Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-02-10
Moj.H Williams, Jr., Named
Corcoron's Assistant Director
Metropolitan Museum
Aide Will Assume
Duties About March |

Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery
of Art last night announced the
appointment of Maj. Hermann
Warner Williams, jr., now on mill
tary leave from the. Metropolitan
Museum Of Art, New York City, as
assistant director of the Corcoran.
effective about March /.
Now on duty at the Pentagon,
Maj. Williams is chief of the His
torical Properties Section, War
Department, and resides in Alex
andria, Va. He plans to return to
civilian life soon, and to leave his
former post with the Metropolitan
Museum.
Maj. Williams, now 81, is native
of Boston. He comes to the Cor
coran Gallery Of Art with a broad
educational background obtained
here and abroad, and with wide
experience in the study of art and
in administrative work in art insti-
tutions. He has travelled extensively.
Graduate Of Harvard.
Son of Helen Chiffon French
Williams and Hermann Warner
Williams, Maj Williams attended
the Thayer Academy at South
Braintree, Mass. then went to Har-
ward. There he took Prof. Sachs
well-known museum course, and
while at Harvard College from 1927
to 1881 he was awarded the Price
Greenleaf and Burr Scholarships.
Graduating from Harvard College
with the degree of A. B. cum laude
in fine arts, he attended Harvard
University from 1881 to 1888 as a
university scholar, and obtained his
masters degree in February, 1888.
Offered an American-Germ
Student Exchange Fellowship by the
Institute of International Educa-
ton he did not accept 1t, but
instead spent 1888 to 1885 at the
Courtauld Institute OF Art, at the
University of London, where he had
a student assistantship and obtained
his degree Of doctor of philosophy.
Given Museum Posts.
On return from the University Of
London he was appointed an I'm
terne" by the Rockefeller Founda-
ton for one year, which he spent
at the Brooklyn Museum. Before
the expiration Of this fellowship. the
director of the Brooklyn Museum
appointed him assistant curator in
charge of Renaissance Art.
Maj. Williams also attended the
Institute of Fine Arts, at New York
University, where he enjoyed sew
eral Carnegie tuition fellowships,
and one special grant In aid. given
by Ogden Mills for work in the
Metropolitan Museum.
In the fall Of 1886 he became as
sistant to the curator of the De-
partment of Paintings at the Met
ropolitan Museum, where in 1912 he
was made assistant curator. He
was given a leave of absence that
summer when ordered to active
duty in the Army.
In the meantime. during the sum-
mer of 1910, he had attended the
Boothbay Harbor Art School.
A lieutenant in the artillery re-
serve, he joined the Corps of Engi-
neers and became active in camou-
flage work. He was assigned to the
Publications Department from 1912
to 1914. and in January. 1945, organ
lied and established the Historical
Properties Section, of which he now
is the chief. During this period he
rose to the rank Of major.
Knows Several Languages.
! Maj. Williams has made three
trips abroad. He has visited Cana
da, France. Belgium. Holland, Spain,
Great Britain. Germany, Austria
and italy. He Is an accomplished
linguist. His languages include Lat
in, French and German, in which
he is fluent. and he Is sufficiently
familiar with Russian, Swedish and
Spanish to use reference works in
these languages.
Co-author with Bartlett Cowdrey
of a volume entitled William Sid
ney Mount, 1807-1868, An American
Painter" published for the Metro
politan Museum of Art, 1914, by Co.
lumbia University Press, Maj. Will
liams also is the author of numer-
Gus articles which have been pub
lished both here and abroad.
His experience also includes COL
Letting paintings and circulating ex-
hibitions. He comes to the Corcoran
Gallery of Art with what its trus-
tees describe as an excellent rec
ord"
He was married in 1912 to Miss
Alice Barrett Farley, and they have
daughter, Susan, 2.