall 
 eventually aid in doing for the industries of Ohio and 
 of this city, what the South Kensington Museum and 
 Schools have done for England. 
 
 "A museum alone, it is thought by those who have 
 given most attention to the subject, would fail to ac- 
 complish the object. However richly endowed, it 
 would be but a show without the training schools 
 which should accompany it. 
 
 "In Cincinnati we have drawing classes in the 
 public schools, and we have our School of Design, but 
 without a collection, such as a museum would bring 
 
30 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 together, they are only a part of a scheme of educa- 
 cation, and lose a great portion of their efficiency. 
 
 "Aside from other considerations, perhaps no 
 class of the community will be more benefited than 
 women by opportunities of thorough education in 
 industrial art. 
 
 "At South Kensington there are said to be more 
 women than men among the pupils, and it is also 
 said by Professor Walter Smith, formerly of that 
 school, now Art Director of Massachusetts, that their 
 success is greater than that of the male students. 
 Miss Barlow's etchings on the Doulton stone-ware, 
 stamped it as the costliest in the collection at our 
 ' Centennial,' and some of the exquisite designing 
 and painting on the Lambeth faience and tiles was 
 the work of women, pupils of the art schools of 
 England. 
 
 "The work of women in this country is also being 
 advanced, slowly but surely, in the same direction. 
 The exhibits of their work at the Centennial Expo- 
 sition from the * Cooper Institute,' New York ; the 
 6 Lowell Free Industrial School/ Massachusetts; the 
 1 Institute of Technology,' Massachusetts ; the ' Pitts- 
 burg School of Design,' and other similar institutions, 
 formed a most interesting revelation of the oppor- 
 tunities which are being opened to women by these 
 Technical Art Schools. The specimens of designs for 
 calico printing, oil cloths, carpets, ribbons, lace, and 
 wall paper, with copies of casts, architectural draw- 
 ings, etc., were not inferior, so far as they went, to 
 the exhibit from the South Kensington school, which 
 was largely displayed. 
 
 "In our own city the School of Design has been 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 31 
 
 instrumental in awakening a desire for further educa- 
 tional facilities; but it is limited in its usefulness by 
 want of means. At the present time there are up- 
 wards of seventy applicants awaiting vacancies in the 
 department of drawing alone. The specialty of china 
 painting might be mentioned as an art industry of 
 increasing interest among us. What has been done 
 in that direction thus far is scarcely more than an ex- 
 pression of the latent taste of some of our women, for 
 its development has been almost wholly without op- 
 portunity for training. As a social and domestic in- 
 fluence we are not in danger, perhaps, of estimating 
 too highly culture in such directions. 
 
 " A quarter of a century ago manufacturers in Eng- 
 land paid large sums annually to foreign artists for 
 designs. At the present day a large part of the com- 
 mercial value of her manufactures is the direct result 
 of her own industrial and fine art museums and train- 
 ing schools. So marked was the advance made by 
 England between their exhibition of 1851 and that of 
 1862, in the artistic quality of her industries, that 
 French manufacturers, it is said, were led to fear that 
 their own industrial art supremacy was endangered. 
 
 " The United States is probably destined to make 
 more rapid strides in the same direction. Drawing 
 in our public schools, and Schools of Design in a 
 number of the larger cities, is the beginning of the 
 preparation. 
 
 " The interest felt in this subject by members of the 
 late Centennial Committee of Cincinnati, incident to 
 the work then undertaken, was extended and deepened 
 by the attention they gave it, and the information 
 they acquired. Many of them visited the exposition 
 
32 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 at Philadelphia, and were greatly impressed, not only 
 with the range of the subject to which they had been 
 giving attention, but with its practical and important 
 relations to other subjects of recognized gravity. 
 They also became conscious of a more extended sym- 
 pathy and more interested inquiry among the women 
 of Cincinnati than they had before known. Since 
 the exposition has passed, the impulse has not shown 
 signs of dying out, but rather of renewed vitality. 
 The results, not inconsiderable, accomplished by the 
 late Centennial Committee in connection with their 
 growing interest in the general subject, and their 
 knowledge of interest felt in it by others, reinforced, 
 perhaps, by experience of the pleasure of an associa- 
 tion which has proved so agreeable to themselves, 
 have led them to inquire whether or not they would 
 necessarily fail in an attempt to aid in the develop- 
 ment of a liberal impulse so pleasant, and so useful, 
 to all home interests, and whether a much larger num- 
 ber of the women of Cincinnati might not be en- 
 listed. 
 
 "The history of similar impulses elsewhere shows 
 a nearly uniform growth until they result in museums 
 and training schools. 
 
 " Our proposed organization, if one should be made, 
 
 must, I conceive, be measurably aimless, or aim at 
 
 that result. This conclusion presents the difficulties 
 
 in a light so formidable that we may fairly weigh them. 
 
 " ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 
 "February 5, 1877." " Chairman, pro tern." 
 
 With a view to ascertain what sympathy and en- 
 couragement a movement in the direction indicated 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 33 
 
 would be likely to meet with, a joint meeting of ladies 
 and gentlemen was invited on March 12, 1877, at the 
 house of Mrs. A. S. Winslow. 
 
 The meeting was largely attended by ladies, but 
 only two gentlemen, Col. Geo. Ward Nichols and Mr. 
 Julius Dexter, were present. 
 
 Mrs. Perry occupied the chair and introduced the 
 object of the meeting by reading the following paper : 
 
 " Considerable interest has been felt during the past 
 year by a few ladies, members of the late Centennial 
 Committee of Cincinnati, in the idea of a Museum 
 of fine and industrial art in this city. Several meet- 
 ings have been held by them, to consider the subject 
 of an organization which should enlist the interest of 
 the women of Cincinnati to this end. 
 
 "At a meeting a few days ago, it was resolved to in- 
 vite a few ladies and gentlemen whose opinion and 
 influence would be valuable to a conference on the 
 subject. 
 
 " The ladies are aware of the magnitude of the prop- 
 osition to inaugurate successfully a movement for a 
 museum, with its masterpieces of fine and industrial 
 art, its library and training schools. They believe, 
 if undertaken, it should be on a scale of complete- 
 ness which would furnish thorough instruction in the 
 various branches of fine and industrial art, not only 
 to our own citizens, but to the state and adjoining 
 states. The exhibit at the Centennial Exposition last 
 summer of the results of the museums and training 
 schools of Europe, in their effect upon industrial art, 
 in comparison with the low standard of the artistic 
 quality in the manufactures of this country, has not 
 lessened the importance of the subject in their minds, 
 
34 
 
 nor the interest felt in it. It seems not an extrava- 
 gance to think that the women of this city, in an or- 
 ganization for an object of so much local interest and 
 pride, could accomplish substantial results. 
 
 " To ascertain to what extent the sympathy and sup- 
 port of the community would be given to such an or- 
 ganization is the object for which this conference was 
 sought. A full and informal expression of opinion is 
 invited." 
 
 Some exchange of views was had at this meeting, 
 but the ladies generally were not prepared to discuss 
 so new and important a subject; they were interested, 
 but inquiring. The conference resulted, however, in 
 the appointment of a committee " to prepare, a scheme 
 for the organization and establishment of an Art Mu- 
 seum and Training Schools in this city." 
 
 After several meetings for consideration of the sub- 
 ject, the committee presented the following report, 
 which was adopted : 
 
 " The committee appointed at a meeting held March 
 12, 1877, at the house of Mrs. A. S. Winslow, to pre- 
 pare a scheme for the organization and establishment 
 of an Art Museum and Training Schools in this city, 
 beg leave to report that, after due deliberation and 
 consultation, they recommend that the ladies who 
 have been for some time discussing the feasibility of 
 such an undertaking, should perfect an organization 
 in aid of the movement; and, in order to inspire con- 
 fidence in those who may wish to contribute to the 
 support of the enterprise, they recommend further, 
 that the following named gentlemen, A. T. Goshorn, 
 Joseph Longworth, L. B. Harrison, A. D. Bullock, 
 A. S. Winslow, Julius Dexter, George Ward Nichols, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 35 
 
 Wm. H. Davis, 0. J. Wilson, be invited to act as a 
 committee to draft a form of subscription, and to take 
 such steps as in their judgment will best promote the 
 establishment of an Art Museum, until such time 
 as the subscribers to a fund for this object shall effect 
 a permanent organization. 
 
 "This committee further recommend that the 
 above-named gentlemen meet at an early day, to take 
 such steps as may seem to them proper." 
 
 [Signed], MRS. E. F. NOYES, 
 
 MRS. K. L. DAVIS, 
 MRS. AARON F. PERRY, 
 GEORGE WARD NICHOLS. 
 
 The gentlemen named on the committee generally 
 expressed their sympathy with the movement, and 
 some of them took an active interest in its advance- 
 ment. 
 
 On April 28, 1877, a meeting of ladies was held, 
 and it was resolved to form an organization whose 
 aim should be to interest the women of Cincinnati in 
 the object proposed. A constitution was adopted, 
 and officers and standing committees were appointed, 
 as follows : 
 
 President. 
 
 MRS. AARON F. PERRY. 
 
 Vice- Presidents. 
 
 MRS. JOHN DAVIS, MRS. A. D. BULLOCK, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, " A. S. WINSLOW, 
 
 " O. J. WILSON, " "WM. DODD. 
 
36 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Treasurer. 
 MRS. EDW. F. NOYES. 
 
 Secretaries. 
 
 Miss ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, 
 " LAURA VALLETTE.* 
 
 STANDING COMMITTES. 
 
 Finance. 
 
 MRS. THEO. STANWOOD, MRS. GEO. W. MCALPIN, 
 " WM. E. WILLIAMSON, " CHAS. DEXTER, 
 " J. A. FRAZER, " ADOLPH WOOD. 
 
 Entertainment. 
 
 MRS. W. P. HULBERT, MRS. E. WILLIAMS, 
 " JAMES MCKEEHAN, " E. T. CARSOK, 
 " WILLIAM DOUGHTY, " JOHN KILGOUR, 
 " L. M. DAYTON, " HARRY SMITH, 
 
 " L. B. REAKIRT, Miss FLORENCE CARLISLE. 
 
 Publication. 
 
 MRS. J. T. PERRY, MRS. P. MALLON, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, " F. W. CLARKE, 
 
 " C. A. PLIMPTON, " FAYETTE SMITH. 
 
 The first money paid into the treasury toward the 
 future Art Museum was the sum of three hundred 
 and eighty-four dollars and twenty-two cents ($384.22), 
 the remnant left from the operations of the Centen- 
 
 *Now Mrs. John A. Gano. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 trial Committee, and transferred by it to the new or- 
 ganization. 
 
 At a meeting of the Association on May 31, 1877, 
 the resignations of Mrs. Edw. F. Noyes, as Treasurer, 
 and of Mrs. 0. J. Wilson, as Vice-President, were re- 
 ceived, with regret. 
 
 General ISToyes had accepted the appointment of 
 Minister to France, and Mrs. Noyes was preparing to 
 leave for a residence in Paris. Mrs. O. J. Wilson also 
 expected soon to leave for an indefinite absence 
 abroad. 
 
 The vacancies were filled respectively by the elec- 
 tion of Mrs. Henry C. Whitman and Mrs. George 
 Carlisle. 
 
 The following statements are taken from the report 
 of the president at this meeting: 
 
 "The work of the meeting to-day seems to com- 
 plete the organization of this Association, the first 
 steps of which were taken nearly five months ago. 
 
 " This may seem along period with but little accom- 
 plished ; it is not so in fact. When the subject of an 
 association of women for this purpose was first pre- 
 sented at a meeting in January last, fourteen ladies 
 were present. The matter had already been talked 
 of informally, but had not taken shape nor been def- 
 initely considered. 
 
 " Since then many meetings have been held, com- 
 mittees have been appointed and have reported, con- 
 sultations have been had in different directions, and 
 deliberation has been given to every step of its 
 progress. 
 
 " The constitution has been carefully adapted not 
 only to present, but future needs, by a select commit- 
 
38 
 
 tee, viz., Mrs. P. Mallon, Mrs. John Davis, Mrs. John 
 T. Perry. 
 
 " The form which the organization should take was a 
 matter of importance, and has been the subject of dis- 
 cussion. The difference of views has been harmon- 
 ized, and the form of the present Association adopted. 
 A special committee on by-laws has been appointed, 
 viz., Mrs. A. J. Howe, Mrs. John Davis, Mrs. A. 
 Campbell. 
 
 " Much interest has already been awakened among 
 women on the subject of an Art Museum. Evidences 
 of this are met with in all directions : sometimes in 
 quarters where least expected. The membership of 
 the Association now numbers eighty, each of whom 
 has been constituted a committee to confer with 
 others. The subject is, in its nature, so full of inter- 
 est, that it seems to me it only nseds to be presented, 
 and the objects of the Association explained. 
 
 "As an association of women we may fairly take the 
 position that we are not beggars for unwilling gifts, 
 but simply aiming to present an instrumentality 
 through which those who wish to give may do so, to 
 help to a result which shall be a joy and delight, as 
 well as an educator, to ourselves and to those whom 
 we may leave behind us." 
 
 The Association adjourned till fall, at the close of 
 this meeting. 
 
 At the meeting of the Association held December 
 3, 1877, the president made the following statement: 
 " In consequence of the numerous and pressing claims 
 for money upon citizens this winter, and the general 
 hard times affecting the community, it would seem 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 39 
 
 unwise to take any active steps toward raising money 
 at this time. 
 
 " There is reason to believe that a healthy interest in 
 the subject exists, and that the present is a not unfa- 
 vorable time for deepening and extending it. In the 
 accomplishment of any enterprise of so much impor- 
 tance to the city as the establishment of an Art Mu- 
 seum on the broad basis proposed, the foundation and 
 guaranty of success would be in a general and indi- 
 vidual appreciation of what is aimed at. Well directed 
 effort to this end would confer dignity upon the Asso- 
 ciation by showing that we are not striving for a mere 
 bauble, but for the advancement and happiness of our 
 city and our homes. It would not be time lost, nor 
 effort wasted. 
 
 " In consideration of the circumstances, and no other 
 plan having heen proposed, I take the liberty of sub- 
 mitting for your consideration the following : 
 
 "That several free lectures, bearing upon the inter- 
 ests of the city, be given under the auspice's of the 
 Association during the winter, say one in each of the 
 months of January, February, and March. 
 
 " The first lecture to present an account of the man- 
 ufactures carried on in the city, the extent to which 
 they are sent to other parts of the country, and to for- 
 eign countries ; also the amount and kinds of manu- 
 factures for which we depend on a foreign supply, etc. 
 
 " The second lecture to treat of those branches of 
 manufacture which would be especially and directly 
 benefited by trained designers and workmen from art 
 schools; of the increased commercial value of the in- 
 dustries of the city when the principles of art shall 
 have been applied to them ; of the general advantage 
 
40 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 to all classes of our population in their business and 
 social life, and especially to women, which would re- 
 sult from the educational means furnished by an Art 
 Museum with schools for technical training. 
 
 " The third lecture, on the South Kensington Mu- 
 seum. What it is ; how it originated ; what it has 
 done, and is now doing, not only for England but for 
 the world ; and what the effects of such an institution 
 would be upon the industries and homes of our city 
 and state." 
 
 In due time, the committee to whom was intrusted 
 the duty of arranging for this course of lectures Mrs. 
 Elizabeth W. Perry, Mrs. Caroline Hulbert, Miss Elie- 
 abeth H. Appleton, Miss Laura Yallette reported the 
 acceptance by the following gentlemen of their invi- 
 tation to deliver the three lectures : 
 
 Mr. Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent of the 
 Chamber of Commerce, for the first lecture. 
 
 Col. Geo. Ward Nichols, for the second. 
 
 Hon. Chas. P. Taft, for the third. 
 
 Some modification of the terms of the first lecture 
 was proposed by Mr. Maxwell, and acceded to by the 
 committee : whilst not very important, the corres- 
 pondence which ensued with Mr. Maxwell and the 
 other lecturers has some interest from its connec- 
 tion with the work at that time, and is here in- 
 serted. 
 
 In a letter from Mr. Maxwell, he suggested, instead 
 of the title proposed for the first lecture by the Asso- 
 ciation, " The Manufactures of Cincinnati and their 
 Relation to the Future Progress of the City." "The 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 41- 
 
 first part," he says, " would be general enough to em- 
 brace all the details required, and the latter would 
 open the way fgr such reflections as to their influence 
 on the future of the city as the circumstances and the 
 occasion might suggest. Our manufactures are so 
 broad, that it occurred to me to suggest a close adher- 
 ence to our own production ; and, with your permis- 
 sion, I shall be pleased to pursue this course, alluding 
 only incidentally, if at all, to our importations. 
 
 " I shall be pleased to hear from you, or confer with 
 you, at any time with reference to the subject. The 
 suggestions I have made I have deemed in the inter- 
 est of the lecture, as well as the lecturer, who may need 
 some forbearance at your hands before the end is 
 reached." 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, Jan. 10, 1878. 
 Mr. Sidney D. Maxwell : 
 
 DEAR SIR The committee accept your modification 
 of the terms of your lecture, only stipulating that the 
 logical sequence intended to exist between the lectures 
 of the course shall be preserved. Your lecture being 
 the foundation of, and naturally leading to, that of 
 Col. Nichols. 
 
 You are kind enough to say in your note that you 
 will be glad to receive any suggestions the committee 
 may have to make on the subject of your lecture, or 
 to meet them at any time in conference. 
 
 I may say for myself, and for the other ladies of the 
 committee, Mrs. Hulbert, Miss Appleton, and Miss 
 Vallette, that while we would be happy to meet you 
 at any time, if you desire it, we have really no sug- 
 gestions to make. 
 
42 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 The committee feel that the lecture is in most com- 
 petent hands, and may be safely left to your judgment. 
 Very respectfully. yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 Of the Committee on Lectures. 
 
 CINCINNATI, Dec. 22, 1877. 
 
 LADIES I have the honor to acknowledge the re- 
 ceipt of your letter of 17th inst. 
 
