11 Perkins Family 6/12/2015 Thomas Handasyd Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia #6 parkSt.sold to T.H. Perhar Thomas Handasyd Perkins in 1801 who resold it in 1802 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia to John 9ore. Park Street undits Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, or T. H. Perkins (December 15, 1764 - January 11, 1854), was a wealthy Thomas Handasyd Perkins Victinity Boston merchant and an archetypical Boston Brahmin. Starting with bequests from his grandfather and father-in- law, he amassed a huge fortune. As a young man he was a slave trader in Haiti, a Maritime Fur Trader, trading furs from the American Northwest to China, and then a major smuggler of Turkish opium into China. [2][3] Contents 1 Life and career 2 References 3 Footnotes 4 Further reading Born December 15, 1764 5 External links Died January 11, 1854 (aged 89) Brookline, Massachusetts Life and career Nationality American Occupation Shipping magnate His parents, James Perkins and Elizabeth Peck, had ten Net worth USD $3 million at the time of his children in eighteen years. When Perkins was twelve, he death (approximately 1/1116 of US was in the crowd which first heard the Declaration of GNP)[1 Independence read to the citizens of Boston. The family had planned to send Perkins to Harvard College, but he had no interest in a college education. In 1779 he began working, and in 1785 when he turned 21 he became legally entitled to a small bequest that had been left to him by his grandfather Thomas Handasyd Peck, a Boston merchant who dealt largely in furs and hats. Until 1793 Perkins engaged in the slave trade at Cap- Haitien Haiti. In 1785, when China opened the port of Canton to foreign businesses, Perkins became one of the first Boston merchants to engage in the China trade. He sailed on the Astrea to Canton in 1789 with a cargo including ginseng, cheese, lard, wine, and iron. On the trip back it carried tea and silk cloth. In 1815 Perkins and his brother James opened a Mediterranean office to buy Turkish opium for resale in China. Perkins was also a major industrial investor within Massachusetts. He owned the Granite Railway, the first commercial American railroad, which was built to carry granite from Quincy quarries to Charlestown for construction of the Bunker Hill Monument and other city buildings in Boston. He also held significant holdings in the Elliot textile mills in Newton, the mills at Holyoke and Lowell, New England canals and railroads, and lead and iron mines including the Monkton Iron Company in Vermont. In addition, Perkins was politically active in the Federalist Party, serving terms as state senator and representative from 1805- 1817. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Handasyd_Perkins 1/3 6/12/2015 Thomas Handasyd Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In later years Perkins became a philanthropist. In 1826, he and his brother, James Perkins, contributed half the sum of $30,000 that was needed for an addition to the Boston Athenaeum, and the old Boston Athenaeum Gallery of Art was moved to James Perkins's home. [4] The Perkins School for the Blind, still in existence in Watertown, Massachusetts, was renamed in his honor after he donated his Boston mansion to the financially troubled "Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind" in 1832. He was also a major benefactor to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, McLean Hospital, and helped found the Massachusetts General Hospital. Upon retirement, Perkins built a summer home on Swan Island in the Kennebec River near Richmond, Maine. He helped the island achieve independent municipal status by paying legal fees for its charter and the town was renamed Perkins in gratitude. It is now Perkins Township, a ghost town. Colonel Perkins died on January 11, 1854 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and is buried in the family plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Perkins married Sarah "Sally" Elliott (1768-February 25, 1852) on March 25, 1788, in Boston, Massachusetts. They had three children: Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Jr. ("Short-arm Tom"), whose daughter Louisa married the Boston painter William Morris Hunt; [5] Elizabeth Perkins Cabot (1791-1885); and Caroline Perkins Gardiner (1800-1867). His nephew John Perkins Cushing was active in Perkins' China business for 30 years; the town of Belmont, Massachusetts is named for his estate. His great nephew Charles Callahan Perkins became a well known artist, author and philanthropist like his grandfather James Perkins. References Thomas G. Cary (1856). Memoir of T. H. Perkins (http://archive.org/stream/memthomashand00caryrich#page/n11/mode/2up). Carl Seaburg and Stanley Paterson, Merchant Prince of Boston. Colonel T.H. Perkins, 1764-1854, 1971. Footnotes 1. Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996), The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates-A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, p. xiii, ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8, OCLC 33818143 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33818143) 2. American Merchants and the China Opium Trade, 1800-1840. Jacques M. Downs. Business History Review, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Winter, 1968) 3. American Trade in Opium to China, Prior to 1820. Charles C. Stelle. Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Dec., 1940) 4. The Philanthropy Hall of Fame, Thomas Perkins (http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/hall_of_fame/thomas_perkins) 5. History of the Descendants of John Dwight of Dedham, Mass., Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, J.F. Trow & Co., New York, 1874 (http://books.google.com/books? d=WLfMU4yd1FYC&pg=PA421&lpg=PA421&dq=dwight+leavitt&source=web&ots=I935DS2rWX&sig=oG1 VIU3201UX1CscT2TcLmpntxU&hl=en#PPA408,M1The) Further reading Hunt, Freeman (1858). "Thomas Handasyd Perkins". Lives of American Merchants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Handasyd_Perkins 2/3 6/12/2015 Thomas Handasyd Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://books.google.com/books?id=lygKAAAAIAAJ) 1. Perkins and Company, Canton 1803-1827. Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Mar., 1932). Jstor 3110803. External links Massachusetts Historical Society Thomas Handasyd Perkins papers, 1783-1892 (http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0268)g guide Portrait (http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/james-perkins-1822-gilbert-stuart) of James Perkins, brother of T.H. Perkins Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Handasyd_Perkins&oldid=661798893" Categories: 19th-century American railroad executives | American philanthropists Businesspeople from Boston, Massachusetts | People from Brookline, Massachusetts 1764 births 1854 deaths This page was last modified on 11 May 2015, at 05:34. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Handasyd_Perkins 3/3 MHS Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers, 1783-1892 : Guide to the Microfilm Edition Page 1 of 16 THE MASSACHUSETTS About MHS Library Online In Print Education Events HIS TORICAL SOCIETY Library: Finding Aids Search all Finding Aids List of Finding Aids Related Pages: ABIGAIL (online C Search within this finding aid: Search Search query is interpreted as a phrase. Combine multiple terms or phrases with AND, OR, or commas. Search for names in reverse order. For example: Adams, John Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers Collection Description Related Materials 1783-1892 Acquisition Information Organization Detailed Description of the Guide to the Microfilm Edition Collection Select Index Preferred Citation Access Terms Collection Summary Creator: Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, Abstract: 1764-1854 This collection consists of the personal Title: Thomas Handasyd Perkins papers and business records of Thomas H. papers Perkins (1764-1854), including correspondence, diaries, invoices, account Dates: 1783-1892 books, ledgers, and other papers. Physical 2 document boxes, 59 Description: volumes, 11 extra-tall volumes, and 1 oversize box Call Ms. N-648 (tall) Number: Microfilm P-334, 17 reels Call Number: Repository: Massachusetts Historical Society 1154 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02215 http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0268 3/7/2007 MHS Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers, 1783-1892 : Guide to the Microfilm Edition Page 2 of 16 library@masshist.org Table of Contents Biographical Sketch Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764-1854) was one of Boston's most successful China merchants. Table of Contents Collection Description The Thomas Handasyd Perkins papers consist of the personal papers of Thomas Handasyd Perkins and the records of various Perkins trading firms, including correspondence, invoices, and other business papers related to late 18th-century and early 19th-century mercantile trade. Subjects include the Boston Tea Party, 18th-century slave revolts in Santo Domingo, and trade during the War of 1812. Among the significant correspondents are John Jacob Astor, Robert Bennet Forbes, and Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette. The bound volumes include diaries of Thomas H. Perkins; a letterbook of his grandson Thomas H. Perkins III (1823-1900); and account books, blotters, journals, ledgers, letterbooks, and waste books of the firms E. Bumstead & Co., J. & T. H. Perkins, J. & T. H. Perkins & Sons, and Perkins & Co. The collection is divided into three series: I. Loose papers; II. Oversize papers; and III. Bound volumes. This guide also contains an Select Index of correspondents in Series I (Loose papers), names mentioned in Series II (Oversize papers), authors and owners of the volumes in Series III (Bound