page_title: Frederic Allen Whiting
section_title: Cleveland Museum of Art
hierarchical_section_title: Frederic Allen Whiting / Career / Cleveland Museum of Art
caption_attribution_description: English: Frederic Allen Whiting opening of the Cleveland Museum of Art to the public on June 7, 1916. University school 4th grade.
context_page_description: Frederic Allen Whiting was an advocate for education, pioneer for public outreach, and philanthropist. He was known for his prolific career in the museum world, most notably as the founding director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and later the president of the American Federation of Arts.
context_section_description: The earliest years of the Cleveland Museum of Art (known colloquially as "CMA") involved a very intimate group of people, mostly executors named by the wills of Horace Kelley and John Huntington. Having garnered both favor and respect among his colleagues while serving as Secretary of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston and as Director in Indianapolis, Whiting was positioned as a leading candidate for the directorship of the newly established Cleveland Museum of Art. At a meeting on December 15, 1913, after serving only a few short months as the president of the Board of Trustees to the CMA, the board hired its first salaried staff member, unanimously appointing Whiting as the museum's first director. With Whiting's position secured, the museum could solidify its goals and mission. Twelve members of the Board of Trustees were acknowledged in the first museum bulletin, issued in April 1914. By July of the same year, this number had already begun to swell in order to accommodate the rapidly growing project.
  Whiting's plans for the Cleveland Museum of Art centered on his life's mission: education. The collection that developed in the earliest stages of the CMA's founding included art that was considered to be accessible, relevant, and useful to its community. According to Whiting, "Cleveland was an industrial town … [the museum] should at least reflect that if not somehow promote it." Its purpose, in the words of the first director, "called for immediate, concrete objects." Reflecting later on these early decisions in collecting and public programing, in an address to the Cleveland Conference for Educational Cooperation on April 20, 1925, Whiting explained how he believed such objects could benefit communities not only in Cleveland, but across the globe:
  In considering what meaning should be given to the term "education" [we look] at the question from the standpoint of the interest of the community as a whole. It is of vital importance to the community that the members of emerging  generations should be properly oriented with respect to the society of which they become a part, with respect to the natural environment in which they find themselves, with respect to themselves, their abilities and needs. It is important that these individuals be qualified for productive life. It is important that they should be enabled to draw personal joy and satisfaction from the wealth of experience which the life of the community affords. And finally, it is important that the individual as a result of his educational experience shall consciously contribute to the general welfare and betterment of his community.
  While covering geographically diverse regions, Whiting managed to comprise a museum of mostly objects. In fact, he specifically sought "objects of domestic use," as they were materials that the Cleveland people could relate to and appreciate. The 1916 inaugural collection had hundreds of vases, bowls, plates, pottery, and other objects which, during this period, were not traditionally found in major museums. Their similarities provided a constant variable that allowed for daily-life comparisons, while their differences in design intrigued the museum goers. It is possible that Whiting sought to acquire such artifacts as he probably saw the obvious element of the handicraft in them. In many ways, the handcrafted vases of antiquity were much like the handmade goods produced in the Arts and Crafts movement.
  Further insisting on the relevance of the museum to the local community, Whiting also took part in establishing the annual Cleveland May Show for craftsmen and women. In 1914, he brought his idea to the CMA Board of Trustees, recommending the creation of "an annual exhibition of Ohio born or trained artists, to be managed by a jury and hanging committee chosen by the exhibiting artists." While the museum was initially hesitant to assume responsibility for the time and expenses involved with organizing a local arts show, Whiting convinced the Cleveland Art Association to include works by local Cleveland artists in their Fifth Spring
caption: Frederic Allen Whiting opening of the Cleveland Museum of Art
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