 I accept your polite invitation to deliver the lecture 
 referred to as the " 2d Lecture " in the proceedings of 
 the Women's Art Museum Association. I think I 
 could be ready with this lecture during the month of 
 February, but I would prefer not to fix upon a date, 
 just at present. 
 
 I appreciate the difficulties attending the treatment 
 of the subjects you have chosen, and the high com- 
 pliment you pay me by selecting me to present them 
 to your Association. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 GEO. WARD NICHOLS. 
 
 MRS. AARON F. PERRY, 
 
 MRS. W. P. HULBERT, 
 
 Miss LAURA VALLETTE, 
 
 Miss E. H. APPLETON. 
 
 Committee. 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, CINCINNATI, Dec. 26, 1877. 
 Col. Geo. Ward Nichols : 
 
 DEAR SIR Your note of 22d irist., accepting the 
 invitation of the committee from the W. A. M. A. to 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 43 
 
 deliver one of the lectures in -the course proposed by 
 them, is received. 
 
 We are conscious of the difficulties attending the 
 the treatment of the subjects chosen by us. and are 
 aware that but few gentlemen among us are prepared 
 to present this interesting phase of advanced educa- 
 tion. In receiving your acceptance we congratulate 
 ourselves upon having placed the matter in the best 
 hands possible. . . . 
 
 It is the intention to spare no pains to attract public 
 attention to these lectures. It is no part of the plan 
 to appeal to the public for money, but to interest all 
 classes of the community the industrial class* as much 
 as any other in the subjects treated of, and also to 
 make practical application of them to the Art Museum 
 project. 
 
 On behalf of the Committee on Lectures, 
 
 I am, very respectfully yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY. 
 
 In reply to Mr. Chas. P. Taft's note of acceptance, 
 the following letter was written: 
 
 O 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, CINCINNATI, Jan. 29, 78. 
 Hon. Chas. P. Toft: 
 
 DEAR FRIEND I am glad to acknowledge your note 
 of acceptance, just received. The Committee of Ar- 
 rangements will secure the hall for the third lecture 
 
 * I should say more than any other, for when our manufactur- 
 ers understand the commercial value of the application of artis- 
 tic principles to their products, they will be the first to clamor for 
 technical education, Schools of Design, and Art Museums. 
 
44 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 for March 25, the last Monday of the month. . . . 
 Before closing, let me say a word on the general sub- 
 ject of this third lecture. 
 
 It is hard to disabuse the public mind of the notion 
 that the intended Art Museum is to be simply a gal- 
 lery of sculpture and painting. Of course, the appli- 
 cation of art to the industries, is fine art modified, and 
 applied to the common things of life and a museum 
 of the masterpieces of industrial art would not be 
 complete without presenting also copies, (or originals) 
 of the masterpieces of art in sculpture and painting, 
 from which the artist and workman have in all ages 
 drawn their inspiration ; but a leading and controlling 
 idea with the ladies most interested in this movement, 
 is the industrial feature of it : to improve the general 
 standard of taste among us ; to provide facilities for 
 the improvement of the industries of the country, by 
 showing specimens of the best work done by trained 
 workmen, and by the establishment of technical 
 schools in connection with the Museum, which shall 
 educate in the practice of design, decoration, and 
 other arts and specialties, every one who chooses to 
 be so educated your grandchildren, and mine, among 
 them, I hope. 
 
 I meant to write you a note acknowledging your 
 acceptance. Pardon my long letter. 
 
 Very sincerely, your friend, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 Of the Committee on Lectures. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 45 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, March 1, '78. 
 Hon. Chas. P. Taft: 
 
 DEAR FRIEND Since our little talk Sunday evening, 
 on the subject of your lecture, one idea suggested by 
 you has struck me as more important in its bearings 
 than at the time appeared. 
 
 I allude to your idea that a temporary place might 
 be provided for a collection without waiting to raise 
 money for a permanent building. 
 
 This may be true, but it was not a part of the plan in 
 this course of lectures to go so far as to suggest any 
 course, but simply to engage public attention and in- 
 terest in the enterprise, leaving such questions to be 
 decided at some future time. 
 
 So far as I know the sentiments of the ladies and 
 gentlemen who have for some time been interested in 
 the project of an Art Museum here, they would not 
 favor the plan of a temporary building; they have 
 already the gentlemen have secured a considerable 
 subscription toward a building fund, and expect to 
 renew their efforts in that direction in a short time. 
 The lectures and the projected Loan Exhibition are 
 brought in as aids, to increase attention and interest. 
 A building of a permanent, fire-proof character being 
 assured, it is thought all the rest will be easy of ac- 
 accomplishment. 
 
 I am not sure that you expressed an intention of 
 advocating this course in your lecture; but, in order 
 that there should be no misunderstanding on the sub- 
 ject, it seems to me proper to say that it was not a 
 part of the idea to have tbis point discussed in the 
 lectures. 
 
 I remember your inquiry, whether you were " at 
 
46 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 liberty" in your lecture to which I replied "yes" 
 as the particular mode of treating the topics pre- 
 scribed was, of course, left to your judgment. On 
 thinking over the conversation, it has seemed to me 
 possible there was room for a misunderstanding 
 hence this note of explanation. 
 
 Very sincerely, your friend, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 Of the Committee on Lectures. 
 
 The lectures were given at Pike's Opera House, at 
 that time the largest public hall in the city. They 
 were extensively advertised ; printed circulars of in- 
 vitation were widely distributed, and a number of 
 prominent citizens, in addition to the committee of 
 gentlemen already connected with the museum move- 
 ment, were invited to occupy seats on the stage. 
 
 The lectures were prepared by the gentlemen who 
 had been asked to give them, with great interest and 
 care, and fully justified the expectation of the ladies, 
 and of the large audiences who filled the house. 
 
 In reply to a request to consent to the publication 
 of Mr. Maxwell's lecture in pamphlet form, the fol- 
 lowing response was made : 
 
 Cincinnati, March 16, 1878. 
 Col. SIDNEY D. MAXWELL, 
 
 Sup't of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce : 
 DEAR SIR A desire has been extensively expressed, 
 by business men and others, that your lecture con- 
 cerning the condition and prospects of the manufac- 
 turing interests of Cincinnati, should be published for 
 general circulation. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 47 
 
 To this end, the Association has received assurance 
 of indemnity against the expense, and is at liberty to 
 request, and respectfully requests, a copy for publi- 
 cation. 
 
 The means of the Association are such as to enable 
 it to offer a course of free lectures, but not to incur 
 the expense of publishing the lectures for circulation. 
 It is a pleasing embarrassment to the Association to 
 find the first lecture delivered under its auspices so 
 much iii demand, and a gratifying circumstance to be 
 able to meet the demand without overstepping the 
 line of prudence which it has marked out for itself. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
 Women's Art Museum Association of Cincinnati. 
 
 Pretty full reports of the second and third lectures 
 were given in the newspapers of the day. Col. Nich- 
 ols was asked to furnish his able and very interesting 
 paper for publication in full ; but, for some reason, 
 failed to fulfill his promise to do so. The lecture of 
 Mr. Chas. P. Taft containing a valuable and detailed 
 statement of the origin and successful working of the 
 South Kensington Museum was given to the public 
 in pamphlet form. 
 
 Among the numerous newspaper articles that ap- 
 peared at this time, in reference to the work of the 
 Association, the following extracts are from the pen 
 of Mrs. John T. Perry, one of its active members : 
 
 . . . " Much has been said and written on these 
 subjects, and great progress has already been made in 
 our manufactures. We can also see what the intro- 
 duction of teaching in drawing in our public schools, 
 
48 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 and the advanced instruction in the School of Design, 
 have done for our young men and women. But we 
 want more than this we want a museum, where 
 specimens of artistic work of every kind can be 
 studied and copied, where the eye can be educated af- 
 ter the hand has been trained. 
 
 " A designer for furniture, iron-work, pottery, paper 
 hangings, etc., is not called upon to originate. That 
 is the work of an artist and an artist is not an every 
 day product. But he is called upon to combine with 
 judgment and with 'taste, and to do this he must have 
 models before him. Now, unless we have museums 
 of our own, where original specimens or accurate 
 copies of the work of the masters of painting, sculp- 
 ture, wood-carving, and decorated art are constantly 
 before the eyes of our higher workmen, we shall have 
 only imitations of the work of other countries ser- 
 vile imitations for no designer will have the courage 
 to deviate from his pattern. The makers of beautiful 
 designs for manufactures are somewhere : why not in 
 America, as well as in Europe ? Why not here, as 
 well as in any other part of America ? 
 
 "In our school declamations, it is the fashion to say 
 that we Americans are the foremost heirs of time. 
 Let us take up our inheritance, and use it in small 
 things as well as in great. The accumulated art cul- 
 ture of all Europe can be brought to us for our in- 
 struction by means of models, casts, engravings, pho- 
 tographs, careful descriptions, and criticisms by learned 
 students, if we will stretch out our hands and take 
 them. Every one who has walked through the South 
 Kensington Museum, knows how easy it is to trans- 
 port himself into any country, and to stand before any 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 49 
 
 work of art. The English workman need not go to 
 Naples to study the Pompeian halls, nor to Nuremberg 
 to copy the iron walls of St. Sebald's shrine. Any 
 thing he needs is brought before him by means of ac- 
 curate models or copies. Such a museum, in kind if 
 not in degree, is possible with us; and it is to awaken 
 a belief in that possibility, that these lectures are to 
 be given." 
 
 At a meeting of the Association, held March 4, 
 1878, a letter was read from Mrs. Edward F. Noyes 
 who, though far removed, had lost no interest in the 
 work she had helped to inaugurate. The letter was 
 recommended for publication, and appeared in the Ga- 
 zette of March 5, as follows : 
 
 45 Avenue Josephine, Paris, Feb. 14, 1878. 
 My Dear Mrs. PERRY : 
 
 Mr. P. Cunliffe Owen, well known to us all through 
 his connection with the South Kensington Museum, is 
 now in Paris, where he will remain a year in charge 
 of the English department of the Exposition. He 
 lives quite near us, and came in to spend an evening 
 very recently, when, of course, the subject of the Mu- 
 seum at South Kensington was introduced and, after 
 a little conversation, I told him of the work which 
 the Cincinnati ladies were hoping to do, inspired by 
 the example and success of his labors in England. He 
 expressed his satisfaction and his readiness to help 
 any enterprise which looked toward the establishment 
 of a museum, particularly in Cincinnati, the home of 
 his dear friend Mr. Goshorn ; and he told me, in the 
 most cordial way, to say to the ladies, that he hoped 
 
50 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 they would persevere, and that success would be cer- 
 tain. He then added that, in the coming exhibition, 
 he should have unusual facilities for procuring works 
 of art, particularly such as would be valuable in 
 schools for the promotion of art industries, and that, 
 if the ladies of Cincinnati wished to procure any 
 thing of the kind, it would be a great pleasure to 
 him to give his personal attention to selecting any 
 thing they might desire ; and that he would engage to 
 procure these things at half price. He said it would 
 be necessary to be very prompt, as those who were 
 looking for such articles take advantage of the first 
 few days after the opening to make selections. 
 
 I said I was afraid the ladies of Cincinnati were not 
 prepared to make purchases, as no building had yet 
 been erected. 
 
 He replied by saying, that a building was the least 
 essential thing connected with such an enterprise : 
 that, if a collection was once made, and schools estab- 
 lished, the necessity for a building would be so evi- 
 dent, that it would almost go up of itself; that the 
 coming Exposition would offer unusual advantages 
 for securing the necessary articles, and that it might 
 be several years before such an opportunity would 
 again present itself. 
 
 I am sure there could be no one in whose judgment 
 the ladies of Cincinnati would place greater confi- 
 dence, or who could have greater facilities for making 
 selections. He himself has charge of every thing 
 English, his son is commissioner from Japan, and he 
 is intimately acquainted with the Swedish, Danish, 
 and other commissioners, who were also in charge at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 51 
 
 I know the times are hard, and that it may not be 
 possible to raise any money for this purpose, but are 
 there not a few public spirited gentlemen in Cincin- 
 nati who will authorize the purchase of a little collec- 
 tion so that the opportunity may not be lost and 
 let us work to pay for it afterward? 
 
 I am sorry I can not work with you at home ; but, 
 if I can do any thing at this end of the line, you can 
 rest assured that I shall not leave it undone. I very 
 much hope it may be possible to give Mr. Owen an 
 opportunity to help a good cause; and that Cincin- 
 nati may secure some of the choice things of the ex- 
 hibition. 
 
 Wishing you all possible success, and hoping to see 
 all the members of the Association during the coming 
 summer, I am yours sincerely, 
 
 MARGARET P. NOTES. 
 
 This proposition presented an opportunity which 
 was, indeed, too good to be lost; but the time had not 
 yet come for making purchases, and we could only 
 regret our inability to take advantage of it. 
 
52 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 While arrangements for the course of lectures were 
 in progress, the Association was maturing plans for a 
 temporary Loan Exhibition, to be given in the month 
 of May. At a meeting held January 14, 1878, a com- 
 mittee Mrs. Charles Dexter, Mrs. John Davis, and 
 Mrs. M. F. Force was authorized to obtain informa- 
 tion in regard to a suitable place for holding the ex- 
 hibition. 
 
 At a meeting held February 4, 1878, the committee 
 reported that Mr. John Cochnower had generously 
 placed his spacious house at the disposal of the ladies. 
 
 As early as the first of March, the matter was thus 
 advertised in the daily papers : 
 
 " The 4 Women's Art Museum Association ' has de- 
 termined to open a Loan Exhibition of articles of 
 artistic value during the month of May, 1878, at No. 
 166 W. Seventh street. The members of the Association 
 rely confidently on the liberality of our citizens to 
 make this exhibition an honor to the city, and an ad- 
 ditional attraction to strangers. 
 
 " The articles to be exhibited will consist of Bronzes, 
 Mosaics, Ancient Armor, Carved Ivories, Gold, Silver 
 and Brass Work, Electrotype Reproductions, Enam- 
 eled Metal and Porcelain, Antique Furniture, Antique 
 and Artistic Jewelry, Artistic Embroideries, Antique 
 and Modern Pottery and Porcelain, Pictures, Engrav- 
 ings, Statuary, Glass. Lace, Tapestry, Textile Fabrics, 
 Antique Fans, Lacquer, Wood Carvings, etc. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 53 
 
 "Every one willing to contribute to the collection is 
 requested to send name and residence to the chairman 
 of the Committee of Selection, Mrs. A. S. Winslow, 
 south-east corner Fourth and Broadway. This com- 
 mittee will wait upon each contributor, and make a 
 list and description of the articles to be loaned. The 
 objects loaned will be insured at the valuation of the 
 owner, and every care taken to avoid injury. 
 
 " E. H. APPLETON, Secretary." 
 
 The Committee of Selection were Mrs. A. S. Wins- 
 low, Mrs. Theodore Stanwood, Mrs. Frederick G. 
 Huntington, Mrs. Lewis M. Dayton, and Miss Florence 
 Carlisle. 
 
 Committee of Arrangements, for receiving and ar- 
 ranging articles loaned : Mrs. M. F. Force, Mrs. Wm. 
 T. Williamson, Mrs. Wm. Dodd, Miss Vallette, Miss 
 Neave, who were authorized to invite the assistance 
 of gentlemen friends, if they should wish to do so. 
 
 They were also empowered to incur such expense 
 and make such preparations as shall seem to them 
 necessary for the success of the Loan Exhibition. 
 
 Committee on Procuring Cases and Gas-burners : 
 Mrs. Dr. Kust and Mrs. A. J. Howe. 
 
 Committee on Music: Mrs. James McKeehan,Mrs. 
 Wm. Dominick. 
 
 The difficulties of giving a detailed statement of 
 the Loan Exhibition, including an account of the re- 
 sponsibilities incurred by the large number of mem- 
 bers of the Association in the intelligent direction and 
 arrangement of the different sections and departments 
 is so great, that it is thought unwise to attempt to go 
 
54 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 beyond the reports of the general committees, and 
 selections from the numerous newspaper notices. 
 
 While but little effort was made to go beyond show- 
 ing what could be procured at home and in the 
 suburbs for the Loan Exhibition, yet the ladies would 
 have been glad, at any reasonable expense, to enrich it 
 from outside, if it had been found practicable. The 
 follow-note shows an effort in that direction : 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, CINCINNATI, Jan. 26, 1878. 
 Mr. John Taylor Johnston, President Metropolitan Mu- 
 seum of Art, New York : 
 
 DEAR SIR I take the liberty of addressing some 
 inquiries to you on behalf of the " Women's Art 
 Museum Association " of this city. 
 
 The object of this organization, as its name would 
 imply, is the establishment of an Art Museum, and 
 schools for technical training. With a view to ex- 
 tending an interest in the general subject, the ladies 
 propose to open a temporary loan collection to be 
 continued some weeks, say a month and have for 
 this purpose secured a large, unoccupied private resi- 
 dence in one of the best neighborhoods of the city. 
 
 I do not know that we are yet far enough ad- 
 vanced in this country to have put in practice the 
 English custom of traveling collections; but the subject 
 of my note is to inquire whether such things are prac- 
 ticable, and, if so, whether we may be able to take 
 advantage of it. The Castellani Collection is, I be- 
 lieve, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 
 I am not informed whether it has been bought by 
 that Museum, or simply placed there awaiting a pur- 
 chaser. In either case, could any part of it, or, the 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 55 
 
 whole, be loaned to us for our purposes, and, if so, 
 on what terms? In reference to the Cesnola Col- 
 lection, I make the same inquiry. 
 
 May I trouble you, at your convenience, to give me 
 some information ? 
 
 Your name has been given me as that of the proper 
 person to be addressed on this subject. If I have been 
 misinformed or in any event my assumption of 
 your interest in the matter will, I hope, excuse the 
 liberty I have taken. 
 
 Yery respectfully yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, President. 
 