volumes), and select individuals and subjects of historical significance found in the collection. Table of Contents Related Materials The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds the following collections related to the Thomas Handasyd Perkins papers: Thomas Handasyd Perkins travel diaries, 1789. Special Colls. Table of Contents Acquisition Information Gift of George Edward Cabot, 1922. http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0268 3/7/2007 MHS Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers, 1783-1892 : Guide to the Microfilm Edition Page 3 of 16 Table of Contents Organization of the Collection The collection is organized into the following series: I. Loose papers, 1789-1853 II. Oversize papers, 1795-1851 III. Bound volumes, 1783-1892 A. Personal journals, 1789-1892 B. Business papers, 1783-1857 Table of Contents Detailed Description of the Collection Reel Box Contents I. Loose papers, 1789-1853 Arranged chronologically. This series contains correspondence, invoices, bills of lading, and other papers related to late 18th-century and early 19th-century mercantile trade. Significant subjects include the perils of trading during the French Revolution and the War of 1812, the 18th-century slave uprisings in Santo Domingo, and the sometimes violent encounters between traders and Indians on the northwest coast of America. Among the notable correspondents represented in this series are John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Fisher Ames, John Jacob Astor, Edward Everett, John Murray Forbes, Robert Bennet Forbes, Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette, and Jonathan Mason. For a list of the correspondents in this series, see the Select Index. Reel 1 Box 1 1789-1805 Reel 2 Box 2 1806-1853 Table of Contents Reel Box Contents Reel 2 Box os II. Oversize papers, 1795-1851 This series consists mainly of newspaper clippings and legal documents pertaining to the sea trade. For a list of the names mentioned in this series, see the Select Index. http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0268 3/7/2007 MHS Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers, 1783-1892 : Guide to the Microfilm Edition Page 4 of 16 Table of Contents Reel Volume Contents III. Bound volumes, 1783-1892 For a list of the authors or owners of the volumes in this series, see the Select Index. A. Personal journals, 1789-1892 This subseries contains the diaries and personal journals of Thomas H. Perkins, including one letterbook (Vol. 32) of his grandson Thomas H. Perkins III (1823-1900). Most of the journals describe the travels of the Perkins family in Europe and the United States. Reel 3 Vol. 1 13 July 1789 Reel 3 Vol. 2 Voyage on ship Charlotte to Bordeaux, 14 Dec. 1794-2 Feb. 1795 Reel 3 Vol. 3 At Paris, France, 12 Mar.-21 May 1795 Reel 3 Vol. 4 France to Holland and back, 10 May-6 June 1795 Reel 3 Vol. 5 Paris to Amsterdam, 6 June-24 July 1795 Reel 3 Vol. 6 Europe and England, 1 July-29 Sep. 1795 Reel 3 Vol. 7 At Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 3-12 Sep. 1800 Reel 3 Vol. 8 On a voyage to Bristol, England, 27 Aug.- Sep. 1811 Reel 3 Vol. 9 At Cherbourg, 14 May 1812, 1 June 1812 Reel 3 Vol. 10 London to Boston, 11 June 1820, 10 July 1823 Reel 3 Vol. 11 Liverpool, England, 11 May-5 July 1823 Reel 3 Vol. 12 London to Holland, July 1823 Reel 3 Vol. 13 Voyage on ship Milo, 14 Apr.-31 July 1826 Reel 3 Vol. 14 Trip to England, 4 May 1826 Reel 4 Vol. 15 Voyage on Margaret Forbes to London, 13 July-5 Aug. 1829, and Dover to Boston, 20 Sep.-22 Oct. 1829 Reel 4 Vol. 16 In England, Aug.-Sep. 1829 Reel 4 Vol. 17 Account books, 30 Nov. 1834-2 Jan. 1835, and at London, 22 Mar. 1835 Reel 4 Vol. 18 London to Paris, 4-19 Apr. 1835 Reel 4 Vol. 19 In Europe, 19 Apr.-5 May 1835 Reel 4 Vol. 20 In Europe, 9 May-9 June 1835 Reel 4 Vol. 21 In Europe, 12-29 June 1835 http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0268 3/7/2007 6/12/2015 Charles Callahan Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Callahan Perkins From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Callahan Perkins (March 1, 1823 - August 25, 1886) was an art critic, author, organizer of cultural activities, and an influential friend of design and of music in Boston. Contents 1 Biography 2 References 3 Sources 4 Further reading 5 External links Portrait of Charles C. Perkins, 19th Biography century Charles C. Perkins was born in Boston on March 1, 1823, to James and Eliza Greene (Callahan) Perkins. His father, descended from Edmund Perkins who emigrated to New England in 1650, was a wealthy and philanthropic merchant. His mother was a gracious, cultivated woman. The family was wealthy. Perkins was the great nephew of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, who founded the Perkins shipping empire J. & T.H Perkins with Charles' grandfather James. Perkins attended several schools before entering Harvard College, where he found the prescribed academic course irksome. He graduated in 1843. He had previously drawn and painted and went abroad soon after graduation to study art. In Rome he became friendly with and encouraged the sculptor Thomas Crawford, then struggling economically. In 1846, Perkins took a studio at Paris, where he had instruction from Ary Scheffer. Later he pursued studies in the history of Christian art in Leipzig. Returning to Paris he took up etching with Bracquemond and Lalanne. He made many etchings to illustrate his own books. Perkins, independently wealthy, devoted his life to interpreting the art of others. In 1850-51 and from 1875 until his death he was president of the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston, and sometimes conducted their concerts and wrote music the ensemble performed. (The German publisher Breitkopf and Härtel, the world's oldest music publishing house, issued Perkins's Piano Trio and two string quartets in 1854 and 1855 respectively; Perkins's compositions were the first works by an American ever published by that firm.) He married on June 12, 1855, Frances Davenport Bruen, daughter of the Rev. Matthias Bruen, of New York. They gave many concerts and recitals at their home. Perkins was the largest subscriber to the construction of the Boston Music Hall, forwhich he also contributed the great bronze statue of Beethoven, modeled by his friend Crawford, which since 1902 has stood in the entrance hall of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. An invitation extended to Perkins in 1857 to give some lectures at Trinity College, Hartford, on "The Rise and Progress of Painting," started him as a lecturer. He possessed charm and magnetism on the platform. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Callahan_Perkins 1/3 6/12/2015 Charles Callahan Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia After another European sojourn ended in 1869, he lectured frequently on Greek and Roman art before Boston school teachers, and on sculpture and painting at the Lowell Institute. he served for thirteen years on the Boston school committee. He brought to Boston the South Kensington methods of teaching drawing and design to children, and he was instrumental in founding the Massachusetts Normal Art School, now the Massachusetts School of Art. As a committeeman he was also assigned the third division of the school system, comprising the North and West Ends. He took pains to know personally all teachers of his division, often entertaining them at his home. Prior to 1850, Perkins had proposed an art museum for Boston but had found the plan premature. When others revived this project twenty years later he supported it. He was second among the incorporaters of the Museum of Fine Arts, secured for its opening a gift of Egyptian antiquities, and made valuable suggestions for arranging its exhibits. He advocated showing contemporary work as well as the arts of antiquity. He was also elected president of the Boston Art Club, a post he held for ten years. He systematically devoted part of each day to writing Tuscan Sculptors, published in London in 1864, which brought him a European reputation. It was followed in 1868 by Italian Sculptors, with illustrations drawn and etched by the author. He edited, with notes, Charles Locke Eastlake's Hints on Household Taste (1872), Art in Education (1870), Art in the House (1879) from the original of Jakob von Falke, and Sepulchral Monuments in Italy (1885). In 1878 he brought out, with illustrative woodcuts which he had designed, Raphael and Michaelangelo, dedicated to Henry W. Longfellow, and included Longfellow's previously unpublished translations of the sculptor's sonnets. His Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture appeared in 1883, and in 1886, in French, Ghiberti et son École. At the time of his death he had nearly finished his closely documented History of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, Massachusetts, which others completed. He was also critical editor of the Cyclopedia of Painters and Paintings, edited by Champlin. [1] He was the grandfather of editor Maxwell Perkins and the great-grandfather of Archibald Cox. Perkins died on August 25, 1886, in Windsor, Vermont in a carriage accident while he was driving with U.S. Senator William M. Evarts of New York. References 1. New International Encyclopedia Sources "Charles Callahan Perkins. "Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Further reading Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Perkins, Charles Callahan" (http://www.archive.org/stream/biographicaldict08johnuoft#page/n293/mode/lup).Dictionary of American Biography 8. Boston: American Biographical Societies. p. 293. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Perkins, Charles Callahan" Encyclopcedia Britannica 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Callahan_Perkin 2/3 6/12/2015 Charles Callahan Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There are tributes to Perkins by Robert C. Winthrop, Thomas W. Higginson and Samuel Eliot, with a biography by Eliot, in the Proceednigs of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2 ser. III (1888). See also: Justin Winsor, The Memorial History of Boston, vol. IV (1881); A. F. Perkins, Perkins Family (1890); Dwight's Journal of Music, March 1, 1856; and Boston Transcript, Aug. 26, 1886. External links Boston Art Club (http://www.bostonartclub.com) Guide to the Cleveland - Perkins Family Papers (http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/clevelandperkins.pdf) Charles Callahan Perkins - Ask Art (http://www.askart.com/AskART/P/charles_callahan_perkins/charles_callahan_perkins.aspx) Later Years of the Saturday Club 1870 1920 (http://books.google.com/books? I=5CZjcVp6fQwC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Callahan_Perkins&oldid=660385662" Categories: 1823 births 1886 deaths | Artists from Boston, Massachusetts | American art historians Harvard University alumni 19th-century American painters | 19th century in Boston, Massachusetts American historians This page was last modified on 2 May 2015, at 07:17. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Callahan_Perkins 3/3 CHARLES CALLAHAN PERKINS 1823-1886 IN the fifties of the nineteenth century New England was just awakening to an interest in contemporary European art, par- ticularly that of Germany and France. The Athenxum, on top of Beacon Hill in Boston, not only offered hospitality to letters, but provided a picture-gallery expectant of purchases, gifts, and loans. Busts of honored Bostonians and other Americans found a home there; the casts of the best Greek statues began to adorn the reading-room, and exceptionally brave New-Englanders were learning to tolerate their unabashed beauty; and in an early ex- hibition Page had had the courage to hang there a Venus - at which visitors glanced hastily, quickening their steps. But there were few masters of the arts in Boston, the study of art was not generally respected, and a young man seriously interested in it could seek his education only across the ocean. Charles Callahan Perkins, son of James and Eliza Green (Calla- han) Perkins, was born on Pearl Street in Boston on March I, 1823. He was a half-brother of Bishop Doane of Albany and of Mgr. Doane of Newark, New Jersey. His father, a distinguished mer- chant of Boston, was well known for his public spirit, which mani- fested itself in extensive public charities; his grandfather founded the Perkins professorship of mathematics at Harvard College, and In substance and partly in form this sketch is drawn chiefly from the 'Memoir' by Samuel Eliot in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for February, 1887. Dr. R. W. Hooper, for thirty years a Trustee of the Boston Athenaum, sitting one day in the reading-room, saw the door open and a young man bashfully look in. The Doctor kindly rose and asked if he could do anything for him. The young rustic asked in a low voice, 'Is this respectable, sir?' and the Doctor then perceived a young woman standing a little apart. 'Oh, yes,' he answered, 'entirely so. Bring your young friend in. These are celebrated statues from the antique, dug up in Greece. Let me show them to you.' They passed among the alcoves, seeing Athene, Artemis, the Discobolus, and the Gladiator rather uneasily, until they came to the statue of Uncle Toby removing the mote from the widow's eye. The young man, relieved at seeing the figure clothed and bewigged, exclaimed, 'Oh, that's General Washington! Was he dug up?' 'No,' replied the Doctor, 'that is Uncle Toby in Sterne's story.' 'Oh, your uncle!' said the young man, 'I ask your pardon, sir. I don't believe I ever saw your uncle.' 8 The Saturday Club was one of the originators of the Boston Athenxum; and his uncle, Thomas H. Perkins, founded and richly endowed the Perkins In- stitution for the Blind. Charles C. Perkins received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1843, and that of Master of Arts three years later. As a boy he had shown an inborn love of music, and great skill in the use of his pencil; and shortly after leaving Cambridge he went to study painting and music in Europe, where he became a pupil of Ary Scheffer in Paris. Except for OC- casional returns he spent the next ten years abroad developing his own powers. He was married (in 1855) to Frances D. Bruen, daughter of the Reverend Matthias Bruen of New York. In 1847 and 1848 he was studying both music and painting in Rome, where as a member of the art colony his interests extended to other students less fortunate than himself. In letters to his friends he constantly expressed hopes of some day seeing an Acad- emy of Fine Arts in Boston, and upon his return for a three years' stay at home the contrast between our unadorned, somewhat color- less life and the advantages of Europe struck him SO forcibly that the great scheme of his chosen work took still more definite shape. But