Thomas Whittemore PapersTHOMAS WHITTEMORE PAPERS, ca. 1875-1966
Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Repository: Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives,
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.
Location: ICFA Stacks
Identifier: MS.BZ.013
Collection Title: Thomas Whittemore Papers, ca. 1875-1966
Name of Creator(s): Whittemore, Thomas, 1871-1950
Inclusive Dates: ca. 1875-1966
Language(s): English
Quantity: 10 boxes of papers and photographs; 1 photo album
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The collection is divided into four series (Personal Papers, Correspondence, Unpublished and
Printed Materials, and Photographs) and within each section the content is organized in
chronological order. The bulk of the collection consists of Thomas Whittemore’s teaching
materials, correspondence, printed materials (e.g., books, playbills, and pamphlets), and
photographs, which were created between the late 1800s and 1950s. The items are related to
Whittemore’s teaching career at Tufts College and Columbia University before he founded the
Byzantine Institute in 1930. The contents also record and illustrate Whittemore’s other activities
during this period, such as his trips to Europe, as well as his relationships with a number of
individuals, including family, friends, colleagues, and fraternity brothers, throughout his lifetime.
Additional correspondence in the Addendum recounts the event of Whittemore’s death.
Mavi Boncuk |
Thomas Whittemore was born in Cambridgeport, MA on January 2, 1871. He received his
Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Tufts College in 1894 and was appointed Instructor
of English at his alma mater immediately afterwards. While at Tufts College, Whittemore taught
English Composition and directed several plays, such as the masque Comus by John Milton and
The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus by Thomas Dekker. His teaching career continued
intermittently until early 1930. In 1908, Whittemore taught a course on Ancient Art at Columbia
University and starting in 1927, he taught classes on the fine arts at New York University.
In the 1910s and 1920s, Whittemore became involved in expeditions and excavation projects in
Egypt and Bulgaria. In January 1911, Whittemore joined an archaeological expedition to
Abydos, Egypt as the American representative to the British-run Egypt Exploration Society [or
Egypt Exploration Fund]. Throughout this period, Whittemore participated in EES excavations
at Abydos, Sawama, Balabish, and Amarna. In between excavation seasons in Egypt,
Whittemore devoted his time to humanitarian work in Bulgaria, Russia, and France, particularly
during and after the Russian Revolution in 1917. He was an active member of the Committee for
the Relief of War Refugees in Russia2 and the Society for Relief Work among the Orphan
Children of Russia. The goal of these organizations was “to educate the most promising young
Russians in the arts and sciences such that they could help rebuild their country.”3
Whittemore also travelled to Mount Athos, Greece, in 1923 with George D. Pratt, where he and Pratt
delivered food and supplies to the Russian and Bulgarian monks that became impoverished after
the Russian Revolution.
Starting in the 1930s, Whittemore changed directions and focused on the conservation and
restoration of Byzantine monuments, art, and architecture in Turkey and other areas of the
former Byzantine Empire. In 1930, he founded the Byzantine Institute, a non-profit
organization, with the full support of several committee members, such as John Nicholas Brown,
Charles R. Crane, Charles R. Morey, Matthew Prichard, George D. Pratt, John Shapley, and
others. In 1931, Whittemore and the Byzantine Institute were given permission to conserve and
restore the mosaics at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, İsmet
İnönü, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Economy. As the Director of the
Byzantine Institute, Whittemore carried out negotiations with government officials in Turkey,
obtained work permits, recruited skilled fieldworkers, organized fundraising events, managed
Byzantine Institute staff, and delivered supplies from/to the various fieldwork sites.
Upon his visits to Washington, D.C., Whittemore occasionally stayed with his friend Chauncey
Stillman[1] who was one of the last people Whittemore encountered before he died.6 On June 8,
1950, Whittemore suffered a heart attack while on his way to a meeting in the office of John
Foster Dulles, then special advisor to the Secretary of State, in Washington, D.C.7
He died at the age of 79 and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA.
[1] Chauncey Devereux Stillman (November 9, 1907 – January 24, 1989) was the grandson of James Stillman [*] president of what became the Citigroup bank whose sons married two of William Rockefeller's daughters.
[*] James Stillman left his fine and decorative arts to be divided equally among his five children: Sarah “Elsie” Elizabeth Stillman Rockefeller (1872-1935, m. William G Rockefeller), James Alexander Stillman (1873-1944), Isabel Goodrich Stillman Rockefeller (1876-1935, m. Percy A. Rockefeller), Charles Chauncey Stillman (1877-1926), and Ernest Goodrich Stillman (1876-1935).
After the death of Charles Chauncey Stillman, the heirs sold much of Stillman’s collection at an American Art Galleries auction on February 3, 1927. Many of the paintings in the auction had previously been on loan with the Metropolitan Art Museum (1921-1926).
SEE THESIS: The Socialite Archaeologist” Thomas Whittemore (1871-1950) and the roles of patronage, politics, and personal connections in cultural heritage preservation