- Josephine Porter Boardman
Josephine Porter Boardman Crane (1873 - 1972) was an American socialite and patron of the arts.
Personal life
Boardman was from a well-to-do family. Her father, William Jarvis Boardman (15 April 1832 - 2 August 1915), a lawyer and active in politics, was the grandson of the Senator
Elijah Boardman . Her mother, Florence Sheffield, was the granddaughter ofJoseph Earl Sheffield , was a major benefactor of Yale University. She had 5 siblings, includingMabel Thorp Boardman . The family moved from Ohio to Washington, D.C. in 1887-8, although they maintained connections to Ohio politics including a friendship with theTaft family .In 1906, Josephine Boardman married
Winthrop Murray Crane , an American millionaire and former governor of Massachusetts, with whom she had three children: Stephen, Bruce, and Louise.Public Life
Crane was the benefactress of the prestigious
Dalton School , which took its name from the location of the Crane family estate, "Sugar Hill", inDalton, Massachusetts . She was the original sponsor for implementing theDalton Plan in 1920cite book |last=Parkhurst |first=Helen |authorlink=Helen Parkhurst |title=Education On The Dalton Plan |url=http://www.archive.org/details/educationontheda028244mbp |accessdate=2007-12-01 |year=1922 |publisher=E. P. Dutton & Company |location=New York |pages=pp. 15–16] , a much-copied experiment in education.She moved to
New York City after the death of her husband in 1922. There, Josephine Crane was a founder of theMuseum of Modern Art and was elected to the Board of Trustees in October 1929.Mrs. Crane was the hostess of a weekly literary salon at her apartment at 820
Fifth Avenue .The Josephine B. Crane Foundation continues to support the
Sierra Club , scientific research and variousscholarship s.Published Work
* Crane, Boardman Jospehine. "A Middle-west Child" New York: Spiral Press (1971)
Donations
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=11&viewmode=1&item=69.280.4] Gift of Mrs. W. Murray Crane, 1969
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/costume/object.cfm?recordnumber=365574] Mrs. Crane donated a number of items from her sister's (Mrs. Frederick Keep) estate to theSmithsonian Institution . Exhibited in the Hall of American Costume from 1964 to 1973.
* [http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3ACL%3AI%3A10&page_number=37&template_id=1&sort_order=1] Sculpture gift of Mrs. W. Murray Crane.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.