Lieberman, William S. (William Slattery), 1924-2005

William Lieberman, Northeastern University alumnus, attended the university between 1964 and 1968. He majored in biology and went to work in the field of transportation. He currently resides in San Francisco, CA. He wrote Chapter 5, "The Winthrop Loop", in Robert C. Stanley's Narrow Gauge: The Story of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroads, (Cambridge, Mass.: Boston Railway Association, Inc., 1980), available in the Northeastern University library.

From the description of William Lieberman papers, 1964-2001 (bulk 1964-1968). (Northeastern University). WorldCat record id: 754953047

William Slattery Lieberman began his lengthy career at The Museum of Modern Art in 1943 as a volunteer in the Department of Exhibitions and Publications under the direction of Monroe Wheeler. He graduated from Swarthmore College (where his mentor was W.H. Auden) in that same year. He left the Museum for two years of graduate study at Harvard University where he was a pupil in the museum course taught by Paul J. Sachs.

In 1945 he returned to the Museum as assistant to Alfred H. Barr, Jr.; in 1949 he became the first curator in the newly established Department of Prints at the time of the opening of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room. When the department expanded to become the Department of Drawings and Prints in 1960, Lieberman became its curator, and in 1966, its director. In 1967 he was concurrently appointed curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, then director in 1969.

When the curatorial departments of the Museum were reorganized in 1971, the Departments of Drawings and Prints became separate entities and Lieberman concentrated his energies solely on the Department of Drawings serving as its first director (1971-1979). While at the Museum, he directed over forty exhibitions including "Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse," "Max Ernst," "Joan Miró," "Modigliani," "Etchings by Matisse," and "Art of the Twenties." He also served as an adviser to the Junior Council between 1954 and 1964. He left the Museum in November 1979 to become Chairman of the Twentieth Century Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From the description of William S. Lieberman papers, 1948-1984 (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)). WorldCat record id: 702416511