 YORK, Feb. ^ 1878. 
 Mrs. Aaron F. Perry : 
 
 DEAR MADAM Your favor of January 26th is re- 
 ceived. The English custom of " traveling collections" 
 to which you refer has been adopted by this Museum 
 as a part of their future programme, but they are not 
 yet prepared to carry out the plan. When we are es- 
 tablished in our new building in Central Park, and 
 our collections have been thoroughly arranged, we 
 will then be prepared to look thoroughly into the 
 matter with a view of putting it into operation. 
 
 The Castellani Collection is being packed for its 
 return to Europe, and is, therefore, unavailable. The 
 Cesnola Collection is also unavailable for the reasons 
 given above. Hoping that you may have a successful 
 exhibition, I remain, 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 JOHN TAYLOR JOHNSTON, 
 
 President Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 
 
56 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 At the annual meeting held June 17, 1878, the in- 
 teresting report of the committee of arrangements 
 for the Loan Exhibition was read, as follows : 
 
 " The loan collection was opened to the public on 
 the evening of May 6th, in the handsome mansion 
 'No. 166 West Seventh street, loaned for the purpose 
 by Mr. John Cochnower. Your committee, with the 
 intelligent and valuable assistance of the members of 
 the committee of selection, who had performed their 
 own labors so satisfactorily (that of many of the As- 
 sociation, and an efficient committee of gentlemen), 
 were able, after three weeks preparation, to give the 
 public the benefit of the treasures collected by the 
 cultivated and generous citizens of Cincinnati and its 
 neighborhood. The display of artistic, rare, and beau- 
 tiful articles, was a surprise and delight to all who 
 saw it, and has given to the people of Cincinnati the 
 credit for taste and culture which they richly deserve. 
 A corps of ten assistants was employed by your com- 
 mittee in the care of the house and contents, and to 
 take and sell tickets arid catalogues. A number of 
 self-sacrificing ladies attended every day as custodi- 
 ans, and were instrumental in protecting the articles 
 from injury. 
 
 " The exhibition was kept open a week longer than 
 was at first contemplated owing to urgent solicita- 
 tion, and many were the regrets expressed at lost op- 
 portunities when the closing evening, June 8th ar- 
 rived. 
 
 " The attendance during the six weeks was over 
 13,000. The number during the week of the Musical 
 Festival was over 4000. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 57 
 
 " The difficult task of restoring the articles to their 
 owners was accomplished with safety. Nothing was 
 missing; and, with one or two exceptions, nothing 
 was injured. 
 
 " If the sum of money added to the treasury by the 
 exhibition is not so great as many hoped, there is the 
 consolation that the great object, the awakening a de- 
 sire in the public for a permanent museum, has been 
 accomplished. 
 
 " Your committee, having finished their duties, re- 
 quest to be discharged. FRANCES H. FORCE." 
 
 Chairman. 
 
 Treasurer's Report. 
 
 Mrs. H. C. Whitman, treasurer, read a report cov- 
 ering the time since the funds were placed in her 
 hands on the departure of Mrs. Noyes. The total re- 
 ceipts were $5,482 75. Of this sum $787 72 came 
 from the former treasurer; $530 in cash subscriptions 
 from the members; $4,124 28 from the sales of tickets 
 and catalogues. The disbursements up to yesterday 
 forenoon aggregated $3,330 98 leaving a balance in 
 the treasury of $2,151 77. The net profits of the Loan 
 Exhibition were $1,077 90. 
 
 Report of Publishing Committee. 
 
 Mrs. John T. Perry, chairman of committee on pub- 
 lications, read a report reviewing the work of the com- 
 mittee during the year. It was chiefly devoted to a 
 recapitulation of expenditures for advertising and 
 printing. Of one branch of the committee's Jabor the 
 report said : " The special duty of the committee has 
 been to keep the work of the Association before the 
 
58 
 
 public, and to awaken an interest in its objects, partic- 
 ularly through the newspapers of the city. This has 
 been rather an indefinite work; and, in the nature of 
 the case, each member has been obliged to act a good 
 deal on her own responsibility. We can not, at this 
 time, detail the results of this work, as it is so frag- 
 mentary; but we may say that, in one journal, the 
 Gazette, there has been published eighteen columns 
 of reading matter bearing on the subject and, we 
 presume, other journals have given an equal amount 
 of space to our use." 
 
 After the adoption of the reports, the trustees gave 
 a brief summary of the year's work, from which the 
 following is taken : " In closing our work for the sum- 
 mer, it is pleasant to feel that there are signs of in- 
 creasing public interest, and that we have done what 
 we could to further it. 
 
 " In separating for the hot months we may properly 
 leave the subject where it is, in the expectation that 
 the logic of events will suggest the future course of 
 the Association." 
 
 The concluding business of the meeting being the 
 election of officers for the ensuing year, the president 
 said: "Before vacating the chair, I wish to speak of 
 the house committee, the committees of selection and 
 arrangement for the Loan Exhibition, including the 
 ladies who assisted them and shared in the fatigues of 
 preparing and conducting the exhibition, and also of 
 the committee on publication. 
 
 " Whatever cause for congratulation we have, is due 
 to the devotion of these ladies, who have borne the 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 59 
 
 responsibilities of the work, and to their excellent 
 judgment, management, and economy." 
 
 The election resulted as follows : * 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 Vice Presidents. 
 
 Mrs. M. F. FORCE, Mrs. A. D. BULLOCK, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, " A. S. WINSLOW, 
 
 " GEORGE CARLISLE, " WM. DODD. 
 
 Mrs. H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, Eec. Secretary. 
 " JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Sec'y. 
 
 Among the newspaper notices of the Loan Exhibi- 
 tion, a few are selected for insertion : 
 
 From one of the New York papers, the name of 
 which has been lost, the following is given : 
 
 "Boston,- New York, and the other cities 'of the 
 East, will have to look to their laurels. The nine 
 Muses appear to be going west, and Clio and Euterpe 
 are hovering over Cincinnati, if they have not already 
 settled in it. How else are we to account for its new 
 music hall, the largest arid finest of its class in the 
 country; and its grand organ, one of the largest and 
 best in the world ; and its recent noble dedicatory fes- 
 tival, most successfully musical of any yet given in 
 America ; and its art schools and institutes, already 
 an example to us all ; and its present magnificent 
 Loan Collection of potteries, paintings, jewels, carv- 
 ings, manuscripts, and other treasures. It really looks 
 
 * Mrs. John Davis declining re-election as first vice-president. 
 
60 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 as if Cincinnati were, perhaps, destined to be the art 
 city of the continent. 
 
 " The mere catalogue of the Loan Collection, an ex- 
 hibition for the benefit of the Women's Art Museum 
 Association, is a pamphlet of one hundred and thirty- 
 six pages. The contributions are drawn exclusively 
 from the homes of the city and the suburbs, and com- 
 prise some two thousand different objects. The rep- 
 resentation of the historic potteries is very rich, there 
 is a great variety of choice glassware, with many rare 
 embroideries and laces, carvings in wood and ivory, 
 old armor, tapestries, antique furniture, silver plate, 
 etc. A very interesting department of the collection 
 is that of Manuscripts and early Early Printed Books 
 from the private library of Robert Clarke, Esq., among 
 which are specimens of English, French, German, 
 Dutch, Italian, and Persian work of the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries, many of them beautifully illumi- 
 nated. There is a copy of " Our Weekly Newes," the 
 first English newspaper, dated 1623 ; and also of 
 "Mercurius Publicus," another English journal of 
 1660." 
 
 From the Springfield, Mass., Republican: 
 "It will soon be time for Springfield to form its 
 4 Society of Decorative Art,' and begin to lay the foun- 
 dations of a local Art Museum. The movement in 
 that direction in the larger cities of the United States 
 has become somewhat wonderful, and the amount of 
 interest and talent thereby developed is surprising. 
 Boston has an Art Museum ; so has New York. Cin- 
 cinnati aspires to one, and has taken a long step 
 toward it. Why, then, should not Springfield make 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 61 
 
 the effort ? We have as many citizens, and we soon 
 hope to have once more as much wealth, as Boston 
 had when she founded the Athenaeum, out of which, 
 in good time, budded and sprouted the New Art Mu- 
 seum. Let us make a beginning and see what will 
 come of it. Cincinnati shall encourage us, for that 
 city really has done something remarkable. Soon 
 after the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 
 which Cincinnati took a lively interest through Mr. 
 Goshorn, Col. Nichols, and a whole legion of cultivated 
 ladies with an inclination for art the women of Cin- 
 cinnati resolved that they, too, would have an Art 
 Museum. They formed, therefore, a < Women's Art 
 Museum Association,' with Mrs. Aaron F. Perry for 
 its President, and they set to work to see what mate- 
 rials they had for an exhibition of decorative art. 
 Cincinnati has been much given to industrial exhibi- 
 tions, and was known to abound in paintings, but 
 when the new Association began to gather up its ma- 
 terial for the Loan Exhibition which has been one of 
 the attractions of Cincinnati for the last month, every 
 body was surprised at the richness of the bonanza. 
 Pottery and laces, wood-carving and painted china, 
 old manuscripts and Pompeian discoveries came pour- 
 ing in from all directions, until one of the fine dwell- 
 ing-houses of the city lent for the occasion as if it 
 had been no more than a fire screen was filled to 
 overflowing with the material for exhibition. This 
 was early in May. Then came the ambition to cata- 
 logue the articles, and open the display before the 
 great Musical Festival should begin, with its thou- 
 sands of* visitors from all parts of the country. Mrs. 
 Perry and her auxiliaries hastened to the work, and 
 
62 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 in four days had prepared and printed a catalogue of 
 more than two thousand articles, which not only told 
 the Bostonian with his eye-glass, and the wild Ken- 
 tucky ranger what they were, but actually gave them, 
 in the convenient and pretty little pamphlet, a history 
 of each branch of household art, and a recipe for 
 making enamel and Japanese lacquer ! It was a tri- 
 umph of feminine energy, and Cincinnati culture; it 
 deserved success, and won it. 
 
 " The musical critics came and saw, and wondered ; 
 the sages of social science came next, and viewed the 
 Loan Exhibition with eyes and hands uplifted. Mrs. 
 Dall gazed and praised, and Prof. Pierce conveyed the 
 approval of Cambridge. 
 
 "What Cincinnati did, most of our eastern cities 
 can do not so rapidly nor so well perhaps, but well 
 enough and fast enough. Why should not Springfield 
 and Worcester, Hartford and Providence, and New 
 Haven try the experiment?" 
 
 The July number, 1878, of Industrial Art, a Monthly 
 Review of Technical and Scientific Education at Home 
 and Abroad, published in London, England, contains 
 an interesting article on the Cincinnati Loan Collec- 
 tion, from which the following extracts are taken : 
 
 "The Loan Exhibition of Cincinnati, 1878. The 
 tendency of the age to promote genuine apprecia- 
 tion of art knowledge can have no finer illustration 
 than that presented by the ' Women's Art Museum 
 Association of America ' in its most recent display of 
 art industry. The Association has been most success- 
 ful since its formation. . . . The committee point 
 to the fact that while the European governments fos- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 63 
 
 ter such national exhibitions by the aid of public 
 funds, in America, individuals and communities be- 
 come the originators, contributors, and ultimate 
 founders of such educational appliances as are to be 
 found in local permanent museums and training 
 schools, and in the large loan collections of the prin- 
 cipal American cities, the results of all these efforts 
 being the improved culture of American designers. 
 . . . The century of her national life America can 
 now boast of having attained to, finds her in posses- 
 sion of riches sufficient to justify her people in making 
 advancement in the industrial arts to which, in her 
 early days, she had neither the time nor the inclina- 
 tion to give attention. . . . 
 
 " The Loan Collection at Cincinnati is of such varied 
 character that it proves how universal is the taste, 
 how ample are the means, how liberal the feeling on 
 the part of the owners of the property lent for the 
 display. . . . 
 
 "A clever attempt has been made at classification, 
 so far as classification was possible in so varied an 
 accumulation. 
 
 " This classification applies more strictly to the 
 pottery, which is sufficiently abundant to include 
 within it specimens of every type of the art from the 
 exhumed Phoenician and Greek pottery, dating back 
 two thousand years, down through the centuries, to 
 the most refined examples which have their counter- 
 part in the Paris Exhibition this year. Iron work of 
 the sixteenth century, lace of the fifteenth, glass from 
 ancient and modern Venice, Chinese and Japanese 
 porcelain, lacquers and enamels of every age, together 
 with specimens of the various finer industries of Eu- 
 
64 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 rope and Asia for which certain manufactories have 
 been famous for the last two centuries. 
 
 " The collection has been drawn, as we have said, 
 exclusively from the residents of Cincinnati and its 
 suburbs, no public collection or museum having con- 
 tributed any object to it. Its richness and scope are 
 a surprise to those who have prepared it. . . 
 Along with the beautiful works of classic art, the 
 plainer examples of a less ostentatious period, and the 
 most exquisite types of modern manufactures, there is 
 a small display of etchings, designs, models,, and 
 wood-carvings, sent in by the pupils of the local 
 School of Design, with sundry examples of water- 
 color drawings, and paintings on china by amateurs, 
 which not only attract attention, but give promise of 
 a future for industrial art in America of which we in 
 Europe have no conception. 
 
 " To return to the pottery at this display, we find it 
 divided into sections with admirable skill, just as 
 many specimens being selected as will amply illustrate 
 each group ; the catalogue giving in the smallest possi- 
 ble space enough information to interest the curious, 
 and at the same time to satisfy the specialist with the 
 completeness of each. Beginning with ancient Grseco- 
 Roman vases from the tombs of Etruria and Magna- 
 Grsecia, the section contains specimens of vases, 
 pitchers, cups, lachrymatories, and lamps, and some 
 personal ornaments. These amply illustrate the 
 period. The specimens, it may be remarked, are con- 
 tributed by several collectors, showing how wide- 
 spread is the taste for classic records among our 
 transatlantic friends. Coming down to the eighth cen- 
 tury, the show of Majolica pottery is very fair. An- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 65 
 
 cient Japanese cloisonne and Indian vases of early 
 date complete this elegant section. 
 
 " The Flemish and Roman stoneware is well repre- 
 sented : Holland, Cologne, Nuremberg, Ratisbon, 
 Baireuth, and Mansfield, with the districts of the 
 Lower Rhine, where the finest clays for the purpose 
 of the potter's art are abundant. 
 
 "The close of the 15th century terminates the best 
 period of German art : the revival of the Ores de 
 Flandres of the 17th century, marks a period of its 
 revival. In the next case, the Chinese and Japanese 
 pottery is well represented. . . . Then 
 comes ancient and modern British pottery, including 
 Celtic, Roman, Saxon, and early Norman pottery ; an 
 instructive series of wares illustrating, with the ma- 
 terials at the disposal of the committee, all the facts 
 in the history of the art, as glaze, flux, and decora- 
 tion, even to recent times, including Flaxman with 
 Wedgwood, to Miss Barlow with Doulton. 
 
 " Then comes case after case containing old Berlin, 
 old Sevres, Hungarian, Bohemian, Worcester, Swiss, 
 Frankenthal, Vienna, Dresden, Lowestoft, Derby, etc. 
 Then comes china of local or historical interest, glass, 
 ancient and modern, and figures, plaques, and other 
 artistic objects which are less capable of systematic 
 arrangement, but which tend, with pictures, statues, 
 and models, to give diversity to the chambers where 
 these things are displayed. It is possible to learn 
 many important facts from this rich display, which 
 might be attempted with considerable advantage by 
 our own friends who contemplate undertakings of a 
 like kind. Evidently, to begin with, a private house 
 of suitable dimensions is better than a public school- 
 
 OF TUB 
 
66 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 room or ordinary place of exhibition ; next, the com- 
 mittee should have the right of selection, while a 
 large number of contributors insures a better result 
 than when the specimens are drawn from the museums 
 of one or two known collectors. The object of the 
 committee being a legitimate one, is sure to command 
 the success of a local exhibition of works of art, such, 
 as we are informed, has attended the admirable efforts 
 of our Cincinnati friends." 
 
 A lengthy and appreciative article a correspond- 
 ence of the u Courier des Etats Unis," ~New York 
 appeared November 10, 1878, on the subject of the 
 Loan Collection, in U Art, the well known illustrated 
 weekly journal published in Paris ; but, however 
 agreeable it may have been at the time to the ladies 
 to find themselves complimented for the intelligent 
 aim of their efforts, and for the success attending 
 them, it would be less agreeable now to take part in 
 the republication of expressions which, it may be con- 
 fessed, were not at the time lacking in the semblance 
 of favorable omens. The articles given above are suf- 
 ficient to show the general tone of comment by the 
 press in reference to the Loan Exhibition. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 67 
 
 Cincinnati, October 27, 1878. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, 
 
 President Women's Art Museum Association: 
 
 My Dear Madam. It seems to me that an attempt 
 should now be made to raise a fund to establish a mu- 
 seum. The depression of business is unfortunate, and 
 other appeals will interfere with that for a museum : 
 but great and general interest has been excited by 
 your Association through the lectures at Pike's Opera 
 House last winter, the loan exhibition in the spring, 
 and other means; and this interest is strong enough, 
 I think, to encourage us to hope that a sufficient fund 
 to start a museum could be secured, notwithstanding 
 the serious objections to making appeals to the public 
 for money at this season. 
 
 This opinion is simply the expression of my own 
 judgment, in which you and your associates may not 
 concur. You have all probably heard more or less 
 expression of willingness by various persons to aid the 
 museum ; and possibly can better judge than I what 
 response may be expected to a subscription paper. I 
 have heard several gentlemen say they would con- 
 tribute something to the enterprise, and I therefore 
 prepared the inclosed form of subscription. This 
 form includes as few conditions as possible for the 
 character of the Museum Association : its conditions 
 of management, and the appointment of its directors, 
 
68 
 
 should properly by determined only be the subscribers. 
 Beyond fixing a limit of time and amount necessary 
 to make the conditions binding, I have left all ques- 
 tions for the decision of the subscribers themselves 
 hereafter. 
 
