Mary Black (historian) explained

Mary Black
Birth Date:7 April 1922
Birth Place:Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Death Date:1992 (aged 69)
Death Place:Germantown, New York
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:University of North Carolina (B.A.)
George Washington University (M.A.)
Occupation:Art historian
Spouse:Richard Black
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Mary Black, née Childs (7 April 1922 – 1992), was an American art historian.

Life

Mary Black was born on April 17, 1922, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was awarded her B.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1943 and joined the United States Navy's WAVES that same year. Promoted to lieutenant, junior grade, she remained in the Navy until 1946. She married Richard Winthrop Black on April 7, 1947, and received a M.A. degree from George Washington University four years later. She was employed as a research assistant at Colonial Williamsburg at Williamsburg, Virginia in 1956–57 and then became registrar for the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection at Williamsburg in 1957–58, curator from 1958 to 1960, and then director and curator in 1960–63. Black was the director of the American Folk Art Museum from 1964 to 1969 and then became curator of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts for the New-York Historical Society in New York City. She was divorced in 1970 and remained with the Historical Society until her dismissal a dozen years later. Black filed complaints with state and federal agencies alleging sex and age discrimination and the society settled. She was awarded back pay, including vacation time, and a full pension. She died of cancer in Germantown, New York, in 1992 at age 69.[1]

Activities

Mary Black published five books in her career and contributed to "a number of publications for the New-York Historical Society on various topics, including Edward Hicks, Erastus Salisbury Field, aspects of Jewish life in New York, Dutch paintings, advertising posters, Federal furniture and decorative arts, and Belmont Park."[2] Her research led to the identification of bodies of work for the painters Nehemiah Partridge[3] and Jacob Maentel.[4]

References

Notes and References

  1. Scanlon & Cosner, pp. 23–24
  2. Scanlon & Cosner, p. 24
  3. Book: Richard H. Saunders. Ellen Gross Miles. National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution). American colonial portraits, 1700–1776. 1987. Published by the Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Portrait Gallery. 978-0-87474-695-2.
  4. Web site: Jacob Maentel Portraits SOLD. October 17, 2012. Christopher H Jones Antiques.