Pages
MS01.01.03.B02.F23.098
of the United Church of Christ in New York City to be used in a College Museum Collaborative Program for the six Black College of the South under the jurisdiction of the American Missionary Association.
The idea of the American Missionary Association, the only continuing abolishionist organization of its kind in the Nation, administering a program for "students of Negro origin" appealed to Brady. Her own interest in the Native Americans of Sitka, Alaska and the pioneering work that her brother engaged in at the Sheldon Jackson Jr. College. There provided the picture Brady needed to ascertain the success of the museum Collabrative Program at the American Missionary Assocation Brady took this action after retiring from the Foundation Back her contact with adminstration of our programs at Fisk, Tailadega and Howard remained active even after her retirement.
Bradys interest in art of Willima H. Johnson is an important story in the history of modern American art.
41. The six predominantly Black Colleges of the American Missionary Association are Dillard University in New Orleans; Fisk University in Nashville; Houston- Tillitson College in Austin; LeMoyne-Owens College, Memphis; Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama and Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. The American Missionary Association assigned "The Toussaint L'Ouverture Series" and the remaining 140 works from the Harmon foundation to the Amistad Research Center, now at Tulane University in New Orleans, to administer in 1979.
MS01.01.03.B02.F23.099
Harmon Foundation Page [crossed out: 14] 23
annual exhibits of his works, the Foundation acted as art broker on Johnson's behalf, selling some of his works and arranging for private commercial gallery shows. In 1946, when Johnson became ill in his adopted Denmark, the United States goverment acted to repatriate him. Brady arranged for shipment from Europe to New York City of over eleven hundred Johnson's paintings. [crossed out : Johnson's] His works were placed in storage but many deteriorated due to dampness and the intrusion of mice and rats. In June 1956, the Harmon Foundation legally obtained release of hundreds of boxes and crates of Johnson's works from U.S Customs. Many of the paintings were in need of restoration. Palmer Hayden, a Harmon Foundation gold medal prize winner and occasional janitor for the Foundation, assumed the work of "restoring" Johnson's paintings. The Foundation with the help of the United Negro College Fund raised enough additional funds to partially restore many works. Once the paintings were restored to their original state, the Foundation donated eleven hundred fifty-four [crossed out: works] to the National Collection of Fine arts, now the National Musuem of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, along with the gift of works by William H. Johnson to the Smithsonian.
While the programs of the [crossed out: Harmon] Foundation were light years ahead of others of thier time in improving [crossed out: human condition], the status of Black artists, the Foundation's success may well have been less measurable were it not for the efforts of Brady. She served the Board of Directors as a secretary while assuming the roles of Public Information Officer, as Acting Director went works by Palmer Hayden, Malvin Gray Johnson, Ellis Wilson, Sargent Johnson, Claude Clark and other artists whom the Foundation had collected.
MS01.01.03.B02.F23.100
Harmon Foundation Page [crossed out"15"] 24
and finally Director and Chief Executive Officer until the Foundation ^closed in 1967 and ^ ceased operations in 1969. [strike: Miss] Mary Brady acted in both business and educational matters, planning and arranging for traveling exhibitions, advertising and selling artist's works to college alumni groups and art patrons and promoting the purchase of art works by individuals of wealth to be donated to Black institutions. No detail was too large or too small for [strike: Miss] Brady's personal attention. Shortly before the opening of an exhibition at a neighborhood library, Miss Brady could be seen canvassing local stores to check on the best prices for cups and spoons for the opening reception. She eventually settled on a wholesaler who offered her a lower price. She proceeded to send a letter detailing the matter to the librarian for future use. 43 [strike: Miss] Brady was a prodigious letter writer and would das off lengthy [strike: letters] ones full of pointed suggestions and details to her friends at Black colleges and universities around the country. Her suggestions were often valuable and many were implemented when possible. 44 [strike: If she saw a need or thought there was one, she would do her best to provide.] In summary, the goals and objectives of the Harmon Foundation were realized in principle through the service programs offered. Its
MS01.01.03.B02.F23.101
Harmon Foundation [crossed out: Page 16 23] 25
original purpose was not to single art out as an area for support. That decision came about at the urging of Alain Locke and George Haynes, particularly requesting support for Black artists. [crossed out: Its] Brady thought the mission [strike: was] of the Foundation to be an experiment in inter-cultural relations. Yet, attention [crossed out: that was] paid by the Foundation to [strike: Afro -American] Black American art became the legacy for which it is now remembered. Without the support it gave Black artists, fewer of them would have had a chance to exhibit their work in various places around the country and become as well known as they did in American art circles. The attention the Foundation gave to programs in visual education, archival research and creative development among Black artists helped to establish [crossed out: Afro-American] Black American art as an important cause and encouraged ^racial and ^ national pride. The legacy of philanthropic giving the Harmon Foundation fostered became a prototype for later programs administered by the Whitney Foundation, the American Federation of Arts and more recently local and national support from federal agencies. The archival repositories of the Harmon Foundation are important resources for scholars of American culture and can be found at the Library of Congress and the National Archives in Washington, D.C., ^ the final act of Mary Beattie Brady's deaccessioning of the foundation's collections.
MS01.01.03.B02.F23.102
Harmon Foundation Page 17 NOTES
1. Harmon Foundation Yearbook 1924-1926 (June 1926), page 7. 2. Ibid, page 7. 3. Ibid, n.p. 4. Ibid, n.p. 5. Activities of the Harmon Foundation, (New York, 1929), n.p. 6. Pamphlet "Objectives of the Harmon Foundation", page 1. 7. Harmon Foundation Yearbook 1924-1926, page 8 8. Ibid, n.p. 9. Ibid, n.p. 10. Ibid, n.p. 11. Ibid, page 66. 12. Ibid, page 66. 13. Ibid, page 66. 14. Ibid, page 67. 15. "Harmon Foundation News Bulletin," (February 1926) 16. Lewis, Samella, Art: African American (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 1969), page 71. 17. Ibid, page 68. 18. Harmon Foundation Exhibitions 1931-1935, n.p. 19. Letter of December 27, 1927 from Otto H. Kahn to Dr. Haynes, Secretary of the Commission on the Church and Race Relations of the Federal Council of Churches. (private archive) 20. Harmon Foundation Exhibitions 1931-1935, n.p. 21. Ibid, n.p. 22. Ibid, n.p. 23. Ibid, n.p. 24. Ibid, n.p.