 I am authorized to say, that Mr. Joseph Longworth 
 and Mr. -Chas. W. West, will each give ten thousand 
 dollars $10,000 to this subscription. I will give the 
 same amount.* If this beginning be encouragement 
 enough to push the subscription, and your Association 
 will appoint a committee to solicit subscriptions, I 
 shall be pleased to do whatever is in my power to 
 secure the necessary fund, and in any way to help the 
 museum. 
 
 I would suggest that the committee should consist 
 of some members of your Association, as well as of 
 men. Very respectfully, 
 
 JULIUS DEXTER. 
 
 The suggestion conveyed in Mr. Dexter's letter was 
 considered by the Association ; but they believed that 
 the committee of gentlemen invited by them in March, 
 1877, of which Mr. Dexter was one, to draft a form of 
 subscription, etc., formed an able committee for solic- 
 iting subscriptions, and they adhered to their original 
 
 * I believe it was understood that these three subscriptions 
 were made on the conditon that one hundred and twenty-five 
 thousand dollars should be raised within a year. At the end of 
 the year, the conditions not having been fulfilled, the subscrip- 
 tions fell through for that time. The result since accomplished, 
 however, shows that a sentiment was even then growing, which, 
 in fullness of time, would speak in unmistakable tones of 
 success. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 69 
 
 plan of not entering the field as canvassers for money. 
 Miss Appleton was authorized to convey to Mr. Dex- 
 ter the polite declination of the Association. 
 
 At the first meeting of the year, the trustees pre- 
 sented a paper to the Association containing some 
 suggestions for the future work, extracts of which are 
 here given : 
 
 "In coming together after our interval of rest, we 
 naturally pause to look over what we have done, and 
 to consider the future. 
 
 " The times seem to invite a broad outlook : the 
 Paris Exposition recently closed, showed the civilized 
 nations contending in honorable rivalry for supremacy 
 in works of use and beauty. Universal expositions 
 are not new ; but, perhaps, never before has there 
 been seen such a strife for perfection in the arts and 
 industries. The results of the contest seem to indi- 
 cate that the equilibrium has been disturbed, and that 
 something must be done to restore the old balance of 
 power. 
 
 " We have not forgotten the position in which Eng- 
 land found herself at the great Exposition of 1851 
 at the foot of the list of the great nations in respect 
 of the quality and beauty of her industries; a distinc- 
 tion in which she was only eclipsed by the United 
 States, which stood below her. Nor have we forgot- 
 ten the liberal policy adopted by the Government of 
 Great Britain in the establishment of her great museum, 
 with its training schools, at South Kensington, and 
 similar means of education throughout England. 
 From that time till now, the work, thus begun, has 
 gone bravely on, until, at the present day, it may be 
 
70 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 said that England, more than any other country, 
 stands at the head of the great nations in the perfec- 
 tion and beauty of her industries. 
 
 "A few months ago a Museum of Decorative Art 
 was established under government patronage, in Paris. 
 'The object of this new Museum,' says Galignani's 
 Messenger, 'is to enable France to keep pace with 
 other countries, as for instance, with England, Aus- 
 tria, Belgium, and America, in the employment of 
 every possible means for the development and progress 
 of art industry. France has for a long time possessed 
 a certain supremacy in all industries to which art is 
 applicable, owing to the peculiar good taste that has 
 characterized the nation ; but the. Universal Exhibi- 
 tion of 1878 has shown that this supremacy is con- 
 siderably endangered by foreign competition. It has 
 therefore deemed it necessary to create an institution 
 similar to the South Kensington in London, and to 
 imitate the liberal principles that have guided its di- 
 rection, not only in the collection of models of archi- 
 tecture, sculpture, paintings, mosaics, ceramics, glass, 
 clothing, jewelry, arms, scholastic instruments, books, 
 etc., but also in adopting the English system of send- 
 ing the chef d'ceuvres of the museum (traveling collec- 
 tions) into the provinces by arranging and encourag- 
 ing numerous and frequent exhibitions throughout 
 the country.' 
 
 " The fact that before the establishment of training 
 schools and museums in London, France supplied her 
 with designers at costly prices, adds point to the above 
 statement. 
 
 "It is curious and interesting also to note that 
 America is included in the list of countries which have 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 71 
 
 spurred France on to the establishment of her Museum 
 of Decorative Art. 
 
 " We know that in some of the important industries 
 we are independent of foreign workmanship, and that 
 American machinery and many manufactures, on ac- 
 count of their excellence and cheapness, find a ready 
 market in various parts of the world. In certain in- 
 dustrial regions of Europe serious concern is felt as 
 to how their workshops and men are to be occupied 
 and fed. Their best customer has ceased to buy of 
 them, and is beginning to supply the markets at prices 
 and in quality with which they can not compete. But 
 at the Universal Exposition of 1878 the United States 
 appears in a new role as a competitor for the honors 
 of success among the producers of the artistic and the 
 beautiful. 
 
 " Tiffany & Co., of JTew York, took the grand prize 
 for design and workmanship in their wares of gold 
 and silver ; and our friend and co-worker, Miss M. 
 Louise McLaughlin, was awarded honorable mention 
 for her modest representation of decorated china and 
 her 'American Faience.' 
 
 "All over the country Schools of Design or classes 
 for instruction in some branch of technical work are 
 springing up. Nor is this evidence of interest con- 
 fined to large cities. . . . Loan Exhibitions in 
 various parts of the country show how wide-spread 
 and universal is the interest in the general subject. 
 Like the awakening of spring, the forces of life seem 
 every-where at work for a higher expression of their 
 capabilities. 
 
 u The signs of the times seem clearly to indicate 
 that the United States will not long occupy her dis- 
 
72 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 languished position at the foot of the list, but that she 
 is preparing to take her place among the other great 
 nations as a producer of the beautiful, as well as of 
 the merely useful. ... In view of the fact that 
 collections of masterpieces of art are being formed in 
 different parts of the country, with schools for tech- 
 nical training, and looking at the growth of interest 
 during the past two years, it seems not extravagant 
 to conclude that, in some city lying within the water- 
 shed of the Allegheny mountains and the Missouri 
 and Mississippi rivers, will be founded the Art 
 Museum par excellence of this important region. 
 
 " Should Cincinnati occupy the Held by the estab- 
 lishment of a museum on liberal principles, it is hardly 
 possible to foresee the extent of benefits to her future 
 population. Passing over its general social and com- 
 mercial bearings, we women see in it opportunity for 
 the employment and training of our children, which 
 reaches far into the solution of the question of the 
 morals of the rising generation. Since idleness is 
 proverbially the root of all evil, let us provide occu- 
 pation which will interest our children and youth. . . . 
 
 " We have reason to believe that the organization 
 and its movements have not been without results. We 
 may properly feel that we have taken part in the im- 
 pulse which is unmistakably bearing our country to a 
 higher position in new directions. . . . Some 
 valuable articles have been given to the future collec- 
 tion. At present there is no place provided for their 
 reception, and it may be said there is no corporation 
 legally authorized to receive them. . . . 
 
 "The question whether this Association might not, 
 with propriety, take steps to become incorporated, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 73 
 
 appears to us a proper one for our consideration. We 
 would call your attention to a new statute, or amend- 
 ment rather, to the old laws on corporations of this 
 kind, which was passed May 7, 1878, entitled, 'An 
 act to provide for the administration of property given 
 for the promotion of science, art, and like purposes, 
 poses, and to protect the same from waste.' 
 
 "An incorporation under this act would form an 
 Association whose powers would be transmitted 
 through, its members and officers, who should succeed 
 each other, and which would be legally empowered to 
 receive, and hold, and use, such gifts and means as 
 might be entrusted to it, until such time as there shall 
 be a museum with its permanent organization to re- 
 ceive them." 
 
 After some discussion of the subject, it was decided 
 that the Association take the proper steps to become 
 incorporated ; and, at a subsequent meeting, January 
 13, 1879, the following articles of incorporation were 
 adopted : 
 
74 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 CONSTITUTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Women's Art Museum Association 
 
 OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 Organization and Name. 
 
 The undersigned women, of Cincinnati, Ohio, being 
 five (5) in number, viz., Mrs. Sarah B. Carlisle, Mrs. 
 Elizabeth W. Perry, Mrs. Mary Shillito, Mrs. Susan 
 L. Winslow, and Mrs. Ellen W. Stanwood, do hereby 
 certify that they associate themselves together, and de- 
 sire to create an incorporated association, under an act 
 entitled " an Act to Provide for the Promotion of Sci- 
 ence, Art, and like purposes, and to Protect the same 
 from Waste," passed May 7, 1878, and do provide and 
 agree that the name assumed by this Association, and 
 by which it shall be known, is " WOMEN'S ART MU- 
 SEUM ASSOCIATION OF CINCINNATI." 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 The names of the trustees, who shall be twelve (12) 
 in number, two-thirds of whom are resident citizens 
 of the county of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, are 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 75 
 
 these, viz., Elizabeth "W. Perry, Jane P. Dodd, Eliza- 
 beth K Whitman, Sophia P. Mallon, Eliza GL Davis, 
 Caroline Hulbert, Mary F. Huntington, Sarah C. 
 Perry, Mary Shillito, Ellen Stanwood, Laura Yallette, 
 Susan L. Winslow. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 Location. 
 
 The Association shall be located in the city of Cin- 
 cinnati, county of Hamilton, State of Ohio. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Object. 
 
 The general objects and purposes of said Association 
 are the cultivation of the principles of art, and their 
 application to industrial pursuits ; the receiving of 
 gifts, devises, trusts, or loans ; the having and main- 
 taining such suitable establishments, and the using 
 such suitable means as the Association may be able to 
 acquire for these purposes ; to use, administer, and 
 preserve such gifts, loans, and devises, as may be in- 
 trusted to the Association, for the objects and pur- 
 poses mentioned, until such time as a better endowed 
 and more useful organization for an art museum shall 
 be ready to receive them ; and with the privilege of 
 transferring them to such better endowed organiza- 
 tion, when, in the opinion of this Association, it can 
 be done with safety and advantage to the general pur- 
 pose and objects herein expressed. 
 
76 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 Officers. 
 
 The officers of the corporation shall be twelve (12) 
 trustees, one president, two vice-presidents, one cor- 
 responding secretary, one recording secretary (who 
 shall be designated, and sign her name simply as sec- 
 retary), and one treasurer. The term of office for each 
 shall be one year, and until her successor shall be 
 chosen and qualified. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 Duties. 
 
 SECTION 1. The duty of the president shall be to pre- 
 side at all meetings of the Association and of the 
 trustees, and to appoint all committees raised by the 
 Association and by the trustees, except when other 
 provision shall be made for their appointment. 
 
 SEC. 2. The duties of the vice-president shall be to 
 preside at all meetings of the Association, in the ab- 
 sence of the president, and to appoint committees, and 
 perform such other duties as the Association may as- 
 sign. 
 
 SEC. 3. Subject to the direction of the trustees, and 
 in accordance with rules and by-laws from time to 
 time adopted, the treasurer shall collect, hold, and pay 
 out all moneys, bonds, or assets, which may be in the 
 nature of convertible or cash assets, and shall make 
 and keep the same accurate, detailed account of such 
 funds, and the receipts and disbursements thereof, as 
 is now required to be kept by the fiscal agents of the 
 state, under the act entitled " an Act to Provide for 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 77 
 
 the Publication of an Accurate and Detailed State- 
 ment of the Keceipts and Expenditures of the Public 
 Revenue," passed March 14, 1853 (S. & C. 114, 51 vol. 
 Stat. 428). The treasurer shall report to the trustees 
 once in three months, or oftener if required. Before 
 entering upon her duties, the treasurer shall give 
 bond, with security, to the acceptance of the trustees. 
 
 SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the recording secre- 
 tary to keep accurate minutes of all meetings of the 
 Association, and of all meetings of the trustees; to re- 
 ceive and keep, under the direction of the trustees, all 
 gifts, loans, and property of the Association, except 
 money, bonds, or cash assets ; to keep an inventory 
 of the same ; to keep books of accounts of sales, trans- 
 fers, exchanges, or other disposition of such property, 
 and of all the business of the Association, including 
 an account of all items placed in the hands of the 
 treasurer by the trustees. When the reports made to 
 the trustees shall have been examined and verified by 
 the trustees from time to time, the recording secre- 
 tary, once in three months, or oftener, shall place on 
 her books a credit for the amount shown to have been 
 paid out by the treasurer, and shall so arrange and 
 keep her books that they shall show all moneys and 
 other assets in the hands of the treasurer, as well as 
 the history and condition of all items of other prop- 
 erty loaned to or owned by the Association. The re- 
 cording secretary shall do all other acts necessary and 
 appertaining to the duties of a secretary, or required 
 of her by the Association. 
 
 SEC. 5. The corresponding secretary shall, under di- 
 rection of the trustees, conduct the correspondence of 
 the Association ; shall keep copies of all letters writ- 
 
78 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 ten, and preserve the files, properly arranged and 
 marked, of all letters received, and perform such 
 other duties as may be assigned her by the Associ- 
 ation. 
 
 SEC. 6. Persons may become members of the Asso- 
 ciation by registering their names as such with the 
 recording secretary, and by paying tbe annual fee of 
 three dollars. Each member will be entitled to one 
 vote in all meetings of the Association. 
 
 SEC. 7. All persons who were members of the Wo- 
 men's Art Museum Association before it was incorpo- 
 rated, whose yearly dues have been paid to that Asso- 
 ciation, will be entitled to vote, and to all the privi- 
 leges of membership in this Association, without 
 further payment, until the year for which payment 
 has been made shall expire. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 Annual Meetings. 
 
 The annual meetings of the Association shall be 
 held on the second Monday of January of each year, 
 unless, by act of the Association, a different time 
 shall be fixed. Other meetings shall be held at the 
 call of the trustees, or of any five members of the 
 Association. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 Alterations in the Articles of Association. 
 
 No alterations shall be made in the articles of asso- 
 ciation, unless notice is given, at the call of the meet- 
 ing, that an alteration will be proposed at the meeting 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 79 
 
 for consideration ; nor unless two-thirds of the mem- 
 bers, voting at such meeting or at some adjournment 
 thereof, shall vote for such alteration. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 Annual Reports. 
 
 SECTION 1. At each annual meeting the trustees 
 shall report, in writing, the transactions of the year 
 preceding, the true condition and prospect of the Asso- 
 ciation, and make such suggestions as they shall deem 
 important concerning its affairs. 
 
 SEC. 2. The treasurer, the recording secretary, and 
 corresponding secretary shall, at such times as re- 
 quired by the trustees, preceding the annual meeting, 
 make their respective annual reports to the trustees. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 Election of Officers. 
 
 SECTION 1. At each annual meeting, the members 
 of the Association shall elect a president, who shall, 
 by virtue of such election and of her office, be one of 
 the trustees; two vice-presidents ; a treasurer; a re- 
 cording secretary, and a corresponding secretary. 
 
 SEC. 2. Elections shall be by ballot, and a majority 
 of the votes cast shall be necessary to a choice. 
 
 SEC. 3. No person shall be eligible as a trustee, or 
 other officer, who is not a member of the Association, 
 or who has not complied with the terms and condi- 
 tions of membership. 
 
80 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 Account of Articles or Collections. 
 
 "When articles or collections shall be purchased or 
 given, or loaned, the trustees shall keep a separate 
 book of account, in which shall be entered by the secre- 
 tary all purchases, with the date, purchase price, and 
 purpose of the purchase ; also, all gifts, trusts, loans, 
 and devises, with the date, name, and residence of the 
 person giving, loaning, placing in trust, or devising 
 the same, and shall, in connection therewith, designate 
 the paper containing the terms and conditions of the 
 transaction, which papers shall be carefully marked, 
 filed, and preserved. This book shall be considered 
 part of the minutes of the proceedings of the trustees, 
 and as such shall be verified by the signature of the 
 president, from time to time. 
 
 ARTICLE XII. 
 
 Examination of Reports. 
 
 Once in three months, or oftener, the trustees, by 
 a committee appointed for that purpose, of not fewer 
 than three members, shall carefully examine in detail, 
 item by item, the reports made by the treasurer, and 
 not before examined, and compare the same with the 
 minutes of the trustees, the books of the secretary, 
 and the books of the treasurer, to see if any thing 
 has been received by the Association, properly 
 referable to the treasurer, which has not been so 
 referred and so entered in the minutes of the trus- 
 tees and books of the secretary, and to see if any 
 thing has been referred to the treasurer and not prop- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 81 
 
 erly entered on her books, and if any thing so entered 
 on her books has been in whole or in part disposed 
 of without a proper entry. If the committee shall 
 find any thing incorrect, or every thing correct, they 
 shall report to the trustees, in writing, according to 
 the facts, and shall sign their names to the report. 
 The report so signed shall be ordered to be filed and 
 preserved by the secretary, and a minute of the same 
 be entered on the proceedings of the trustees. Should 
 any thing be found incorrect and unconnected, the 
 trustees shall immediately take such steps as may be 
 necessary to correct the error, and their action to that 
 end shall be entered on the minutes of their proceed- 
 ings. At corresponding periods the same, or a similar 
 committee, shall examine the reports of the secretary, 
 compared with the minutes of the trustees, and with 
 things received referable to the secretary and the ac- 
 counts of the secretary, and the report and proceed- 
 ings be made and had thereon in all respects like 
 examinations, reports and proceedings required with 
 reference to the treasurer. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 Minutes. 
 
 SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of the president to 
 see that the proper entries are made in the minutes of 
 the proceedings of the trustees, and in the minutes of 
 the meetings of the Association. 
 
 SEC. 2. At each meeting of the trustees, and at each 
 meeting of the Association, the minutes of the meet- 
 ing last preceding shall be read before proceeding to 
 other business, and, if correct, or when corrected, shall 
 
82 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. 
 
 be verified by the signature of the president. The 
 minutes of the proceedings of the Association, and of 
 the trustees, shall, at all times, be open to the inspec- 
 tion of any member of the Association. 
 
 ARTICLE XIV. 
 
 Seal. 
 
