Charles Franklin Montgomery (April 14, 1910 – February 21, 1978), was an American curator, art historian, scholar, educator, and museum director. He served as the first director of the

Henry Francis du Pont Henry Francis du Pont (May 27, 1880 – April 11, 1969) was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into ...

Winterthur Museum Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Pronounced “winter-tour," Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home o ...

, from 1954 to 1961. After continuing to work at the museum as a senior research fellow, he was a curator and art historian at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

from 1970 until his death.

Career

Montgomery was born April 14, 1910, in Austin Township, Illinois, the son of William Norton and Grace Louisa (Albert) Montgomery. After receiving his BA degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1932, Montgomery worked for the ''

Herald Tribune ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers. ''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia * The Herald (Adelaide), ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily * ''Ba ...

'', purchased and unsuccessfully attempted to cultivate an orchard in

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in En ...

, and began collecting and selling antiques. His work as a dealer and consultant grew into a significant scholarly career.Wendell D. Garrett, "Charles Franklin Montgomery," ''Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society'' Vol. 8, Pt. 1, April 1978, http://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44517602.pdf (accessed 15 January 2015), 26-27. In 1949, Montgomery was appointed associate curator and executive secretary of the

; in 1954, he was appointed director of the Museum. He began teaching courses in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture in 1952 and during the early years of the program was responsible for raising funds for fellowship grants. He remained part of the program until 1970. Under Montgomery's direction, Winterthur's graduate program was the first to offer professional training for careers in historic administration and historic house museums. He resigned as director in 1961 to focus on scholarship and teaching, working as a senior research fellow at Winterthur and teaching at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

, where he was a lecturer from 1962 to 1967 and an adjunct professor from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, Montgomery received an MA degree from

and joined Yale as a curator and professor of art history. His Yale exhibitions included "American Art, 1750–1800: Towards Independence," a bicentennial exhibit that later traveled to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. He had a particular interest in pewter, a subject on which he was an authority and "enthusiastic evangelist." His 1973 illustrated book, ''A History of American Pewter'', serves as a concise introduction to the subject, but also touches upon broader themes in the study of decorative arts and social history. Montgomery was a member of the editorial board of the ''American Walpole Society Notebook''. He was elected to the

Walpole Society The Walpole Society, named after Horace Walpole, was founded in 1911 to promote the study of the history of British art and artists. From 1762 on, Walpole had published the first history of art in Britain, based on the manuscript notebooks of G ...

(1955) and the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

(1958). The Decorative Arts Society offers an Award and Prize, named for Montgomery, that honor outstanding scholarly work on the decorative arts. Yale's History of Art Department includes a decorative arts professorship named for Montgomery.

Personal life

Montgomery and his first wife, Evelyn Reed, spent the better part of a decade in Connecticut, attempting with little success to run an orchard. Montgomery's second wife and professional collaborator, Florence M. Montgomery, served as Winterthur's curator of textiles and a textile consultant for the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. Montgomery had a son from each marriage; he and his second wife also had a daughter who died as a child. Montgomery died of a heart attack shortly after collapsing in a Yale University classroom.Garrett, 26-7.

Select bibliography

* ''Design and Decorative Arts of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (1960) * ''A Guide to the Winterthur Collections'' (1962) * ''American Furniture: The Federal Period'' (1966) * ''The History of American Pewter'' (1973)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Charles Franklin American art educators 1910 births 1978 deaths Harvard University alumni People associated with Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library American Antiquarian Society members Yale University faculty Yale University alumni University of Delaware faculty People from Macon County, Illinois American art historians Directors of museums in the United States