Freer Donates Collection to SI

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Summary

Charles Lang Freer signs a deed of gift giving his entire art collection to the Smithsonian Institution and specifying, among other terms, $500,000 (later increased to $1 million) for construction of a building.

Subject

  • Freer, Charles Lang 1854-1919
  • Freer Gallery of Art

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

  • Oehser states that Freer continued adding to the collection, and that by the time of his death in 1919, the collection included 9,500 objects.
  • Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1906. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907, p. 29.
  • Biographical Outline: Charles Lang Freer, Founder of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, December 1, 1992, prepared by the Freer Gallery of Art.
  • Oehser, Paul H. The Smithsonian Institution. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970, p. 141.
  • Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1953. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1954, p. 161.

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

May 5, 1906

Topic

  • Benefactors
  • Architecture
  • Art, Oriental
  • Gifts
  • National Collections
  • Major Events in Smithsonian History
  • Buildings

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