Curator of the United States Senate

Last updated

The curator of the United States Senate is responsible for the care of the Senate collection of art and artifacts. The current curatrix of the Senate is Melinda K. Smith.

Contents

Purpose

On behalf of the U.S. Senate Commission on Art, the Office of the Senate Curator develops and implements the museum and preservation programs for the U.S. Senate. The Office collects, preserves, and interprets the Senate's fine and decorative art, historical artifacts and images, and architectural features within the Senate wing of the United States Capitol and Senate Office Buildings.

Through exhibits, publications, and other programs, the Office educates the public about the Senate and its collections. The Office of Senate Curator is also responsible for the supervision and care of the Old Senate Chamber and the Old Supreme Court Chamber.

The Office has established environmentally controlled museum quality storage spaces; overseen foreign gifts received by senators as part of their diplomatic duties; and reinterpreted the paint colors, drapery, and chair upholstery of the historic chambers.

In 1968, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, in conjunction with Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, established a Commission on Art and Antiquities (now the Senate Commission on Art), with the secretary of the Senate serving as its executive secretary, and created the position of Senate Curator.

List of Senate curators

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from The Office of Senate Curator. U.S. Senate.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smithsonian Institution</span> US group of museums and research centers

The Smithsonian Institution, or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Portrait Gallery (United States)</span> Art museum in Washington, D.C., United States

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is a historic art museum between 7th, 9th, F, and G Streets NW in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Founded in 1962 and opened to the public in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous Americans. Along with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the museum is housed in the historic Old Patent Office Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval History and Heritage Command</span> Military unit

The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. The NHHC is composed of 42 facilities in 13 geographic locations including the Navy Department Library, 10 museums and 1 heritage center, USS Constitution repair facility and detachment, and historic ship ex-USS Nautilus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Fine Arts, Boston</span> Art museum in Massachusetts, United States of America

The Museum of Fine Arts is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. With more than 1.2 million visitors a year, it is the 79th–most visited art museum in the world as of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Museum of Fine Arts</span> Art museum in Richmond, VA

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all acquisition of artwork, as well as additional general support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Army Center of Military History</span> Directorate inside the United States Army

The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The center is responsible for the appropriate use of history and military records throughout the United States Army. Traditionally, this mission has meant recording the official history of the army in both peace and war, while advising the army staff on historical matters. CMH is the flagship organization leading the Army Historical Program.

Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III was an American scholar of ancient art and curator of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1957 to 1996. He was also well known as a numismatist. He also used the pseudonyms Wentworth Bunsen, Isao Tsukinabe and Northwold Nuffler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois State Museum</span> Art museum, history museum, natural history/anthropology museum in Illinois, United States

The Illinois State Museum features the life, land, people and art of the State of Illinois. In addition to natural history exhibits, the main museum in Springfield focuses on the state's cultural and artistic heritage. Exhibits include local fossils and mining, household displays from different historic periods, dioramas of Native American life, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, and a collection of glass paperweights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Committee for the Preservation of the White House</span> Advisory committee charged with the preservation of the White House

The Committee for the Preservation of the White House is an advisory committee charged with the preservation of the White House, the official home and principal workplace of the president of the United States. The committee is largely made up of citizens appointed by the president for their experience with historic preservation, architecture, decorative arts, and for their scholarship in these areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey State Museum</span> State museum of New Jersey in Trenton, New Jersey

The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, and cultural history and fine art objects. Exhibitions, educational activities, research programs, and lectures are also offered. The museum, a division of the New Jersey Department of State, includes a 140-seat planetarium and a 384-seat auditorium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Constantine</span>

Mildred Constantine Bettelheim was an American curator who helped bring attention to the posters and other graphic design in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in the 1950s and 1960s

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trenchard Cox</span>

Sir George Trenchard Cox (1905–1995) was a British museum director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Westphal</span> Textile artist from Los Angeles, California, USA

Katherine Westphal was an American textile designer and fiber artist who helped to establish quilting as a fine art form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collection manager</span>

A collection manager ensures the proper care and preservation of objects within cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, and archives. Collection managers, along with registrars, curators, and conservators, play an important role in collections care. Collection Managers and Registrars are two distinct collection roles that are often combined into one within small to mid-size cultural institutions. Collection Managers can be found in large museums and those with a history and natural history focus whose diverse collections require experienced assessment to properly sort, catalog, and store artifacts. A collection manager may oversee the registrar, archivist, curator, photographer, or other collection professionals, and may assume the responsibilities of these roles in their absence within an organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art handler</span>

An art handler, also sometimes called an art preparator, is a trained individual who works directly with objects in museums, art galleries and various other venues including private collectors, corporate art collections, public art collections and various other institutions. Art handlers work in coordination with registrars, collection managers, conservator-restorers, exhibition designers, and curators, among others, to ensure that objects are safely handled and cared for. Often they are responsible for packing and unpacking art, installing and deinstalling art in exhibitions, and moving art around the museum and storage spaces. They are an integral part of a museum and collections care.

The United States House of Representatives Curator is an employee of the United States House of Representatives, under the supervision of the Clerk of the House, who is responsible for the care of the House Collection of Fine Arts and Artifacts, on behalf of the House Fine Arts Board. The House's Office of Art and Artifacts collects, preserves, and interprets the House's fine and decorative arts, and historic objects. Through exhibits, publications, and other programs, the Office supports the House in preserving and presenting the heritage of the House.

Charles Franklin Montgomery, was an American curator, art historian, scholar, educator, and museum director. He served as the first director of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, from 1954 to 1961. After continuing to work at the museum as a senior research fellow, he was a curator and art historian at Yale University from 1970 until his death.

Pratapaditya Pal is an Indian scholar of Southeast Asian and Himalayan art and culture, specializing particularly in the history of art of India, Nepal and Tibet. He has served as a curator of South Asian art at several prominent US museums including Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, where he has organized more than 22 major exhibitions and helped build the museums' collection. He has also written over 60 books and catalogs, and over 250 articles on the subject, taught at several universities, and served as the editor of the Indian art magazine, Marg. In 2009 he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contributions to the study of Indian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson desk</span> Oval office desk

The Johnson desk is a mahogany partners desk that was used by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office as his Oval Office desk. One of only six desks used by a president in the Oval Office, it was designed by Thomas D. Wadelton and built in 1909 by S. Karpen and Bros. in Chicago. The desk was built as part of 125 seven-piece office sets for senators' offices in the Russell Senate Office Building, and was used by Johnson during his terms as U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President. It is currently located at Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum as part of a replica Oval Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulric Dunbar</span> Canadian-born American sculptor

Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar was a Canadian-born American sculptor.