 The trustees shall procure a seal for the Association. 
 Written contracts and formal papers of the Associa- 
 tion shall be authenticated by the seal of the Associa- 
 tion, with the signature of the president, and attested 
 by the signature of the secretary. 
 
 [SEAL.] SARAH. B. CARLISLE, 
 
 [SEAL.] ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 
 [SEAL.] MARY SHILLITO, 
 
 [SEAL.] SUSAN L. WINSLOW, 
 
 [SEAL.] ELLEN W. STANWOOD. 
 
 STATE OF OHIO, ) 
 
 Hamilton County. J 
 
 Personally came before me, a Notary Public within 
 and for said county, Sarah B. Carlisle, Elizabeth W. 
 Perry, Mary Shillito, Susan L. Winslow, Ellen W. 
 Stanwood, the corporators named in the following 
 certificate, and acknowledged respectively that they 
 did voluntarily sign and seal the same, and that they 
 are still satisfied therewith as their respective volun 
 tary act and deed, for the uses and purposes therein 
 stated. 
 
. OF CINCINNATI. 83 
 
 In testimony lohereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
 and notarial seal, this 17th day of January, 1879. 
 [L. s.] J. D. MACNEALE, Notary Public, 
 
 Hamilton Co., 0. 
 
 STATE OF OHIO, 1 
 
 Hamilton County. J 
 
 I, Lewis G. Bernard, Clerk of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas within and for said County of Hamilton, do 
 hereby certify that J. D. Macneale, whose name is 
 signed to the certificate hereto attached, was, at the 
 time of subscribing the same, a legally acting Notary 
 Public in and for 'said County of Hamilton, duly com- 
 missioned and qualified, and I am well acquainted 
 with his handwriting, and believe his said signature 
 to be genuine. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 
 and affixed the seal of the said Court, at Cincinnati, 
 this 18th day of January, 1879. 
 
 [L. s.] LEWIS G. BERNARD, 
 
 Clerk, H. C. C. P. C. 
 By JNO. G. GARRISON, Deputy. 
 
84 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The incorporation of the Association having been 
 accomplished, plans of work for the future were con- 
 sidered : the opening of rooms for the accommodation 
 of classes, and for the sale of decorative work, which 
 had passed the examination of a committee, and been 
 found worthy, was decided on. During the discussion 
 of the subject, an earnest paper was read by Mrs. Wm. 
 Dodd, which was requested for publication, and is 
 here given. 
 
 "We are now beginning a new cycle in the history 
 of the Art Musum, and it is important for us all to 
 have a clear and distinct idea of what we propose to 
 do. We should recognize the fact that a great work 
 is before us. Our articles of incorporation give us a 
 broad field on which to spend our energies and means. 
 We do not ourselves propose to build in brick or stone, 
 but to lay a foundation upon which other and stronger 
 hands may build. 
 
 " Our aim is to give practical encouragement to the 
 women of our city and county who are trying to ap- 
 ply their art work to use. There is much talent 
 among us which justifies us in hoping for grand re- 
 sults in the future. 
 
 " In view of the work proposed, it is of primary 
 importance that we should have a local habitation a 
 house, or even a single room would at present suffice 
 our purposes a place where we could exhibit the 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 85 
 
 works of art which we now hold in trust for the Art 
 Museum, and where we can receive other treasures as 
 they may from time to time be donated. This would 
 give students opportunities which they can have in 
 no other way. But we are not limited to the mere 
 exhibition of works of art. Our practical work at 
 present is similar to that which is being accomplished 
 under the auspices of decorative art societies. 
 
 a Our Constitution enables us to adopt plans of in- 
 struction, either by lectures, classes, or otherwise, to 
 encourage in every way thorough work. 
 
 "A very desirable feature would be the formation of 
 a library of works on decorative art, the books to be 
 used for reference ; the nucleus of which could no 
 doubt be drawn from many of our own private libra- 
 ries. In this direction there is a wide field for con- 
 sideration. We can not overestimate the importance 
 indeed, the necessity of a school of art where our 
 women can have broad, thorough, and systematic in- 
 struction in all departments of artistic work. It is 
 also in the scope of our work to furnish a place for 
 receiving such salable articles as shall have been ac- 
 cepted by a judicious committee. There might also 
 be kind advice given to ambitious workers whose 
 aspirations have outstripped their culture. Such ad- 
 vice, if taken in the right spirit, might be of invalu- 
 able service; when we see time and talent wasted on 
 work called artistic, which bears no more resemblance 
 to true art than noxious weeds to choice exotics, we 
 confess there is need among us of an art censor. Art 
 without culture grows rank as uncultivated flowers. 
 It is said by a recent writer that the whole world is 
 growing artistic, and that in this country we bid fair 
 
86 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 to run the new enthusiasm into a craze. Let us take 
 care to keep onrselves above any such criticism 
 rationally and intelligently to consider each step taken, 
 accept only what is good, and give encouragement 
 only to such as are striving to reach a high standard. 
 " We wish to dissipate the idea that this is a society 
 of artists or connoisseurs only. We are an associa- 
 tion of women, working to help those who would 
 make their artistic work of use. There are hundreds 
 of ways in which this may be done ; but, to enable us 
 to accomplish even a small part of what we hope 
 for, we need many new members, and the earn- 
 est co-operation of each member. All can not work 
 in the same direction; but, let each one consider it 
 her imperative duty to be present at our regular 
 monthly meetings, and show by her presence that, 
 whenever there is work to be done, she is willing to 
 do whatever she can." 
 
 The use of rooms for the Association, free of rent, 
 was offered by Mr. John Carlisle, and also by Mr. W. 
 P. Hulbert ; but neither quite suited the purposes for 
 which they were required and they were gratefully 
 declined. 
 
 It was not expected that the opening of rooms, and 
 classes of instruction, an important feature of which 
 might be free pupils, would be a money making oper- 
 ation. Consequently, it was decided not to use the 
 funds on hand ($2,100 in 4 per cent bonds) ; but to se- 
 cure, by subscriptions, such a sum as would cover the 
 expense of fitting up rooms, etc. Two rooms on sec- 
 ond floor, on the corner of Fourth and Home streets, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 87 
 
 were rented from March 15th for seven months : they 
 were pleasantly but simply fitted for class and sales 
 rooms ; and instruction was here given in china paint- 
 ing, by Mrs Frank Ellis; water-color painting, by 
 Mrs. Keenan ; and artistic embroidery, by Mrs. An- 
 thony. 
 
 Meanwhile, the refusal of the rooms on the second 
 floor of the south wing of exposition building was 
 secured for the fall. The Association was represented 
 in the industrial exhibition of this year by an exhibit 
 of decorative art, including incised and relief decora- 
 tion of native clays : underglaze decoration of stone 
 china, and yellow ware ; enameled faience ; water- 
 color studies ; Kensington embroidery, etc. 
 
 The first board of trustees and officers elected after 
 the incorporation, for the year 1879, were the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Trustees. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY (ex officio), 
 
 " WM. DODD, 
 
 " P. MALLON, 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 
 " JOHN DAVIS, 
 
 " ' W. P. HULBERT, 
 
 " A. S. WINSLOW, 
 
 " FRED. W. HUNTINGTON, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 
 " THEODORE STANWOOD, 
 Miss LAURA VALLETTE. 
 
88 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Officers. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 " FRED. "W. HUNTINGTON, 1st Vice-president. 
 
 " A. D. BULLOCK, 2d " 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss E. H. APPLETON, Recording Secretary. 
 
 " JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 In November, 1879, the two small rooms on Fourth 
 street were abandoned, and the Association estab- 
 lished itself in the south wing of the exposition build- 
 ings, second floor occupying what are known as the 
 two picture galleries, the engraving room, and the 
 corridor, with the small room at the south end of it. 
 
 With the increase of space, their operations were 
 enlarged. The rooms were made cheerful and pleas- 
 ant, by pictures, window-shades, a few rugs, and 
 the necessary furniture; none of it expensive, but 
 suitable and convenient. Classes were continued in 
 the specialties previously taught, and new classes were 
 opened in Decorative Modeling, under Mr. Mersman; 
 in Drawing and Water-color, under Mr. Muhrman; 
 in Drawing and Oil-painting, under Mr. Twachtman; 
 in Modeling (sculpture), under Mr. Powers. 
 
 The large picture gallery was opened as a perma- 
 nent Loan exhibition. A number of gifts, of some 
 value and interest, had been made to the Association ; 
 and, with the loans which were secured, of paintings,* 
 
 * It is pleasant to record that, among the interesting objects 
 loaned to the Association for their permanent Loan Exhibition^ 
 were six of the paintings (one of them being the "School of 
 Athens") procured by Mrs. Peter, and the ladies of her associa- 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY- 
 
 OF CINCINNATI. ftQ 
 
 statuary, tapestries, porcelains, etc., the collection 
 soon became an attractive one. The rent of the 
 rooms for one year was gracefully and generously 
 assumed by Mr. Reuben Springer : the amount of the 
 contribution was of consequence to the Association 
 but the act was of more worth as a spontaneous ex- 
 pression of good will and respect. 
 
 At the annual meeting held January 11, 1880, in 
 the Art Museum rooms, exposition building, the fol- 
 lowing trustees and officers were elected : 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY (ex officio), 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 " Q. A. KEITH, 
 " JOHN T. PERRY, 
 P. MALLON, 
 
 " A. S. WlNSLOW, 
 " W. P. HULBERT, 
 
 " THEODORE STANWOOD, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 
 " R. M. W. TAYLOR, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 
 " GEORGE HOADLY. 
 
 tion. For these we were indebted to the courtesy of the direc- 
 tors of the Cincinnati University. 
 
 It may be mentioned here, that after the School of Design 
 was transferred to the Museum Association in 1884, these paint- 
 ings, which had been stored in an unused room for several years, 
 have occupied an honorable place in the galleries of the Mu- 
 seum a graceful and merited fulfillment of the intentions of 
 the Association of 1854. 
 
90 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Officers. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 " P. MALLON, Vice-president. 
 
 " ALPHONSO TAPT, " 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, Eec. Secretary. 
 
 " JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 In the months of February and May, of 1880, with 
 a view to bringing together the artists of the city, 
 and those who were interested in their work, two 
 " artists" receptions were held by the Association. A 
 general invitation was given to the artists of Cincin- 
 nati to contribute specimens of their work, finished, or 
 sketches, in oil or water-color, modelings in clay, 
 pieces in plaster or marble, pen drawings, etchings, 
 decorated porcelain, or pottery, etc. The occasions 
 were social and agreeable. 
 
 In May, during the Musical Festival, and the Mil- 
 lers' Exposition the attractions of the permanent 
 collection having been increased by additions to the 
 previous loans, etc., of various kinds the rooms were 
 opened at a small fee for admission. 
 
 On invitation of the Association, Mr. M. D. Conway 
 gave a lecture on the South Kensington Museum, at 
 College Hall, on the evening of October 14, 1880. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 91 
 
 On the evening of September 8, 1880, it was first 
 publicly announced at the opening of the Industrial 
 Exposition that Mr. Chas. W. West had offered to 
 give the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars as a fund for an art museum building, on the con- 
 dition that citizens would subscribe an equal sum 
 within a year. 
 
 The enthusiasm occasioned by this intelligence 
 could only be surpassed by the announcement made 
 on the dosing evening of the Exposition, October 9th, 
 that the conditions of the gift of Mr. West had been 
 more than fulfilled : one hundred and sixty thousand 
 one hundred and sixteen dollars having been secured 
 by popular subscriptions in the space of one month, 
 not including the receipts of the last day of the Expo- 
 sition two thousand four hundred and sixteen dol- 
 lars, which had been voted by the commissioners to 
 the funds making a total, with Mr. West's gift, of 
 three hundred and thirteen thousand five hundred 
 and thirty-two dollars, as a building fund for the 
 museum ! 
 
 At the regular monthly meeting of the Association, 
 November 1, 1880, after the announcement that a full 
 course of lessons in the various branches heretofore 
 arranged would be carried on during the winter, and 
 the regular business having been concluded, the trus- 
 
92 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 tees addressed some remarks to the meeting, from 
 which the following extracts are given : 
 
 " The circumstances under which we come together 
 to-day are such, that we need not refrain from con- 
 gratulating you upon the happy fruition which the 
 past few months has brought to all who are interested 
 in the subject of the museum. 
 
 " At our last meeting, June 1st, there was no sign 
 obvious to us on the horizon of the speedy accom- 
 plishment of our hopes and wishes. So far as we 
 could foresee the immediate future, our course was 
 clear and our duties plain : to maintain our organiza- 
 tion, and to advance, as far as our means and influ- 
 ence permitted, the great object which we have had at 
 heart. It is a pleasant thought to us that, during the 
 nearly four years of our organization, our hope and 
 courage have never faltered. . . . It is also a 
 pleasant thought that so few of those who were with 
 us in the beginning, and who helped us with their 
 judgment and influence, are absent from our ranks 
 to-day. 
 
 " The great beneficence of Mr. West, followed by 
 the generous gifts of the citizens of Cincinnati, will 
 enable us, at no very distant day, to tranfer to the 
 permanent museum organization the results of our 
 work. 
 
 " We would suggest that we consider at some suit- 
 able time whether, during the year, we may not prop- 
 erly raise a fund among the women of the city, by 
 subscription and other means, for the purpose of pre- 
 senting a collection to the museum from the women 
 of Cincinnati. Such a gift would be eminently proper 
 from this Association, and, we believe, would enlist 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 93 
 
 the sympathy of ladies generally. Should you approve 
 the suggestion, a time might be appointed for the con- 
 sideration of the subject." 
 
 The prospect that the permanent museum organiza- 
 tion would soon be made, led to interesting discussion, 
 on the part of the Association, as to what action on 
 their part would best subserve the interests of the in- 
 stitution which now seemed so nearly accomplished. 
 It was hoped the permanent organization would soon 
 be formed, and that it would take, and use, tempora- 
 rily, the rooms now occupied by us. We desired, as 
 soon as it could be properly done, to close our active 
 work, give up our rooms, cut off expense, and keep 
 the little money on hand for use in the direction of a 
 gift to the future museum. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Association, November 
 20, 1880, a communication from Mr. Julius Dexter 
 was read, speaking of the probable early organization 
 of the Art Museum, and of the possibility of that or- 
 ganization taking the rooms of this Association if we 
 should then give them up and, therefore, of the ad- 
 visability of continuance of active work by us until 
 that time. This communication was from Mr. Dexter 
 as an individual, and without official authority. The 
 subject was discussed, and, on motion of Mrs. John 
 Davis, it was " Resolved, That a committee be ap- 
 pointed who shall report upon the time when, and the 
 circumstances under which, they would advise the 
 Association to make the transfer provided for in arti- 
 cle 4, of the constitution." 
 

 94 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. 
 
 In the report of the trustees to the Association at 
 the annual meeting, January 10, 1881, we find the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 The generous gift of Mr. Charles "W". West, in Sep- 
 tember, 1880, of $150,000 for the building of a mu- 
 seum, to which was added, within a month, by the 
 zealous efforts of Mr. M. E. Ingalls and a committee on 
 subscriptions, a somewhat larger sum, called a halt in 
 the plans of the Association for the work of the com- 
 ing year. 
 
 Having done what we could to develop and ad- 
 vance the idea of such an institution, we may prop- 
 erly feel that the active work of our organization is 
 ended. 
 
 The Cincinnati Museum is assured. 
 
 The sum subcribed is sufficient for the building that 
 will at first be needed for the purposes of a museum, 
 and its classes for technical training, and the spirit in 
 which it has been accomplished, by those who are able 
 to secure its future, leaves no room to doubt that the 
 means of growth will be provided. 
 
 A meeting of trustees was held November 8th, to 
 consider the situation, and the following was unani- 
 mously recommended to the Association : 
 
 " WHEREAS, an interest has arisen in the minds of 
 the citizens of Cincinnati, sufficient to cause them to 
 raise a fund for the establishment of an art museum in 
 the city, and thereby the great object for which the 
 * Women's Art Museum Association ' has been work- 
 ing for the last three years is accomplished, the trus- 
 tees recommend to the Association to close the rooms, 
 suspend their ordinary work, and preserve for future 
 use the funds now in hand. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 95 
 
 " They further recommend that the Association use 
 every effort to increase the funds now in hand, with a 
 view to a suitable representation of the Association in 
 the collections of the museum. 
 
 "As soon as the permanent museum organization 
 shall be formed, we propose to transfer to it our loans 
 (subject to the wishes of their owners), the gifts that 
 have been made to us, the furniture of these rooms, 
 including tables, and chairs, curtains, window-shades, 
 carpets, modeling-stools, easels, drawing-tables, and 
 cases. 
 
 " Should the permanent organization be made 
 within a reasonable time, it seems desirable that our 
 effects should be transferred as now arranged. Should 
 it be delayed beyond the point of convenience to 
 us, involving the expense of care and attendance 
 here for some time, it would become necessary to pack 
 and store them. 
 
 " This plan does not involve the dissolution of the 
 Association ; on the contrary, it proposes to fulfill the 
 requirements of our incorporation by the holding of 
 quarterly meetings, when the Auditing Committee 
 shall report, and annual meetings for the election of 
 trustees and officers. The bonds, which have been 
 carefully kept, may be increased by the annual mem- 
 bership dues, and such other means as the Association 
 may decide upon. 
 
 " The sum of money which we have is in itself suffi- 
 cient to enable us to present to the museum one object, 
 or more than one, of genuine interest, which shall be 
 valuable to the museum, and constitute a souvenir of 
 our fidelity to a good cause. It may be increased by 
 subscriptions from women, or in other ways." 
 
96 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Such a plan will form a bond of union, which will 
 hold us together as an Association, give us an object 
 worthy of our interest and efforts, and should, if 
 steadily pursued, result in our being able to present 
 to the museum something which will, through all 
 time, link the name of the " Women's Art Museum 
 Association," and the memory of the women of Cin- 
 cinnati with that institution. 
 
