This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
Guide to the Smithsonian Archives, 1996
"The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery," http://www.asia.si.edu/aboutus/aboutthegallery.htm, July 17, 2001
The Director of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is responsible for administering a world-renowned collection of the arts of the ancient Near East to China, Japan, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, and the Islamic world, as well as a collection of nineteenth and early twentieth-century American art, especially the works of James McNeill Whistler. The two galleries exhibit their holdings separately but have a Director and staff in common.
The first Director was John Ellerton Lodge, 1920-1942, followed by Archibald Gibson Wenley, 1943-1962; John Alexander Pope, 1962-1971; Harold P. Stern, 1971-1977; Thomas Lawton, 1977-1987; Milo Cleveland Beach, 1987-2001; Vidya Dehejia (Acting Director), 2001-2002; Julian Raby, 2002-2018; and Chase F. Robinson, 2018- .
For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of " above.
Repository Loc.:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520
