Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with William Milliken

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.millik74
Creators:
Milliken, William Mathewson, 1889-1978
Barrie, Dennis
Dates:
1974 Dec. 27-1976 Mar. 13
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
106 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of William Milliken conducted 1974 Dec. 27-1976 Mar. 13, by Dennis Barrie, for the Archives of American Art. Milliken speaks of his family background and history; his childhood; his education, and studies at Princeton; his first position as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum; his involvement with the Frick and the Cooper Union Museum; his appointment to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1919, and becoming its director in 1930. He recalls William R. Valentiner, Jacques Seligmann, Isabella Stewart Gardner, J.P. Morgan, Henry Frick and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
William Milliken (1889-1978) was a museum director from Cleveland, Ohio. He was the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930-1958.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 5 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 45 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum curators -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum directors -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Frick, Henry Clay, 1849-1919 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 1840-1924 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 1837-1913 (John Pierpont) Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Seligmann, Jacques, 1858-1923 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Valentiner, Wilhelm Reinhold, 1880-1958 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cleveland Museum of Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions