Call Number:

AC140

Repository:

Princeton University Library: University Archives

Extent:

• 14 boxes
• 2 items
• 1 websites

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Department of Art and Archaeology Records, Box and Folder Number; University Archives, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1882-2017 (inclusive) and 1925-1981 (bulk)

Creator:

Princeton university. Department of art and archaeology and Morey, Charles Rufus, 1877-1955

Form:

Web sites.

Abstract:

The Art and Archaeology Department is one of the University's most distinguished academic departments, responsible for the education of students on the graduate and undergraduate level as well as the administration of the Princeton Art Museum. This collection consists of the records of the Department of Art and Archaeology, which include advisory council minutes; faculty files; gift records; correspondence; recommendations; project files; course lists; historical documents; and lists of images used in classes.

From its modest origins as a series of lectures on architecture given in 1832, the Department of Art and Archaeology has grown by leaps and bounds to become one of the University's most distinguised academic departments, responsible for the education of students on the graduate and undergraduate level as well as the administration of the Princeton Art Museum. Though the subjects of art and architecture had periodically been taught since 1832, it was not until the arrival of Professor Allan Marquand in 1882 that they were made a consistent part of the curriculum at Princeton. As the department's first chairman, Marquand oversaw the assembly of a faculty consisting of many world-renowned scholars as well as the creation of a museum to house a collection of art for study (much of which was donated by Marquand himself). In the early 20th century Princeton University's Department of Art and Archaeology found itself at the forefront of the emerging field of Art History, largely due to Marquand's efforts. In the scholarly community the Department stood alone in its early focus on medieval and classical art, two areas of expertise for which it is still known today. Following Marquand's retirement in 1922, subsequent department chairs such as Charles Rufus Morey and Baldwin Smith carried on the expansion of the curriculum, faculty, and museum; as well as undertook new projects such as a series of archaeological digs and the Index of Christian Art.

Charles Rufus Morey (1877-1955) was an American art historian and chairman of the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University from 1924 to 1945. Born in Hastings, Michigan in 1877, Morey later went on to earn a BA from the University of Michigan in 1899. The following year, he received his MA from the University of Michigan studying classical languages and literature and spent three years at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome. In 1903, Morey came to Princeton as a fellow in Classics. Three years later, he accepted from Allan Marquand the position of Wilson-appointed preceptor in art history at Princeton until 1918 when he was appointed the rank of full professor. Morey taught renaissance and modern art as well as his specialties in early Christian and medieval art, practicing his own belief that his faculty should be knowledgeable in all fields. In 1917, Morey founded the Index of Christian Art, which was the first thematic and iconographic index of Early Christian and medieval art objects.

While at Princeton, Morey worked tirelessly in educating students, faculty, and countless members of the academic community. Morey had a prolific publishing career, his first essay, "The Christian Sarcophagus in S. Maria Antiqua" was published in 1905 and his celebrated volumes Early Christian Art and Medieval Art were both published in 1942. Among countless other articles, reviews, chapters and contributions over his professorship, Morey also directed the Vatican's Museo Sacro catalogue of Christian art, which first appeared in 1936. For seven years he guided a group of five institutions (including Princeton) in a joint excavation of Antioch, and he supervised the ensuing publications. He helped found and cultivate the College Art Association and its publication, The Art Bulletin. In addition to teaching at Princeton, Morey similarly helped develop the art history curriculum at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Humanities.

Throughout his professional career, not limited to the time he was at Princeton, Morey helped establish the budding art history discipline as a respected field of learning. He has been partly credited with making the profession one which students would be encouraged to follow. At the end of his tenure at Princeton, there were the five years (1945-1950) that Morey spent as Cultural Affairs Officer at the United States Embassy in Rome. Morey died in 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Consists of the records of the Department of Art and Archaeology. Included are advisory council minutes; faculty files; records of gifts and endowments to the Department; correspondence; copies of recommendations written for graduates and undergraduates; files pertaining to renovation and expansion projects at the Art Museum and Marquand library; course lists; files on art-related organizations and museums; and published and unpublished materials documenting the Department's history. Also in the collection is a photo album documenting the archaeological excavation of the Syrian city of Antioch in the 1930s.