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Jere Abbott Papers,
1879-1934, n.d. (bulk 1916-1934)
2.0
linear feet.
Catalog Number:
M284
Series List:
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Agency History / Biographical Note:
Jere Abbott was born on October 5, 1897, to Arthur and Flora (nee Parkman)
Abbott in Dexter, Maine. After graduating from Bowdoin in 1920, he did
graduate work in science at Harvard and was an instructor of physics at
Bowdoin from 1921-1922. During the next six years, he studied art and the
history of art in France and Russia, and at Princeton and Harvard. In the
spring of 1929 Abbott was invited to start a department of fine arts at
Wesleyan University; later in 1929 he helped establish the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City. Abbott was associate director of the Museum
of Modern Art when he resigned in 1932 to become director of the Smith
College Museum of Art in Northampton, Massachusetts, a position he held
until 1947. Abbott also served for many years as treasurer of the Amos
Abbott Co. in Dexter, was a trustee of the Abbott Memorial Library in
Dexter for thirty-five years, and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts
degree from Colby College in 1970. Jere Abbott died in Dexter, Maine on
July 9, 1982, survived by four cousins.
Scope and Content:
Family papers, chiefly letters dated 1916-1934 from Jere Abbott to his
parents, including letters while he was a student at Bowdoin. There are
also two sketchpad albums of European sites, drawings, newspaper
clippings, programs, and other printed ephemera.
Cite as:
Jere Abbott Papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections &
Archives, Bowdoin College Library
Access Restrictions:
None.
Source:
Gift; 2006
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