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Bertha King Benkard

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Bertha King Benkard
Born
Bertha King Bartlett

1870s
New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 8, 1945
Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Art collector, philanthropist, clubwoman
FatherFranklin Bartlett
RelativesAnn Swinburne Munroe (sister-in-law)
Julia Lynch Olin (sister-in-law)

Bertha King Bartlett Benkard (1870s[1] – August 8, 1945) was an American clubwoman and art collector. She was president general of the Colonial Dames of America, and an expert on antique furniture. A room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is named for her.

Early life and education

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Bertha King Bartlett was born in New York, the daughter of Franklin Bartlett and Bertha King Post Bartlett. Her father was a lawyer and a Congressman; her uncle was judge Willard Bartlett of the New York Court of Appeals.[2]

Career

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A room in the neoclassical style, displaying antique furniture and decor
The Benkard Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was named for Bertha King Benkard and displayed furniture she donated to the museum.

Benkard served on the Fine Arts Committee for the Decoration of the White House. She donated many pieces of antique furniture to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums, and she was a close friend of collector Henry Francis du Pont.[3] The Benkard Room at the Met, which displays a collection of her early American furniture,[4] is named for her.[5][6]

Benkard advised Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield in furnishing Wakefield, a restored mansion in Rhode Island,[7] and traveled with Crowninshield on behalf of the Garden Club of America.[8] She also advised on the furnishing of Kenmore, a historic house in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[9][10]

Outside of her art collecting interests, Benkard was president general of the Colonial Dames of America, and the first woman elected to be a trustee of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B).[11] She was a member of the women's board of the Museum of the City of New York.[12] She was president of the North Country Garden Club and vice-president of the Samaritan Home for the Aged.[13]

Personal life and legacy

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Bartlett married stockbroker Harry Horton Benkard in 1903.[14] They had two children, Franklin and Bertha.[15] Her husband died in 1928, and she died 1945, probably in her late sixties, at her home in Oyster Bay.[13] Her husband's brother J. Philip Benkard had two notable wives, writer Julia Lynch Olin and singer Ann Swinburne Munroe.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Benkard's birth year varies in records. 1879 is the date on her gravestone, and January 1878 is the date in the 1900 United States census.
  2. ^ "Willard Bartlett, Jurist, Dies at 78; Former Chief Judge of Court of Appeals Succumbs to Heart Disease in Brooklyn Home". The New York Times. 1925-01-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  3. ^ "The Well-Dressed Window: Curtains at Winterthur" (PDF). The Journal of Antiquities and Collectibles. 18 (5): 33. August 2017.
  4. ^ "Long Island Parlor Exhibited in Metropolitan Museum of Art". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1948-02-15. p. 25. Retrieved 2025-07-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Benkard Room". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  6. ^ Downs, Joseph (1948). "The Benkard Room". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 6 (5): 137–141. doi:10.2307/3257340. ISSN 0026-1521.
  7. ^ "To Hold Open House at Wakefield Feb. 22". The Richmond News Leader. 1936-02-19. p. 24. Retrieved 2025-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Garden Club". Lexington Herald-Leader. 1935-10-20. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Kenmore Program to be Opened by Pollard". The Roanoke Times. 1931-04-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Bruggeman, Seth C. (2011-08-15). Here, George Washington Was Born: Memory, Material Culture, and the Public History of a National Monument. University of Georgia Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8203-4272-6.
  11. ^ "History of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society". NYG&B. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  12. ^ "Mrs. Harry H. Benkard Dies; Antique Furniture Expert". Brooklyn Eagle. 1945-08-10. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-07-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b "Mrs. Benkard's Funeral; Service for Antique Furniture Expert at Grace Episcopal". The New York Times. 1945-08-11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  14. ^ "Weddings of a Day". The New York Times. 1903-02-06. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-07-14 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Bertha Benkard Rose". The New York Times. August 28, 1982. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-14.
  16. ^ "Mrs. Ann Schirmer Becomes Bride of J. Philip Benkard". New York Herald. 1921-06-16. p. 11. Retrieved 2025-07-14 – via Newspapers.com.
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