 At this meeting a letter from Mrs. Plimpton to one 
 of the ladies was read, from which the following is 
 taken : 
 
 Jan. 7, 1881. 
 Dear Mrs. Perry : 
 
 . . . Allow me in this letter to present another 
 matter of mutual interest, namely, regarding the 
 drawings and sketches of Lessing. My dear Prof 
 Gude, now professor in the Meisterschule of Berlin, 
 wrote me a few days ago concerning them, saying they 
 were for sale, and asking me to speak of them to 
 whom they would probably be interesting. I will in- 
 close the letter, which will explain itself. Its being 
 in part private, will not be of moment. It occurred 
 to me that it would be a most desirable thing if some 
 of these treasures could find their way into our future 
 museum. I know Prof. Crude would make the best 
 selections for me, and certainly for this more important 
 purpose; such rare opportunities do not occur every 
 day, and with my intense love for Lessing's work I am 
 burning with anxiety to have some of them where 
 they can be enjoyed by our Cincinnati people. Shall 
 we speak of this matter again ? 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 C. A. PLIMPTON. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 97 
 
 The subject was left to the individual discretion of 
 the members, it not being deemed advisable to appro- 
 priate any of the funds of the Association for that 
 purpose. 
 
 The election of trustees and officers for the ensuing 
 year, 1881, resulted as follows: 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 Mrs. A. F. PERRY (ex-officio), 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 " !N". L. ANDERSON, 
 " JOHN T. PERRY, 
 " M. E. INGALLS, 
 " L. B. HARRISON, 
 " THEODORE STANWOOD, 
 
 " W. P. HlILBERT, 
 " A. S. WlNSLOW, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 " P. MALLON. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 Mrs. M. F. FORCE, 1st Vice- President. 
 Mrs. P. MALLON, 2d " 
 
 Mrs. H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, Recording Sec'y. 
 Miss JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Sec'y. 
 
 The sequel, so interesting and important, to Mrs. 
 Plimpton's letter of January 7, 1881, may as well be 
 given here, although by doing so, the event is antici- 
 pated by a few months : 
 
98 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 CINCINNATI, Aug. 10, 1881. 
 My Dear Mrs. Perry : 
 
 . . . As to the Lessing sketches, I receive your 
 congratulations with pleasure, since I know they are 
 most hearty. Mr. Longworth was so graceful as to 
 say in a private note to me, that as I had been the 
 first one to put the idea of the gift to the museum 
 into his head, he had intended to say nothing about it 
 to any one until he had given me a pleasant surprise 
 on asking me out to his house " to see something." 
 As it was, it leaked out through the Custom House 
 before they got here. I was none the less delighted, 
 however, as you may well believe. . . . 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 C. A. PLIMPTON. 
 
 At the end of the first year's lease of the rooms in 
 the Exposition building the following note was re- 
 ceived from Mr. Springer : 
 
 CINCINNATI, Jan. 5, 1881. 
 My Dear Mrs. Perry : 
 
 I inclose you a receipt for the rent of the rooms 
 occupied by the Women's Art Museum Association 
 up to the 1st inst., which completes the engagement I 
 n\ade with Mrs. Hulbert. 
 
 Wishing you continual success with the great un- 
 dertaking you have in charge, I beg leave to sign 
 myself, 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 R. E. SPRINGER. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 99 
 
 The organization of the " Cincinnati Museum As- 
 sociation " was not made till March, 1881. This left 
 our Association with somewhat unsettled plans during 
 the winter of 1880-1. The year's rent of the rooms 
 occupied by us ended with the year, and was renewed 
 from month to month in the hope that they might be 
 transferred with our purchases, gifts, loans, furniture, 
 etc., to the permanent organization, for the temporary 
 uses of the museum, till the museum building should 
 be ready. In order to inform ourselves of the wishes 
 and plans of the gentlemen, a conference with a few 
 of them was invited. Some correspondence took place 
 here given and mutually satisfactory arrangements 
 were made : 
 
 BURNET HOUSE, CINCINNATI, Jan. 24, 1881. 
 Mrs. A. F. Perry, Pres't: 
 
 MY DEAR MADAM I duly received your report of 
 the "Women's Art Museum," as also an invitation to 
 meet the trustees at 3 o'clock to-day, and regret that 
 I am not well enough to attend. 
 
 I am sorry to hear that you contemplate closing 
 your rooms at the Exposition buildings, believing that 
 they should be kept open until the completion of the 
 " Museum," which, I trust, will be within two years ; 
 and that you may be enabled to keep them open I 
 would suggest that a fund be raised for that purpose 
 toward which I will be one of twenty to make up the 
 amount necessary. 
 
 Very respectful I} 7 , 
 
 C. W. WEST. 
 
100 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 CINCINNATI, Jan. "24, 1881. 
 My .Dear Mrs. Perry : 
 
 I find I can not be at your meeting this p. M., and 
 therefore send you this. I hope you will keep going 
 an til* the permanent museum is organized. If it is a 
 question of funds, I will cheerfully help my share. 
 
 Yours with respect, 
 
 M. E. INQALLS. 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, Jan. 25, 1881. 
 Mr. Chas. W. West: 
 
 DEAR SIR In deference to your opinion, and that 
 of Mr. Ingalls, and Mr. Rufus King, that the rooms of 
 the Association should he continued, the trustees have 
 suspended for a few days their arrangements for pack- 
 ing and storing their goods. 
 
 They resolved at their meeting yesterday to invite 
 a committee of gentlemen, to consist of yourself, Mr. 
 Ingalls, Mr. Dexter, and Mr. Hoadly, to further con- 
 sider the proposition of yourself and Mr. Ingalls to 
 share in the expense of keeping the rooms, asking 
 you to report to us your decision as early as Friday 
 A. M., of this week. 
 
 The ladies of the Association have lost no interest 
 in the Museum, but the object of their organization 
 was accomplished when your great generosity and 
 that of the citizens assured it. We do not doubt that 
 we could raise the money, as heretofore, for the sup- 
 port of the rooms, but what we have done has been at 
 the expense of great personal devotion, which we find 
 impossible, consistently with other duties, longer to 
 bestow. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 101 
 
 Since the money was raised for the Museum, we 
 have simply kept the rooms open in the expectation 
 from month to month, that the permanent organiza- 
 tion would he formed, and we could then transfer to 
 it such articles as belong to us. 
 
 ISfot wishing to continue longer, we expect to end 
 our lease with this month. Should the gentlemen de- 
 cide to keep open the rooms for the reception of such 
 articles or collections as may be given to the Museum 
 before the building is ready, it would give us great 
 pleasure to transfer them as they are. Our furniture, 
 case-s, curtains, etc., while not expensive, are suitable, 
 and are all the situation requires. 
 
 In the hope of hearing from you on Friday morn- 
 ing, 
 
 I am, with great respect, yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 
 President. 
 
 The following note, without date, was probably 
 written within a few days of the letter of Mr. West 
 which is dated January 24, 1881 : 
 
 To the Trustees of the Women's Art Museum Association: 
 As a grateful recognition of your labors, and for the 
 purpose of saving to the proposed Art Museum Asso- 
 ciation, when organized, the opportunity of taking 
 the transfer of the apartments now occupied by you 
 in the Music Hall building, together with the collection 
 of the objects of art which you have formed with so 
 much skill and care, and the furniture, which we un- 
 derstand is yours, the undersigned agree to assume 
 and pay the rent and current expenses as now ap- 
 
102 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 pointed for one month from February 1st, with the 
 right to extend the arrangement from month to 
 month not exceeding six months. If this proposition 
 be accepted, we will thank you to arrange with Mrs. 
 Lord to continue her superintendence accordingly, 
 and to advise us of the amount necessary for reim- 
 bursement of the rent and expenses accruing. As to 
 the furniture, please inform us what are your wishes. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 C. W. WEST, RUFUS KING, 
 
 JULIUS DEXTER, R. R. SPRINGER, 
 
 DAVID SINTON, GEO. HOADLY, 
 
 AARON F. PERRY. 
 
 On January 29, 1881, the communications made in 
 the preceding letters were considered at a meeting of 
 trustees, and on motion of Mrs. Winslow, seconded 
 by Mrs. Hulbert, resolved, that these rooms be kept 
 open at the expense of the Association ; also, resolved, 
 on motion that the thanks of the Association be sent 
 to the gentlemen for their offer to meet the expense of 
 the care of the rooms. 
 
 The decision was conveyed in the following note: 
 
 238 MT. AUBURN, Jan. 29, 1881. 
 
 Messrs. Eufus King, E. E. Springer, Geo. Hoadly, C. 
 W. West, Julius .Dexter, David Sinton, and Aaron 
 F. Perry : 
 
 In deference to your judgment that the rooms of the 
 W. A. M. A. should be kept open for a limited time, 
 emphasized by your generous offer to assume the 
 expense of continuing them for a few months, till the 
 permanent organization shall be formed, the trustees, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 103 
 
 at a meeting held to-day, recojisidered their recent de- 
 
 O v ' 
 
 termination to close them, and resolved to keep them 
 open till they can transfer them to the Museum or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Appreciating your generous offer, and declining it 
 with thanks, I am, on behalf of the trustees, 
 Yaurs, very respectfully, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, 
 
 President. 
 
 At a meeting of stockholders, held March 8, 1881, 
 for a permanent organization of the Cincinnati Mu- 
 seum Association, after the election of trustees, 
 Messrs. Goshorn, Galbreath, and Tatum were ap- 
 pointed a committee to confer with the Women's Art 
 Museum Association, and to report what steps shoftld 
 be taken with regard to their property, which they 
 have offered to the Art Museum. In pursuance of a 
 resolution of the Women's Art Museum Association, 
 January 10, this year, and in accordance with a pro- 
 vision of its constitution, the trustees, on the 22nd of 
 last month, submitted a schedule of its property, con- 
 sisting of gifts and purchases, including the furniture 
 of the rooms occupied by the Association in Exposi- 
 tion Building, together with a proposition to transfer 
 them as a gift to the Cincinnati Museum. In re- 
 sponse, the following notes were received : 
 
 CINCINNATI, March 25, 1881. 
 Dear Mrs. Perry : 
 
 Our board to-day accepted the gift of your Associa- 
 tion, and empowered our committee to receive the ob- 
 jects and arrange for the proper care of them. We 
 
104 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 shall be happy to meet you and your associates next 
 Tuesday, at 11 A. M., when the transfer can be com- 
 pleted. Yours truly, 
 
 A. T. GOSHORN. 
 
 CINCINNATI, March 25, 1881. 
 
 Mrs. A. F. Perry, President Women's Art Museum As- 
 sociation, Cincinnati: 
 
 MADAM I am instructed by the trustees of the Cin- 
 cinnati Museum Association to acknowledge their re- 
 ceipt of the offer of your Association to transfer to 
 them your collection of art objects, and your furni- 
 ture, and also such articles as had been loaned to you, 
 subject to the conditions imposed by their owners. 
 The trustees have considered the offer, and accept it. 
 They desire me to express to you and your associates 
 their appreciation and gratitude for the good work 
 you have done, and for the great help your efforts 
 have afforded in securing the establishment of a per- 
 manent Art Museum. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 JULIUS DEXTER, 
 
 Secretary C. M. A. 
 
 The transfer was completed on one of the last days 
 of March, 1881, by the following formula : 
 
 The Museum Association of Cincinnati having sig- 
 nified its willingness to accept the articles mentioned 
 in the above inventory, and to take immediate charge 
 of the same, for the purposes of said Museum, the 
 " "Women's Art Museum Association," by the action 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 105 
 
 of its trustees, duly authorized, does hereby transfer 
 and deliver said articles to the trustees of the Cincin- 
 nati Museum. 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, ELIZABETH K. WHITMAN, 
 
 President, Treasurer, 
 
 FRANCIS F. FORCE, CAROLINE M. HULBERT, 
 
 Vice- President. SUSAN L. WINSLOW. 
 
106 
 
 OPENING TO THE PUBLIC OF THE TEMPORARY MUSEUM 
 
 EOOMS BY THE TRUSTEES. 
 
 The Rooms of the " Cincinnati Museum Associa- 
 tion" were on the evening of Feb. 10, 1882, opened 
 for a view of the Lessing drawings and studies, by 
 card invitation of the Trustees. For this occasion 
 this " Association " prepared an illustration of pot- 
 tery, including pieces from the Mound Builders ; and 
 the " Tucker China " thought to show the second 
 attempt to make porcelain in the United States, by 
 Wm. Ellis Tucker, at Philadelphia, 1816-30. The ex- 
 hibit was, however, chiefly devoted to the decorated 
 work of Cincinnati; in the cases were found the 
 earliest procurable specimens of decoration, overglaze 
 on porcelain, done here in 1874-6; the first success in 
 blue color underglaze, 1877; the h'rst success in 
 " Limoges " work, 1877 ; and representative pieces of 
 the same through preceding years to date ; the earli- 
 est underglaze color work in the "Ben net" style, 
 1878 ; representative specimens of the series of 
 thirty inch vases made at Hamilton Road Pottery, 
 1879, and decorated by ladies of Cincinnati ; the very 
 interesting work in pate-sur-pate, relief and inlaid 
 clays ; incised work ; the work of the Pottery Club of 
 "Rockwood Pottery," then in the second year of its 
 existence, and " Wheatley Pottery. " The collection 
 was made by purchase, gifts and loans, and showed 
 an accomplishment that might well cause wonder and 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 107 
 
 admiration. Larger collections of Cincinnati pottery 
 work had been shown, but none of so much historical 
 interest, and none, as a whole, of so much elegance. 
 The little stone China plate in underglaze blue color, 
 of 1877, marked an era in the decoration of pottery in 
 Cincinnati, the thought of which produced emo- 
 tions in the minds of those who understood its im- 
 portance. 
 
 In the course of the evening an announcement was 
 made by the Trustees of an additional gift from Mr. 
 Chas. W. West of a second sum of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars for the Museum ! This was 
 given as an " endowment fund, " interest only to be 
 used " for such purposes as the Board of Trustees may 
 from time to time deem necessary to support and 
 maintain the Museum, and to add to the property." 
 
 Fifth annual meeting held Feb. 24, 1882. The fol- 
 lowing Trustees and Officers were elected : 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 MRS. AARON F. PERRY, (ex-Officio), 
 " JOHN T. PERRY, 
 " M. E. INGALLS, 
 " Q. A. KEITH, 
 " THEODORE STANWOOD, 
 " W.P. HULBERT, 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 " P. MALLON, 
 " FREDERICK Gr. HUNTINGTON, 
 
 " A. S. WlNSLOW, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO. 
 
108 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Officers. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 1st. Vice-president. 
 
 " P. MALLON, 2d. " 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss E. H. APPLETON, Recording Secretary. 
 
 " JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 From the Trustees Report to the Association the 
 following extracts are taken : 
 
 " When the Organization of the Cincinnati Mu- 
 seum Association was perfected, and the Trustees had 
 accepted our unimportant gift, it may have been sup- 
 posed that our work was done. The Museum was as- 
 sured. To the Building Fund is now added, thanks 
 again to Mr. West, a generous endowment for its 
 support. 
 
 "These great results should not lessen, but increase 
 our interest. 
 
 "From the report of the Secretary, you have 
 learned that a meeting was held to consider the fu- 
 ture course of the Association. The departments of 
 the Museum were not tilled, and it seemed a pleasant 
 idea that the women of Cincinnati should contribute 
 to one of them. After careful consideration of the 
 subject, the specialty of pottery was selected as one 
 upon which the choice of a large number of women 
 could be united. 
 
 " Such a collection of pottery as would creditably 
 represent home work, was made for the occasion of 
 the opening of the Museum on Feb. 10, 1882. . . . 
 If the interest of the ladies should carry them beyond 
 this accomplishment, an historic representation of the 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 109 
 
 potters' art of other nations presents a subject 
 worthy of our careful study, and will require the de- 
 votion of time and means. This department will be 
 an important one in the Museum, and will undoubt- 
 edly in time be filled ; but whether by the women of 
 Cincinnati, will depend upon the interest we shall 
 bring to bear upon it. " 
 
 Cincinnati, April 3, 1882. 
 Dear Mrs. Perry: 
 
 I was very sorry not to be at the Association 
 meeting on Monday one particular reason being that 
 I had an axe to grind. 
 
 The twoRiefstahl drawings are so fine, and one so 
 very remarkable, that I was anxious to speak to the la- 
 dies about them, hoping they might help me to dis- 
 pose of them. I am determined if possible to get one 
 bought by some private individual for the Museum. 
 It contains many figures, and over seventy faces, each 
 perfectly characteristic. Mr. Longworth thinks it 
 quite worthy of a place in the Museum, and advised 
 me to get some one to buy it for that purpose. Tow, 
 before I write invitations to persons to come and see 
 it, I want to find out who would buy for the Museum, 
 as I should not like to have it bagged for somebody's 
 dark parlor instead. I wish you and Miss Appleton 
 could see it, and help me to my object. 
 
 I am yours sincerely, 
 
 C. A. PLIMPTON. 
 
 These exquisite drawings were both secured for the 
 Museum, purchased and given by Mr. Joseph Long- 
 worth. 
 
110 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 The sixth annual meeting of the Association, held 
 Jan. 9, 1883, resulted in the following election : 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY (ex-officio'), 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 " M.E. INGALLS, 
 " Q. A. KEITH, 
 
 " A. S. WlNSLOW, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 
 " F. Gr. HUNTINGTON, 
 
 " THEODORE STANWOOD, 
 
 " L. B. HARRISON, 
 
 " O. J. WILSON, 
 
 " LOUISE N. ANDERSON. 
 
 Officers. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 1st Vice- President. 
 
 " FRED. G. HUNTINGTON, 2d " 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss E. H. APPLETON, Recording Secretary. 
 
 " JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 After the election, the Secretary, Miss Appleton, 
 read her report, in which she gave a list of the gifts, 
 purchases, and loans, which the Association trans- 
 ferred to the Cincinnati Museum Association, as "a 
 better endowed and more useful organization for an 
 Art Museum." 
 