it was the success of his lectures on the rise and progress of painting, delivered at Trinity College, Hartford, that definitely turned him from composition and performance in music. He re- turned to Europe for another prolonged stay of about a decade, during which he began his beautiful books on Tuscan and Italian sculpture, illustrated by etching, which until his return to the United States had been practically an unknown art in this country. His reputation abroad as a writer won him SO much honor, and his na- ture and manner SO many friends, that he might well have been excused for staying there as an author or a dilettante. France recognized his zeal for the Fine Arts by making him Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and a Corresponding Member of the In- stitut de France; but his interests were with American culture, and his other honors were destined to come from his own country. His return was timely. A Boston Museum of Fine Arts had been projected, and he came at the moment of its founding. It was a great joy to him to find such an enterprise begun, and to be wel- comed to a share in it; and doubtless it convinced him more than Charles Callaban Perkins I9 anything else could have done that the ground was ready for the seed. He was elected Honorary Director, and for the rest of his life the Museum was his object and his recompense. It is gratify- ing to read in a Report for the year 1886 that his generosity, de- votion, and success were well rewarded by the appreciation of his associates. The Museum of Fine Arts was his greatest interest; but idleness was never a temptation to him, and as art critic, President of the Boston Art Club from 1869 to 1879, a member of the City School Board from 1870 to 1883, President of the Händel and Haydn Society from 1875 to 1876, a Fellow of the American Acad- emy, and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, he turned his time and his means steadily and effectively to useful account. It is pertinent to note that in the election of 1884 the political party then in power dropped his name as a candidate for the School Board from the party ticket, SO that, in spite of his nom- ination on other tickets, his service to the City came to a disap- pointing end. Such were the penalties of 'independence' in the Blaine campaign. His achievements were due to elevated tastes combined with untiring industry and native qualities of rare purity. One of his friends has observed that his life is a clear an- swer to the riddle which puzzles SO many of our social critics: what is the proper career for our young men of fortune? If the Museum may be regarded as in part a memorial of him, the Normal Art School building also may be SO regarded. Perhaps the most revealing token of Perkins's character is the high-mind- edness with which he was able to correct any overestimate he may once have placed upon his own talents, especially as these were by no means mediocre. He had made earnest and protracted efforts to perfect himself; but when he found that his best work lay in per- fecting others he turned quietly away from what had been SO full of hope and inspiration to him, and consecrated himself to the diffusion of the arts he loved. His work on the School Committee in establishing the system of art instruction in the public schools against the opinions of some of his friends in art vividly illustrates his independence of character. Perkins's work, after all, is but a corollary of his character. He worked as though conscious of a special call: to bring to his coun- 20 The Saturday Club try the treasures he had found, and to teach his countrymen how to enjoy them; hence no understanding of his accomplishment can be had without insistence on his belief in his own country. This is evident by his personal sacrifices and by the free bestowal of his cultivation and industry on the poorest and least fortunate of the children in the public schools, and by the surer testimony that his own children were brought up as good Americans while abroad. When the shocking disaster of a carriage-accident at Windsor, Ver- mont, on August 25, 1886, brought his life to a sudden close in the full vigor of noble powers, the sorrow of those who could appre- ciate his natural endowments, cultivated tastes, elevation and grace 1873 of character and of manner was mitigated only by the realization that the work he had done was of the kind which endures. 8/24/19 Edece and Newton Perkins Deed 9/12/89 at netwood in his 80th yr. In lleurian "fear Public Doessate of Mass Anneal Repets Puble officers g Institution Vsl.3 "A grableman of the old school, -equisity courteous kind-hearted Eposopolica affel ated c Perhais Institution., infectionce but was one of "most valeed Where be not out shored whent three advigers." netword, 231 Perkins St. 8/23/2019 William Bayard Cutting - Wikipedia This page was last edited on 2 April 2019, at 16:03 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.