Throughout our nation's history, the people of our towns and cities have responded to the influx of immigrants from foreign lands by establishing institutions that nourished learning and acculturation. One such organization was the New Britain Institute which, when it was incorporated in 1858, provided a library and reading room, where such activities as public lectures took place. An art room was established in1901 and it was here that the institute's first acquisitions were hung, including portraits of its early benefactors and heroes.
In 1903, an enormous boost to the artistic endeavors of the institute came when industrialist John Butler Talcott gave twenty New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company coupon gold bonds worth one thousand dollars for the purchase or acquisition of original "modern" oil paintings. A subsequent gift of another ,000 worth of the same bonds was added to the Talcott Fund in 1905, but it wasn't until 1909 that the income had reached an amount that the trustees of the fund and the library committee believed themselves justified in the purchase of works of art. Three men were entrusted with that responsibility: Marcus White, superintendent of the New Britain State Normal School; Charles F. Smith, president of Landers, Frary and Clark Manufacturing Company; and William F. Brooks, architect and watercolorist. Their letter seeking advice of the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was answered by acting curator Bryson Burroughs, who told them that the wisest course would be to invest in contemporary art."6 Since the trustees could ill afford European art, Burroughs sent them to the Macbeth Gallery which specialized in American art. Thus began the history of the oldest museum in the country to concentrate exclusively on the art of our nation.
The collecting habits progressed slowly for some time and had nearly come to a halt by 1935 when the institute's president, Henry T. Burr, announced a bequest from Grace Judd Landers, who gave her turn-of-the-century stone mansion, located on the edge of the beautiful Walnut Hill Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted), as a permanent home for the art collection. The Art Museum of the Britain Museum Institute, newly renovated, opened its doors to the public on July 1, 1937.
In 1939 Sanford B.D. Low, artist and instructor, was empowered to create exhibitions. In the 1940s the name New Britain Museum of American Art was adopted, and Low became part-time director. Philanthropist and New Britain industrialist Alix W. Stanley helped purchase thirty contemporary American paintings, the first real burst of enrichment and the beginning of a period of expansion. Stanley later provided funds for 250 other paintings and a new gallery. In 1953, Low acquired Thomas Hart Benton's celebrated five-panel mural series, The Arts of Life in America. Upon Low's death in 1965, the Sanford B.D. Low Memorial Collection of American Illustration (LIC), the nation's first museum-based illustration collection, was established. The LIC now boasts 1,460 illustrations dating from the nineteenth century to the present.
Charles B. Ferguson, Low's successor in 1965, promoted the excellence of the collection statewide and nationally. He created the membership organization in 1966 and developed educational programs such as gallery talks, lectures, and the docent program. During his tenure, the sculpture collection increased from eight to one hundred and fifty works, and the museum was accredited by the American Association of Museums.
Daniel C. DuBois became director in 1984. During his tenure, the collection grew through gifts and bequests: three major bequests (in 1989, 1992, and 1994) added ninety works to the collection. DuBois pursued a new emphasis on collection management (conservation, evaluation, and targeted acquisition). He mounted significant exhibitions, expanded events and fundraising, and oversaw the first capital and endowment campaign.
Laurene Buckley, an American art specialist with an extensive background in museum administration and art history, became the fourth director in July 1994. Mandated to strengthen educational programming and increase public access, she has mounted exhibitions targeting new audiences, reinstalled the permanent collection for greater visitor understanding, increased public hours, elevated the lecture series to its highest level of scholarship, involved internationally known figures in exhibitions, and introduced audience-centered educational programs and community-outreach events.
At the Board of Trustees meeting of May 24, 1994, an historic decision was made to disaffiliate from the New Britain Institute and form a separate corporate entity. In the year 2003 the museum will celebrate one hundred years of being New Britain's prime cultural asset.