 11 Since the transfer, the work of the Association 
 has been restricted to the collection of an historical se- 
 
OF CINCINNATI. Ill 
 
 ries of the pottery of the United States, which, as ob- 
 tained, has been passed over to the Museum Associa- 
 tion." 
 
 In January, 1883, the attention of the Association 
 was called, by the trustees of the museum, to a collec- 
 tion of lace, which they were invited to purchase for 
 the museum. The collection had been prepared 
 through the instrumentality of Sir Philip Cunlitfe 
 Owen. A descriptive catalogue had been received, 
 which comprised one hundred and twenty sorts, or 
 numbers, including Italian of the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
 and seventeenth centuries' work, among which were 
 " rose point," "flat venise point," "point de neige," 
 " Genoese" laces, and other varieties; Spanish of the 
 seventeenth century; Belgian, including Mechlin and 
 Brussels, of the seventeenth century; Flemish of the 
 eighteenth century; Dutch of the eighteenth century; 
 French of the period of Louis XV ; " point d'Alen- 
 con;" "Valenciennes" of the eighteenth century, and 
 others too numerous for mention here. 
 
 An Association meeting was held January 27, 1883, 
 and the subject carefully considered. 
 
 To make the purchase would divert the funds from 
 the specialty to which they had been set apart: but 
 lace, as well as pottery, is attractive to the tastes of 
 women, and to take it was a temptation. 
 
 Its value and merit as a collection had the indorse- 
 ment of the director of the South Kensington Mu- 
 seum, whose knowledge and judgment ought to be 
 unquestionable in such a matter, and the ladies felt 
 that they could have no better guarantee in any case 
 
112 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 of a purchase. The only question seemed to be, 
 whether the money now in the treasury should be 
 used, or whether a special fund should be raised for the 
 purpose. It was, however, without much discussion, 
 decided to devote the means on hand, and to make 
 the purchase for the museum. 
 
 General Goshorn was present at the opening of the 
 meeting, and recommended the purchase on behalf of 
 the museum trustees. He also stated that a very val- 
 uable collection of textiles, sent to the trustees on ap- 
 probation, will be opened to the public early in Feb- 
 ruary. 
 
 The letter given below is a propos of the subject : 
 
 South Kensington Museum, June 9, 1883. 
 Mrs. ELIZABETH "W". PERRY, 
 
 Pres't Women's Art Museum Association, 
 
 Cincinnati, U. S. A.: 
 
 I have received from Mr. Goshorn the draft for 
 262 3s., in payment for the collection of lace which 
 I had the honor and pleasure to secure for the new 
 museum of Cincinnati. 
 
 Allow me herewith to tender you, as the president 
 of the Women's Art Museum Association, my sin- 
 cerest congratulations on this acquisition of a collec- 
 tion well worthy a place in your new museum. 
 
 The collection of textiles is now probably being ex- 
 hibited there, and your Association, and the people of 
 Cincinnati, generally, will have had an opportunity of 
 judging for themselves of the high value of this col- 
 lection, especially at a time when such specimens are 
 becoming more rare and more expensive every day. 
 
 Trusting that the lovers of art in Cincinnati will 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 113 
 
 not let slip this opportunity to greatly enrich their 
 museum at very moderate cost, 
 
 Believe me, my dear madam, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 PHILIP CUNLIFFE OWEN. 
 
 The succeeding letter shows that opportunities for 
 making purchases for the museum were not wanting : 
 
 South Kensington Museum, July 27, 1883. 
 To THE PRES'T OF THE LADIES' ART Mus. ASSOCIATION : 
 
 Dear Madam I have requested my esteemed friend, 
 the director of the Cincinnati Museum Association, to 
 consult with you with reference to a special collection 
 which has taken years to make, and which is specially 
 applicable to women's work. 
 
 From the description of this collection, which is 
 given briefly in the accompanying translation of a 
 letter from M. Fulgence, you will observe the nature 
 of the collection. This will be found explained more 
 in detail in the list 
 
 M'me Fulgence, who is a remarkable expert in all 
 these matters, has for many years past accompanied 
 her husband in all parts of Europe, and after three 
 years this remarkable and instructive collection was 
 prepared. 
 
 As M. Fulgence explains, each specimen is mounted 
 on a uniform-sized board, covered with black cotton 
 velvet and labeled. It is calculated to give examples 
 of needle-work, and of that needle-work of the past 
 now being brought into fashion. Indeed, Messrs. 
 Worth, of Paris, wished to acquire this collection. 
 
 It is more than five years since that I advised M. 
 
114 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Fulgence, and M'me Fulgence, to turn their attention 
 to forming with method a chronological series of art 
 needle-work, as illustrated by choice and rare speci- 
 mens of work. This collection conies specially under 
 your part of the great art industrial work which is be- 
 ing so energetically carried on, and with such marked 
 success, in your city. 
 
 I remain, dear madame, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 PHILIP CUNLIFFE OWEN. 
 
 To this the following reply was sent: 
 
 Petoskey, Michigan, August 26, 1883. 
 Sir PHILIP CUNLIFFE OWEN, 
 
 Director South. Kensington Museum, London: 
 
 Dear Sir Your favor of July 27th, addressed to 
 me under cover to General Goshorn,in which you rec- 
 ommend to the attention of the "Women's Art Mu- 
 seum Association of Cincinnati " the collection of 
 artistic needle-work made by M. and M'rne Fulgence, 
 has been forwarded to me at this place. 
 
 I have examined the catalogue of the collection, 
 and do not doubt that it would prove an interesting 
 and valuable addition to the Cincinnati Museum. 
 
 The nature of the collection is, however, foreign to 
 the specialty to which we have resolved to devote our 
 future efforts in reference to the museum, and I am, 
 therefore, obliged, on behalf of the Association, to say 
 that we are unable to consider the question of its 
 purchase. With great respect, yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, President. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 115 
 
 The seventh annual meeting of the Association was 
 held March 18, 1884, when the board of trustees and 
 officers of 1883 were re-elected. 
 
 From the Report of Trustees the following is taken : 
 
 . . . "No efforts have been made to increase 
 the funds of the Association beyond the annual mem- 
 bership dues. The purchase of the collection of lace 
 was the only one of much importance in amount. 
 The purchasing committee have added to the collec- 
 tion of the pottery of the United States a few repre- 
 sentative pieces of 1883. . . . 
 
 " Within a few days we have placed in the museum 
 fifty-two pieces of Etruscan pottery. This valuable 
 and interesting collection came from Signer Augusto 
 Castellani, of Rome, and is the fulfillment of an 
 offered gift from him to Mrs. 0. J. Wilson, one of our 
 trustees, made several years ago during a visit of Mrs. 
 Wilson. to Rome, and intended for the future Museum 
 of Cincinnati. The collection is varied and repre- 
 sentative in character, comprising examples of most 
 of the well-known articles and shapes made and used 
 by these ancient people. The gift is important and 
 interesting in its nature, and derives additional value 
 and authority from the distinguished source whence 
 it comes. With the gift of Signor Castellani came a 
 section of Mosaic pavement, dug from the ruins of the 
 Roman Campagna, from Mr. D wight Benton. 
 
 "The trustees recommend an adherence, during the 
 coming year to the policy adopted by the Association 
 of devoting its current means to increase the museum 
 collection of pottery, including tiles, of our own country. 
 In their judgment, the collection should be made as 
 broad and representative of this growing industry in 
 
116 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 the United States as can be conveniently clone. It is 
 only by securing examples of current work that an 
 historic collection can be easily secured. 
 
 "They also recommend that the ultimate object 
 which the Association has had in view (the placing in 
 the museum by the women of Cincinnati a collection 
 of foreign pottery) be still further deferred till circum- 
 stances shall seem to favor, more than at present, an 
 effort to raise so large a sum of money as will be nec- 
 essary for that purpose." 
 
 Annual meeting of Association in the museum 
 rooms, Exposition building, January 12, 1885. Trus- 
 tees and officers for 1885 : 
 
 Trustees. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY (ex-officio). 
 
 " A. S. WlNSLOW, 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 
 " THEO. STANWOOD, 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 
 " FRED. G. HUNTINGTON, 
 
 " W. P. HULBERT, 
 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 
 " Q. A. KEITH, 
 
 " O. J. WILSON, 
 
 " M. E. INGALLS, 
 
 " LOUISE N". ANDERSON, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 117 
 
 Officers. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 u M. F. FORCE, 1st Vice- President. 
 
 " FRED. G-. HUNTINGTON, 2d Vice-Pres't. 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss ELIZABETH H. APPLETON, Secretary. 
 
 " JANE C. I^EAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
118 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 During the summer of 1885 it was intimated to the 
 Association that an exchange might be effected, tt by 
 which a representation of the pottery of the Pueblo 
 Indians could be secured from the United States 
 National Museum at Washington, for the museum in 
 Cincinnati, for an equivalent in Cincinnati decorative 
 pottery. It was understood that the pottery from 
 Cincinnati should represent, not the work of amateurs, 
 but of an established pottery. The committee on 
 purchase selected about fifty dollars worth of repre- 
 sentative pieces of " Rookwood," for which were sent 
 us in exchange an extremely well selected representa- 
 tion (thirty-two pieces) from the Pueblos of Zuni, 
 Moqui, and Acoma ; the Santa Clara Indians, and the 
 Indians of Chiriqui, near Panama. These pieces were 
 at once offered to and accepted by the museum. 
 
 Annual meeting of Association, January 11, 1886. 
 Trustees and officers for the year: 
 
 Trustees. 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY (ex-q/ficio), 
 " A. S. WINSI.OW, 
 " M. F. FORCE, 
 " THEO. STANWOOD, 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, 
 " FRED. G. HUNTINGTON, 
 " 0. J. WILSON, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 119 
 
 Mrs. LOUISE N. ANDERSON, 
 " W. P. HULBERT, 
 " JOHN SHILLITO, 
 " M. E. INGALLS, 
 " W. W. SEELY. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, President. 
 
 " M. F. FORCE, 1st Vice- President. 
 
 " F. Gr. HUNTINGTON, 2d Vice- President. 
 
 " H. C. WHITMAN, Treasurer. 
 Miss ELIZABETH Gr. APPLETON, Secretary. 
 
 u JANE C. NEAVE, Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 At a meeting of trustees, January 4, 1886, it was 
 unanimously Resolved, on motion of Mrs. 0. J. Wilson, 
 " that it will be pleasant to us to send to Signor Au- 
 gusto Castellani, as a token of kind and grateful re- 
 membrance, a specimen of the decorated pottery of 
 Cincinnati/' 
 
 The committee on purchases was authorized to 
 make a selection, and carry out the intentions of the 
 meeting. The following letters were written by Mrs. 
 Perry of the purchase committee, in reference to the 
 matter : 
 
 238 ML Auburn, Cincinnati, March 8, 1886. 
 Hon. JOHN B. STALLO, 
 
 American Minister at Rome : 
 
 Dear Sir I hope the favor I have to ask may prove 
 an agreeable one to you, and that I am not over-step- 
 
120 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 ping the bounds of propriety in the request I have to 
 make. 
 
 The circumstances of the case are briefly the fol- 
 lowing : About two years ago Sign or Augusto Cas- 
 tellani of Rome, sent, through the Association which 
 I represent in writing you, a valuable and interesting 
 collection of fifty-two pieces of ancient pottery Etrus- 
 can as a gift to the Cincinnati Museum ; a most 
 graceful act, proceeding apparently from a purely ben- 
 eficent and generous motive. 
 
 At a recent meeting of the trustees of our Associa- 
 tion, we resolved that it would be pleasant to us to send 
 to Signor C. a specimen of Cincinnati pottery as a 
 token of pleasant and grateful remembrance. A se- 
 lection has been made, of " Rookwood " pottery, and 
 we have arranged to send the package, containing: 
 three pieces, through Adams' Express, from here. 
 
 In considering the matter, it occurs to us, that this 
 illustration of the decorative pottery from our city 
 would have an added dignity and value, in the eyes 
 of the recipient, if it should come to him under the 
 auspices of the American Minister, and we hope for 
 your sympathy in our wish to make the little gift as 
 agreeable to. him as may be. In this view, we have 
 taken the liberty of addressing the package to you. 
 In my letter to Signor C. I shall advise him of this 
 fact. If you will kindly have him notified of its arri- 
 val at Rome, you will confer a favor upon us. 
 
 I do not know whether you have felt much interest 
 in the beginning of the new industry of decorative 
 pottery in the United States. I may say between 
 ourselves as Cincinnatians that I believe there is as 
 much originality and character in the pieces we send, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 121 
 
 as may be found in the work of any of the European 
 nations at this time, in the same line of work that 
 is, in common clay, decorated under the glaze and 
 that in mechanical perfection and glaze, they also bear 
 a favorable comparison. The industry is of course in 
 its infancy, and we have much to learn. The three 
 pieces are all of Ohio day; two of them of the fine- 
 grained red clay of this valley ; and as the decorators, 
 Miss Laura Fry and Mr. Valentine, had their training 
 in the School of Design of Cincinnati, they are repre- 
 sentative of purely home work. 
 
 We commend them to your and Miss Stallo's kind 
 consideration, hoping their introduction at Rome, 
 under the shield of your official courtesy, may not 
 prove otherwise than interesting to you. 
 
 The committee will prepay all transportation charges. 
 We can not learn of any duties to be paid. If it 
 should prove otherwise, however, or if charges which 
 we can not foresee should accrue, we will promptly 
 remit the amount, if you will kindly have us notified 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Perry unites with me in very cordial regards to 
 you and Mrs. Stallo, and your daughter. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, U. S. A. 
 238 Mt. Auburn, March 8, 1886. 
 Signor AUGUSTO CASTELLANI, 
 
 Piazza di Fontana di Trei'i, Rome : 
 Dear Sir At a recent meeting of the trustees of 
 the " Women's Art Museum Association of Cincin- 
 nati," it was, on motion of Mrs. O. J. Wilson, unani- 
 
122 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 mously Resolved, " that it would be pleasant to us to 
 send to Signor Augusto Castellan! of Rome, as a 
 token of kind and grateful remembrance, a specimen 
 of the decorated pottery of Cincinnati." 
 
 It givey me great pleasure, dear sir, to announce 
 to you that a selection has been made, and that the 
 package will be at once sent, addressed to Hon. John 
 B. Stallo (of this city), American Minister to Rome, 
 who will kindly notify you of its arrival. 
 
 The two pieces selected are of the fine-grained red 
 clay of the Ohio Valley : the distinctive name given 
 to the leading decorative characteristics of the larger 
 piece " Tiger-eye " was suggested by its fancied re- 
 semblance to the changing lights of the stone of that 
 name. 
 
 The flower of the smaller piece is a spray of the 
 golden-rod, one of the most common of our wild plants, 
 which grows and blooms in great luxuriance from 
 Maine to Florida. Its brilliant color, and graceful, 
 plumey spikes, make it an universal favorite and 
 perhaps no plant can be considered more purely na- 
 tional. 
 
 The decorators of these pieces, both engaged at the 
 pottery, were pupils of the School of Design of Cin- 
 cinnati. 
 
 It may be said the practice of decorating pottery 
 has only existed in this country about ten or twelve 
 years : the first results were shown at the Centennial 
 Exposition, in 1876, from various parts of the coun- 
 try more largely, perhaps, from Cincinnati than else- 
 where but all the work of untrained hands and all 
 o-verglaze painting on European porcelain. This was 
 soon followed in Cincinnati, and elsewhere, probably, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 123 
 
 by the more difficult and more ambitious attempt at 
 underglaze color on our common clays. 
 
 At the risk of extending my letter unduly, I am 
 tempted here to add the interesting fact, that the 
 work in decorative pottery in Cincinnati, is wholly 
 owing to the impulse given by the taste and energy 
 of a few ladies. When they entered upon it, some 
 twelve years ago, absolutely nothing was known of 
 the use of verifiable colors; and there were no facili- 
 ties for firing their experiments, except the kilns of 
 the makers of stone china-ware. 
 
 In 1879, Mrs. Maria Longworth Nichols, and Miss 
 McLaughlin, paid for the building of an overglaze 
 and an underglaze kiln, respectively, at one of our 
 common potteries. 
 
 An increasing knowledge of the beauty of the 
 clays of this part of the country for ornamental uses, 
 together with the generally increasing taste for dec- 
 orative pottery, soon caused Mrs. Nichols to feel the 
 need of larger facilities, and led to the establishment, 
 in 1880, of her pottery, " Rookwood," where these 
 pieces were made. 
 
 We ask your acceptance, dear sir, of these little 
 specimens, representative of this early industry here 
 in no sense as a return for your liberal and graceful gift 
 through us to the Cincinnati Museum, but in the 
 thought that your tastes might naturally incline you 
 to feel an interest in the early effort of the youngest of 
 the nations in decorative pottery. 
 
 By order of the board. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, President. 
 
124 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 P. S. A third piece, with cover, has been added to 
 the package by Mrs. 0. J. Wilson, of which she de- 
 sires me to ask your acceptance, with her compli- 
 ments. E. W. P. 
 
 Rome, April 20, 1886. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY : 
 
 Dear Madam I have this hour received from the 
 United States minister, in Italy, the three very beau- 
 tiful vases which you, in the name of the trustees 
 of the " Women's Art Museum Association of Cin- 
 cinnati," so courteously have presented to me. 
 
 Without flattery I can frankly say to you, that I 
 have found worthy of every encomium, these artistic 
 experiments of your young nation ; feeling them to be 
 an earnest of the assured future which they promise 
 in the development of your valuable institution. 
 
 I beg then to present to the trustees, through their 
 worthy president, my warmest acknowledgments, to- 
 gether with my very sincere congratulations. 
 
 I have the honor to subscribe myself, always, 
 Your obliged, 
 
 AUGUSTO CASTELLANI. 
 
 LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1 
 ROME, April 29, 1886. J 
 
 DEAR MRS. PERRY: Your letter advising me of the 
 shipment of the Rookwood pottery, destined for Mr. 
 Castellani, reached me some time ago, but I deferred 
 answering it in the hope that in a few days I should 
 be able to announce the arrival of the package. Un- 
 fortunately it has been delayed on the road a long 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 125 
 
 while, so that your letter has remained unanswered 
 nearly two months. 
 
