The Permanent Collection
of the University of Delaware

Introduction

The Permanent Collection of the University of Delaware includes more than 1,600 works of art and antiques. The collection is managed by the University Archives, under the direction of the Office of the Vice President and University Secretary. The Director of Records Management and Archival Services, University Archives, serves as curator. The collection is a circulating decorative arts collection, which is displayed in University buildings, consisting of works of art (paintings and sculpture), antique furniture, silver and other decorative items that have been given to, purchased or commissioned by the University.

The early roots of the University of Delaware's Permanent Collection date to the second decade of this century, when the institution consisted of two colleges: Delaware College for men and the Women's College of Delaware. In 1917, a benefactor loaned and later gave artwork to hang in the newly renovated Old College Hall, including the Stanley Arthurs' painting, The Landing of the DeVries Colony at Swaanendael, Lewes, Delaware, which hung over the fireplace in the dining hall. Over the next few years, several portraits of prominent Delawareans by Clawson Shakespeare Hammitt also were donated to hang in Old College Hall.

Shortly after the two colleges merged to become the University of Delaware in 1921, the University embarked upon a formal program to gather portraits of internationally famous Delawareans. In 1925, the Board of Trustees appointed a committee to obtain the portraits of "the most distinguished men of Delaware history." Destined to decorate the central area of Old College Hall, then a major dining hall, the portraits accepted by the committee included those of two statesmen, Caesar Augustus Rodney by Hattie E. Burdette and Edwin Burrage Child's portrait of John Bassett Moore, as well as a portrait of George Gray, United States Senator and Federal Judge, by Clawson Shakespeare Hammitt.

In the following decade, a related program was initiated to obtain the portraits of early figures in the institution's history, which would hang in a new administration and classroom building. In particular, the Board of Trustees room was to be decorated with portraits of early figures in the history of Delaware College and the Academy of Newark-especially those prior to the Civil War. Of the six paintings required to fill the room, five were given by 1940 and included Frank Schoonover's portrait of Charles Thompson, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Newark from 1769 to 1775 as well as Secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789; a portrait, also by Schoonover, of Dr. John Ewing, President of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Newark from 1770 to 1783; Louis P. Szanto's portrait of the Reverend Eliphalet Wheeler Gilbert, the first and third president of Delaware College; the fourth president of the college, the Reverend James Patriot Wilson, painted by Frank Graham Cootes; and Andrew B. Karoly's portrait of Nathan Munroe, the first principal of the college. The sixth portrait needed to complete the room, that of Rathmell Wilson, President of the college during the tumultuous years of the Civil War, was not given to the University until 1955, when an anonymous nineteenth-century portrait of Wilson was donated.

During the late 1940s, continued interest in collecting portraits of significant figures in the history of the University led to a gift of two early nineteenth-century portraits: the Reverend Andrew Kerr Russell, the principal of the Academy of Newark from 1811 to 1834, and that of his wife, Ann Whitely Russell. The University of Delaware traces its origin to the Academy. The University also began accepting more recent portraits, including the Stanley Arthurs' portrait of Emalea Pusey Warner, the first woman to serve on the University's Board of Trustees and the person credited with marshalling support for the Women's College of Delaware.

It was during the 1950s and 1960s that the collection developed the scope, variety and purpose that define it today. Interest continued in collecting portraits of distinguished Delawareans. The University was pleased to accept a portrait of Louis McLane, an early Academy of Newark student who later became the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury in 1831 and the U.S. Secretary of State in 1833, which had been painted by McLane's contemporary, William Edward West, and that of Annie Jump Cannon, a Delawarean who achieved renown as an astronomer at Harvard University, which was painted by Orville H. Peets. Bjorn Peter Egeli was commissioned to paint a portrait of Pierre S. duPont, an important figure in the history of the State of Delaware and the University. The project to collect portraits of "the older, beloved and more distinguished faculty members" to hang in the Faculty Club was continued in earnest, as the president said "to create an air of continuity and devotion to purpose."

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Art Subcommittee, under the wing of the Cultural Activities Committee, was empowered to purchase original works of art from commercial art galleries in New York City and Philadelphia. Planning to display these works in offices and classroom buildings to assist in students' appreciation of art, the goal was "to saturate the campus environment with cultural experiences." The Art Subcommittee was responsible for bringing a good selection of prints to the collection, including John J. Audubon's handcolored lithographs of a porcupine and two squirrels, a color lithograph based on the Book of Job by the American Expressionist Benton Spruance, a lithograph and silkscreen by the Russian-American sculptor Alexander Archipenko and a lithograph of the Brooklyn Bridge by the American Precisionist Howard Cook.

In the late 1950s, the University began assembling what would become the backbone of the collection: paintings by regional artists. At the 1959 Delaware Art Show, sponsored by the Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, the University purchased paintings of Delaware scenes by Delaware artists. These purchases were to fill empty wall spaces in the library, the Student Center, residence hall lounges, and dining halls. The objective was to give our students at one and the same time, an appreciation of original art works, of the productivity of Delaware artists in this century, and a familiarity with the Delaware landscape and history through paintings and drawings.

In 1961, the University inaugurated a program that grew into an annual exhibition of the work of regional artists. Benefactors of the University were encouraged to make purchases at the exhibition and then donate the paintings to the Permanent Collection. The first Regional Art Exhibition was organized by an ad hoc committee of the Cultural Activities Committee. The committee solicited representative works from regional artists to be exhibited in the Student Center. The Regional Art Exhibition was held annually in the Student Center until the 18th Regional Art Exhibition in 1979. Acquisitions were made possible through the repeated generosity of benefactors, as well as gift funds specifically designated for the purchase of artwork.

Since 1979, additions to the collection have primarily come from gifts by artists and bequests to the University. Among the regional artists represented in the collection are works by Grace McFarren, Eugenia Eckford Rhoads, Robert Shaw, Frank Delle Donne, Bayard Berndt, Paul Wescott, Tua Hayes, Philip Jamison, Carolyn Blish, W. James McGlynn, and Russell Finley.

An Artist-in-Residence program was initiated in the 1960s for the purpose of adding paintings of campus scenes and local landscapes. Participating artists included Texas artist Theodore St.-Amant Cunningham (1963), Maryland artist Cedric Baldwin Egeli (early 1964) and Indiana artist Frederick Rigley (late 1964). T.S.A. Cunningham was asked to return and paint the University again in October, 1965.

The University's Permanent Collection has been fortunate in receiving artwork, furniture and antiques from several estates, which have included several works by the Brandywine School of artists, N.C. Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Frank Schoonover, and Clifford Ashley. The collection also has benefited from numerous class gifts. In addition to portraits of professors, class gifts also have supplemented the Permanent Collection's holdings of paintings by regional artists.

Inventories of the collection were conducted at five-year intervals through the 1960's and mid-1970s. Following the inventory in 1978, annual inventories were instituted, resulting in improved management of the collection. An individual from each department is identified as "borrower," and that individual assists by conducting an annual inventory of the items in his or her care and custody. In addition to verification of location, any changes in the condition of the works are reported, so that appropriate conservation arrangements can be made. In 1980 an endowment fund was established to make funds available on an annual basis for the conservation and restoration of works in the Permanent Collection.

Today, throughout the University-in the library, the Student Center, administrative offices and residence hall lounges-walls are decorated with portraits of famous Delawareans and figures significant to the history of the University, works by regional artists, paintings of local scenery and other decorative arts given to the University. In this way, the Permanent Collection plays a vital role in the daily life and experience of the University of Delaware community.