Dunlavy, Doris E. (c. 1914-1987)
Dates
- Existence: c. 1914 - 1987
Biography
Doris Dunlavy attended The Ohio State University graduate program, transferred to Cleveland Institute of Art, and received her master’s degree from Western Reserve University.
She joined the CMA in 1946 as the assistant in the Extension Exhibitions Department. After Ruth Field Ruggles retired in 1947, Dunlavy became Administrator in charge of the department. Dunlavy would deal with an ever-increasing demand for exhibits around the Cleveland area. The increase in materials was helped significantly by the Harold T. Clark Educational Extensions Fund.
In January 1960 the Extensions Exhibitions Department separated from the Education Department, becoming an independent unit. The new department opened three galleries throughout the city. The first opened on the east side of Cleveland at Karamu House in 1959. The second extension gallery opened in the summer of 1960 in the Cleveland Public Library and was called The Library Art Gallery. The Lakewood Civic Art Gallery opened in 1961 on the west side in Lakewood High School. These Galleries housed exhibits on a three-month rotating schedule and were a great way for the department to show its larger collections to the public.
Extensions went through many changes in the 1970s. Doris Dunlavy retired in 1974 after twenty-eight years of service. Dunlavy had expanded extensions far beyond the original expectations of museum founders. In the spirit of broadening public education, the extensions department became part of the Department of Art History and Education with Dunlavy's departure.
In 1976, an article in the Lamberton, North Carolina Robesonian described her work with the North Carolina Museum of Art as coordinator of a statewide network of affiliate galleries to bring works together for exhibitions throughout the state.
-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, 2024
Occupations
Places
- Ohio--Ashtabula (Place of Birth)
- Virginia--Salem (Place of Death)