Harvard Art Museum. Director's Office.

The bulk of these records was created by six consecutive Assistants to the Directors: Walter Siple (who held the position from April 1, 1927 to November 1, 1929), Henry Sayles Francis (who held the position from November 1, 1929 to September 1, 1931), Frederick Robinson (who held the position from September 1, 1931 to August 31, 1937), John S. Thacher (who held the position from 1936 until 1941), Frederick Grace (who held the position of Acting Assistant Director from 1941 to 1942), and Louisa Sprague (who held the position, although seemingly on an unofficial basis, beginning in 1942).

Walter Helck Siple (1890-1978), the first Assistant to the Directors, did both his undergraduate and graduate work at Harvard, receiving a B.S. in 1915 and an A.M. in 1917. He then began work at Groton School, where he taught science from 1917 to 1926. Siple decided he would prefer a career related to the Fine Arts, though, and wrote of this interest to Fogg Museum Director Edward Forbes. Forbes hired him in April 1927 as the first Assistant to the Directors; Siple assisted not only Forbes but also Associate Director Paul J. Sachs. Siple was also responsible for teaching summer courses in the Fine Arts at Harvard, in a program initiated by the Committee on Education of the American Institute of Architects and funded by the Carnegie Corporation. He also served as a lecturer in Fine Arts for one year. Siple held the position of Assistant to the Directors for just over two years, leaving in 1929 to become Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, as well as Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati and Curator of the Charles P. Taft collection.

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