 Mr. Castellani (to whom I forwarded the box at 
 once, without opening it) writes me that he is both 
 charmed and surprised at the beauty of the articles 
 sent him, and that he has made his acknowledgments 
 in a letter addressed directly to yourself. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that the opportunity 
 to render some slight service to your Association, and 
 to yourself, has afforded me very great pleasure. 
 
 Begging you to present my best compliments to 
 the ladies of your Association, and to remember me 
 kindly to Mr. Ferry and the other members of your 
 family, not forgetting Dr. Forchheimer, I have the 
 honor to be, Very truly, . 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN B. STALLO. 
 
 During a visit of Prof. Edward S. Morse to the city, 
 he accepted an invitation from the Association to de- 
 liver a lecture, under their auspices, upon the " Man- 
 ners and Customs of the Japanese." The lecture was 
 given to a good audience, by whom it was enjoyed, on 
 the afternoon of March 13, 1886, at the Odeon. 
 
 In the spring of 1886, the correspondence here 
 given led to the transfer, to the Cincinnati Museum, of 
 a Rembrandt painting, and a Sevres cup and saucer, 
 from Mr. A. Gunnison. 
 
 238 Mt. Auburn, March, 1886. 
 Mr. A. GUNNISON : 
 
 Dear Sir The approaching completion of the Mu- 
 seum Building, and arrangement of the collections, 
 
126 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 suggest to me that I may speak to you in refer- 
 ence to the Rembrandt picture, and Sevres cup 
 and saucer, which, in 1878, at the close of the Loan 
 Exhibition, you were so generous as to say you would 
 give to the future museum (there was no museum 
 then, and nothing in that direction except our Asso- 
 ciation) when a permanent and suitable place was pro- 
 vided. Your gift was to be made to the future insti- 
 tution through tbe " Women's Art Museum Associa- 
 tion." 
 
 In the interval of eight years which has elapsed, 
 our interest in tbe matter has not diminished ; but 
 you may have changed your views in reference to the 
 disposal of these valuable and interesting objects. My 
 note is one of inquiry: I need only say that, if you 
 remain of the same mind, we sball be glad to receive, 
 and transfer them to the museum. 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 ELIZABETH W. PERRY, President. 
 
 Cincinnati, March 16, 1886. 
 Mrs. AARON F. PERRY, 
 
 Preset Women's Art Museum Assoc. of Cincinnati: 
 
 My Dear Madam The articles presented by me to 
 your Association some years ago are now ready to be 
 delivered on your present order to the " Art Museum 
 Association;" the same having, by your desire, been 
 held by me awaiting the completion of the new 
 building. 
 
 They are, 
 
 1st, Portrait of Utenbogardus, by Rembrandt, painted 
 in 1635 signed and dated. 
 
OF CINNCINNATI. 127 
 
 2d. Cup and Saucer, made at Sevres for Louis XVI, 
 and from his household. 
 
 The presumed importance of these works may ap- 
 propriately call for some descriptions arid grounds for 
 the claim of originality; but, while I am abundantly 
 convinced by my own knowledge and investigation, 
 coupled with the evidence imparted by the works 
 themselves, it is not so easy to impart that confidence, 
 perhaps, to others. 
 
 The picture was purchased in Geneva, Switzerland, 
 in 1878, by myself, more upon its merits than from a 
 belief in the record of its authenticity, although quite 
 clearly shown to have been for many years in the 
 Royal gallery at Amsterdam, and its present ownership 
 fully accounted for; this statement being confirmed 
 by an early catalogue in German, covering all known 
 works of Rembrandt. 
 
 Later, having it in Paris, through the interposition 
 of the proper authorities it was submitted for exami- 
 nation to the proper committee of the " Academy of 
 Art," by whom it was unqualifiedly pronounced to be 
 
 original, and of the value of francs. The subject 
 
 was for many years receiver-general of the states of 
 of Holland, and a lifelong friend of Rembrandt. 
 The frame seems to be, as it is claimed to be, contempo- 
 rary. 
 
 The cup and saucer are of the best period of the 
 Imperial works at Sevres, and evidence the sumptuous 
 taste of the court and times of Louis XVI these two 
 pieces, alone, containing one hundred and ninety-three 
 gems of great purity and beauty, including turquoises, 
 rubies, and opals. I procured them from the agent of 
 a nobleman, at Chester, England, who exhibited satis- 
 
128 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 factory evidence of their having been directly pro- 
 cured from the royal custodian at Paris, and their re- 
 tention as souvenirs for all these years. 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 A. GrUNNISON. 
 
 Amount of purchases made by the Associa- 
 tion for the Museum, . . . $2,32179 
 
 Amount of gifts to the Association, trans- 
 ferred to the Museum, . . . 6,396 10 
 
 Total, ... . . $8,717 89 
 
 Estimates of values in the case of gifts, were made 
 generally from the valuation of the givers: in a few 
 cases from the valuation of experts. In the case of 
 books, from the price list of Robert Clarke & Co. Of 
 purchases, in accordance with the bills of purchase. 
 
 The purchases made by the Association for the Mu- 
 seum excepting the collection of lace have been 01 
 the decorated pottery of the United States, including 
 tiles but more especially of the pottery made at Cin- 
 cinnati of which a consecutive representation from 
 1874-5 -to 1886 has been secured. 
 
 The gifts made through us to the Museum have 
 been mainly of pottery but some miscellaneous arti- 
 cles have been given. 
 
 An Accession Catalogue has been kept by the Sec- 
 retary, with an accurate list of objects purchased by 
 the Association, and of gifts or loans made through 
 it, with a description and statement of values : this, 
 with official papers, files of letters, minutes, etc., is 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 129 
 
 deposited in the library of the Historical and Philo- 
 sophical Society of Ohio, 115 West Eighth street, 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 Report of the Treasurer of the Women's Art Mu- 
 seum Association from the formation to the close 
 
 1877-1886 : 
 
 Receipts. 
 Dr. 
 
 To Fund from Women's Centennial Association $ 384 22 
 
 Membership Fees 2,680 00 
 
 Donations for Decorative Art Rooms 1,612 00 
 
 Premium and Interest on Bonds 481 08 
 
 Receipts from Loan Exposition 3,161 38 
 
 Miscellaneous Sources... 68642 
 
 Total : $9,005 10 
 
 Disbursements. 
 Cr. 
 By Salaries of Teachers in Art and in Decorative 
 
 Work $1,448 24 
 
 Wages of Custodian and Janitor. .. 601 45 
 
 Rents, Heating and Lighting Rooms 852 32 
 
 House Furnishing . . 560 07 
 
 Expenses of Reception 552 09 
 
 Printing, Advertising, and Stationery 2,446 44 
 
 Purchase of Lace for the Cincinnati Museum... 1,270 11 
 
 " Pottery for Cincinnati Museum 872 51 
 
 Miscellaneous Expenses 100 52 
 
 Balance in Hand... .. 301 35 
 
 Total $9,005 10 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 ELIZABETH K. WHITMAN, 
 APRIL 15, 1886. Treasurer. 
 
 Audited and found correct. 
 
 GEORGIANNA L. HOWE, 
 MEIIITABLE COPPENHAGEN WILSON. 
 
130 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 While these pages are in press, the Museum build- 
 ing was, on Monday afternoon, May 17, 1886, pub- 
 licly dedicated to its distinctive uses, and its collec- 
 tions thrown open to the public. 
 
 The years of the corporate life of the institution 
 may be counted on the fingers of one's Land each in 
 turn marking a substantial step in advance. To the 
 gifts of Mr. Charles W. West, for building and en- 
 dowment, have been added the popular subscriptions 
 of citizens, the transfer of the School of Design to 
 the Museum of which it is the natural supplement 
 the endowment of the school by the heirs of Mr. 
 Joseph Long worth, the endowment fund of the Mu- 
 seum by Mr. Reuben R. Springer, and lastly comes 
 from Mr. David Sinton the means which provides, 
 alongside the Museum building in Eden Park, a new 
 building for the School of Design. 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 131 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN'S 
 ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF CINCINNATI, 
 
 APRIL 1877 TO APRIL 1886. 
 
 Miss E. H. Appleton, 
 Mrs. H. W. Andrews, 
 Miss E. D. Allen, 
 Mrs. Thos. Ambrose, 
 Mrs. Wm. P. Anderson, 
 Mrs. L. N. Anderson, 
 Mrs. H. T. Atkins, 
 Mrs. Larz Anderson, Jr., 
 Mrs. N". L. Anderson, 
 Miss Lizzie Athey, 
 Miss Fannie M. Banks, 
 Mrs. S. M. Barrett, 
 Mrs. W. R. Benedict, 
 Mrs. Henry Bliss, 
 Mrs. A. D. Bullock, 
 Mrs. Samuel J. Broadwell, 
 Mrs. Alfred Buchanan, 
 Miss Emma Buchanan, 
 Miss S. A. Breck, 
 Miss L. H. Berry, 
 Mrs. W. II. Blymyer, 
 " Wm. J. Breed, 
 " Dr. Bartholow, 
 " Louise Bugher, 
 " H. Brothers, 
 " 11. Bowler, 
 " Robert Brown, 
 Miss Minnie Bewley, 
 " E. Bradford, 
 " B. Bradford, 
 
 Mrs*. Robert W. Burnet, 
 " Jacob S. Burnet, 
 " G. K. Bartholomew, 
 " A. Campbell, 
 " E. T. Carson, 
 
 Miss Florence Carlisle. 
 
 Mrs. P. S. Conner, 
 " F. W. Clarke, 
 u Emma Cheever, 
 " George Carlisle, 
 
 Miss Clara Carlisle, 
 
 Mrs. Cleneay, 
 
 Miss Crawford, 
 
 Mrs. J. B. Checkering, 
 
 Miss Jennie Clarke, 
 
 Mrs. S. A. Charles, 
 
 Miss L. Charles, 
 
 Mrs. A. B. Champion, 
 " James Cullen, 
 
 Miss D. Clemens, 
 
 Mrs. J. II. Cotton, 
 " P. Cavagna, 
 " Charles R. Crane, 
 " J. A. Crozet, 
 " John Davis, 
 " Wm. Dodd, 
 " Wm. Doughty, 
 " L. M. Dayton, 
 u Charles Dexter, 
 " Wm. Domiuick, 
 
132 
 
 WOMEN S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Mrs. Herman Duhrne, 
 Miss Annie Dexter, 
 Mrs. Charles T. Dickson, 
 
 " Sarah R. Drnry, 
 
 " Wra. Davis, 
 
 " Wm. Henry Davis, 
 
 " L. Devinney, 
 Miss Duhme, 
 Mrs. Dunklee, 
 
 " Dunlap, 
 
 " R. A. Dykens, 
 
 " W. H. Doane, 
 
 " Edmund Dexter, 
 
 " Seth Evans, 
 
 " Benjamin F. Evans, 
 
 " T. J. Emery, 
 
 " Lowe Emerson, 
 
 " Frank R, Ellis, 
 
 " 0. M. Erkenbrecher, 
 
 " James A. Frazer, 
 
 " M. F. Force, 
 
 " S. S. Fisher, 
 
 " Dr. Z. Freeman, 
 Miss Fanny Field, 
 
 " Elsie Field, 
 Mrs. W. R. Fallerton, 
 
 " Dr. Foster, 
 
 " Richard Folsom, 
 Miss Laura A. Fry, 
 Mrs. Albert G. Folger, 
 Miss Clara Fletcher, 
 Mrs. C. S. De Forest, 
 
 " T. L. A. Greve, 
 
 " David Gibson, 
 
 J. W. Gaff, 
 Miss Rachel Gaff, 
 Mr. James Gil more, 
 Mrs. Bessie Gilmore, 
 
 " Wm. Glenn, 
 
 Mrs. Wm. Gibson, 
 u S. L. Gaussen, 
 
 Miss Maria Gardthausen, 
 " Carrie Gibbons, 
 
 Mrs. R. H. Galbreath, 
 " W. A. Gamble, 
 " John A. Gano, 
 M. E. Gaither, 
 " A. J. Howe, 
 " A. H. Hinkle, 
 " M. E. Handy, 
 " Wm. P. Hulbert, 
 " H. 0. Homer, 
 " Dr. E. Y. Howard, 
 
 Mrs. John W. Herron, 
 " E. W. Hutchens, 
 " L. B. Harrison 
 " F. G. Huritington, 
 " Frank Hammon, 
 
 Miss Harbeson, 
 
 Mrs. G. W. Hardacre, 
 " D. H. J. Holmes, 
 " Wm. K Hobart, 
 " Charles L. Howe, 
 " Harriet T.Humphrey, 
 " W. H. Harrison, 
 
 Miss Mary Harrison, 
 
 Mrs. D. K. Junes, 
 " M. E. Ingalls, 
 " Geo. F. Ireland, 
 " K A. Jeffras, 
 " C. H. Justis, 
 " John D. Jones, Jr., 
 " Herbert Jenney, 
 " Abby R. Jones, 
 " Isaac Jordan, 
 " R. Johnston, 
 P.D.Keith, 
 " Ann F. Kinsey, 
 
OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 133 
 
 Mrs. Sarah E. Kinsey, 
 " Rebecca F. Kinsey, 
 " Kate. A. Kinsey, 
 " John Kilgour, 
 " Charles A. Kebler, 
 " Rufus King, 
 " M. V. Keenan, 
 " John Kebler, 
 " F. H. Lawson, 
 " J. S. Lape, 
 " Robert E. Lee, 
 " R, F. Leaman, 
 " Kate M. Lupton, 
 " Henry Lewis, 
 
 Miss A. Lewis, 
 
 Mrs. James H. Laws, 
 
 Miss Annie Laws, 
 " Lizzie. Laws, 
 
 Mrs. H. L. Laws, 
 u P. Mallon, 
 " Geo. W. McAlpin, 
 
 Miss Louise McLaughlin, 
 
 Mrs. J. A. Murphy, 
 " Ann Marshall, 
 " James McKeehan, 
 u Andrew McCormick, 
 " Emanuel J. Miller, 
 " fi. B. Morehead, 
 " W. H. Mussey, 
 " J. S. Mills, 
 
 Miss Mitchell, 
 
 " Dodie Mitchell, 
 
 " Murdock, 
 
 " Fanny Murdock, 
 
 Mrs. Alex. McDonald, 
 " R. C. Mitchell, 
 " John Morrison, 
 
 Mr. "Win. McAlpin, 
 
 Mrs. 0. Bentley Matthews, 
 
 Mrs. Robert Macready, 
 
 " John McIIenry, 
 Miss C. L. McHenry, 
 Mrs. John G. Niel, 
 Mrs. E. F. Eoyes, 
 
 " Charles Neave, 
 Miss J. C. Neave, 
 
 " Alice Neave, 
 Mrs. J.M. W. Neff, 
 
 " N. G. Nettelton, 
 Miss Kate Nettelton, 
 
 " Laura Neff, 
 
 " C. E. bourse, 
 Mrs. Albert better, 
 
 " A. F. Perry, 
 
 " J. T. Perry, 
 
 " C. A. Plimpton, 
 Miss A. A. Pitman, 
 Mrs. Thos. Phillips, 
 
 " Henry Pearce, 
 
 " Oliver Perin, 
 
 " Elliott H. Pendleton, 
 
 " Harley Procter, 
 Miss Procter, 
 Mrs. Sarah E. Perkins, 
 
 " L. B. Reakirt, 
 
 " C. D. Robertson, 
 
 " Dr. R. S. Rust, - 
 
 " Wm. Resor, Jr., 
 
 44 G. Y. Roots, 
 
 " John Reno, 
 
 " Joseph Rawson, Sr., 
 Miss Anna G. Roelker, 
 
 u Bernardine Rapp, 
 Mrs. Harry R, Smith, 
 
 " John Shillito, 
 
 " Theodore Stan wood, 
 Miss Mamie Smith, 
 
 " Ellen Sampson, 
 
134 
 
 WOMEN'S ART MUSEUM ASSOCIATION 
 
 Mre. Fayette Smith, 
 
 " John A. Smith, 
 
 " Thos. Sherlock, 
 Miss Mary Stettinius, 
 Mrs. Daniel J. Smith, 
 
 " Virginia Sampson, 
 Miss Mattie Sen elder, 
 Mrs. W. W. Scarborough, 
 
 " Brings Swift, 
 
 " H. A". Smith, 
 
 " W. W. Seely, 
 Miss Belle Smith, 
 Mrs. Chas. H. Stephens, 
 
 " F. Seifert, 
 Miss Spencer, 
 Mrs. F. W. Smith, 
 Miss Carrie C.-Swasey, 
 Mrs. Stewart Shillito, 
 
 " Dr. W. H. Taylor, 
 
 " Chas. P. Taft, 
 
 " R. M. W. Taylor, 
 
 " S. C. Tatum, 
 
 " George Thornton, 
 
 " O. E. Tyler, 
 Miss Kitty Tilden, 
 Mrs. L. M. Thompson, 
 
 " Judge Taft, 
 
 Mrs. Wm. II. Thayer, 
 " Henry C. Timer, 
 
 Mrs. Leon Van Loo, 
 u 0. J. Wilson, 
 " A. S. "Winslow. 
 " Wm. E. Williamson, 
 " E. Williams, 
 " H. C. Whitman, 
 " Morris White, 
 " Adolph Wood, 
 " M. C. Wilber, 
 " F. D. S. Whetstone, 
 " Davies Wilson, 
 " S. B. Warren, 
 " Drausin Wulsin, 
 " J. T. Whittaker, 
 " Wm. H. Woods, 
 
 Miss Annie Walker, 
 
 Mrs. Geo. Wilshire, 
 " T. H. Woodworth, 
 " F. W. Wilson, 
 " E. S. Wayne, 
 
 Miss Thyrsa L. Westcott, 
 
 MBS. M. J.Webb, 
 " S. E. Wright, 
 " E. Zimmerman. 
 
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