Education

By 1870 The Athenaeum needed more room for its growing library, Harvard College had a large collection of engravings it had been given by Francis Gray, but they were hidden away in Gore Hall, MIT had a collection of architectural casts it wished to display, and the American Social Science Association was considering the acquisition of a large collection of plaster copies of classical sculpture for the use of students and the instruction of the public.

Charles Callahan Perkins was back from Italy, and his mission was clear - to use all his warm persuasive skills to bring these groups together. The time had come for Boston to have a public Museum of Fine Arts. The city agreed to grant land on Copley Square for the building, and C.C.’s cousin John Hubbard Sturgis was retained to design the new museum. The new museum building would be a copy of the Queen Anne style Pine Bank on a grand scale, using the same terra cotta design elements as on the Perkins home.

The leaders of the new museum started a large fundraising campaign, but C.C. couldn’t wait for the new building to get the museum off the ground. He was anxious that the new museum become active immediately, and, as the new museum’s first Honorary Director, organized its first exhibit in the picture galleries of the Athenaeum.

The Boston Art Club had suspended its activities when the Civil War broke out, but C.C. met with his old friend, amateur painter and music publisher, George Russell in 1871, to discuss reviving the club. With Perkins at the helm they called a general meeting, and the revived club opened its membership to upper-class men who professed an interest in art. C.C. was elected President and the Club engaged a bow-front townhouse on Boylston Street for its quarters. The Club added a spacious picture gallery behind the building and in 1873 opened its first annual exhibition. From an informal artists' supper club, Perkins created a refined gentlemen's club with dining and reading rooms, an extensive library, paintings collection and a picture gallery. It hosted two juried exhibitions each year and hosted informal gatherings for its members on the first Saturday of each month.

For the improvement of the general public, he edited an American edition of Eastlake's "Hints on Household Taste" in 1872, and Von Falke's "Art in the House," in 1879. Anyone could become a connoisseur, if they read the book.

Just as it was important to collect material in museums, and for gentlemen to share their love of art, art education needed to begin in the public schools; from the time a child could guide a pencil, his instruction in drawing should start. In 1871, C.C. was elected a member of the school committee of Boston, and he worked tirelessly to establish art education in the schools. The previous year Massachusetts lawmakers had mandated drawing as one of nine required subjects taught in all public schools of that state. With passage of "An Act Relating to Free Instruction in Drawing", Massachusetts became the first state to legislate compulsory public art education.

The intent of this act was two-fold – industrial drawing was a skill needed for the economic development of the country, particularly for machinery and textile patterns. The lack of good ornamental designers forced the importation from Europe for articles that could be produced cheaper at home. Secondly, there was a moral benefit: drawing cultivated the habits of neatness and accuracy; it tended to improve the intellect of the masses and purify the tone of their moral character. It was directly useful in academic subjects such as natural history, natural science, and geography and it introduced students to the beautiful, the good and the true.

For his own sons, Charles took his brother Ned’s advice and packed son Neddy up in 1872 when he turned fourteen, and sent him to Saint Paul's, the new school set just west of Concord, New Hampshire for which Ned served as a trustee. Neddy soon found himself living in a dormitory cubicle and shinnying hockey pucks on the Lower School Pond, a world away from the Villa Capponi overlooking the Arno. His brother Charlie would follow him two years later, while their beautiful older sister Eleanor would be introduced to society on the continent.

Young Ned was simple, friendly, unassuming, interested in his studies, in literature and art, but not much into athletics, although he did play tennis. He entered Harvard College as a Sophomore in 1876, and became a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, the O.K. Club, the Art Club, and was on the Crimson Editorial Board. He wrote a poem for the Class Supper and the Class Ode for Day. He roomed in the privately owned Beck Hall, favored by the society swells (including Teddy Roosevelt), and known for the “Beck Hall Spread”, the most exclusive society fest at Harvard each spring. Of course, with his family living on Jamaica Pond, Ned was often at Oakwood, enjoying its delightful hospitality. He must have missed something of the full swing of college life, but perhaps gained more from all the cultivated people he met at home.

He did have one notable social success. While still in college he became engaged to Miss Elizabeth Hoar Evarts, the daughter of the Secretary of State of the United States of America, William M. Evarts.