Huntington Library
The Huntington Library is one of the world’s great cultural, research, and educational centers. It was founded by Henry Huntington, an upstate New Yorker who came to California and built Read more…
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America’s First Modern Art Museum
Duncan Phillips was the son of a Pittsburgh businessman, and had a passion for art along with family economic means. In 1914, six years after his graduation from Yale, he Read more…
Eastman School of Music
George Eastman had raised himself from poverty to wealth by founding Eastman Kodak, pioneering much of the science and art of photography, and building his company to world dominance through Read more…
Morgan Library
In 1890, when his father died and left him the family’s London banking house and millions of dollars, J. Pierpont Morgan began collecting on a grand scale. Over the next Read more…
Barnes Collection
Albert Barnes had been raised in one of Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods, with experiences to match. Fistfights, not painting, dominated his childhood. Ferocious determination became one of his most characteristic traits. Read more…
Yaddo
Manhattan financier Spencer Trask was one of Thomas Edison’s principal backers, and provided money that supported development of the light bulb, telephone, phonograph, trolley car, electric grid, and motor car. Read more…
Martha Graham
At a time when film was often viewed as crude and vulgar entertainment, George Eastman was adamant that it could become a respectable art form. Between the projection of movie Read more…
Colonial Williamsburg
In the mid 1920s, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and her husband, John Rockefeller Jr., were contacted by Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin, an instructor at the College of William & Mary Read more…
Samuel Kress Sprinkles Great Art Across America
Samuel Kress realized his philanthropic dreams by bringing great art to Main Street. He started with one five-and-dime shop in 1896, which he expanded to 264 stores by the 1930s. Read more…
Julius Rosenwald Fund
Philanthropic giant Julius Rosenwald (president of Sears, Roebuck) started the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 1917 “for the well-being of mankind,” but devoted much of its philanthropic power to improving the Read more…
A Revolutionary Museum Challenge
For more than a century, a priceless collection of relics of the American Revolution has been slowly gathering, waiting for an appropriate home. Included are the tent George Washington slept Read more…
Driehaus Prize in Architecture
Self-made Chicago financier Richard Driehaus argues that “Americans deserve better buildings… . Architecture should be of human scale, representational form, and individual expression that reflects a community’s architectural heritage.” He Read more…
Mizzou New Music Initiative
Rex Sinquefield steered himself from a Missouri orphanage to leadership of a major investment firm 30 years later, in the process developing some of the first index funds. Today his Read more…
A Broad Infusion of Modern Art in Los Angeles
Eli and Edythe Broad’s foundations have assets of some $2.4 billion. Lifelong philanthropists, one of their major areas of focus has been art, and specifically, increasing access to contemporary art. Read more…
Koch Renovation of the State Theater of New York
The State Theater of New York was one of the original buildings in Lincoln Center, completed in 1964 as part of the urban renewal of New York City’s Lincoln Square. Read more…
ArtPrize Launched in Grand Rapids
Rick DeVos grew up in Grand Rapids as the grandson of the founder of Amway. He wanted to bring the arts to Grand Rapids in an unprecedented way. He initially Read more…
An Illuminated Bible for the Computer Age
The Saint John’s Bible, commissioned by the Benedictine fathers of Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota, and funded by 1,500 donors, is a completely handwritten and hand-illuminated Bible. It is Read more…
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Only major centers like New York and Boston can support great museums. Such is the conventional wisdom, but Alice Walton didn’t buy it. She had a vision of creating a Read more…
Bruce Kovner Endows Early Music at Juilliard
Hedge-fund billionaire Bruce Kovner is sometimes refered to as “George Soros’s right-wing twin” due to his support of think tanks and public policy research on the conservative side of the Read more…
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The oldest art museum and art school in America was built up through many decades of private support, particularly from Philadelphia business leaders. With George Clymer—a revered Pennsylvania merchant and Read more…