Howard, Rossiter (1878-1950)
Dates
- Existence: 1878 - 1950
Biography
Rossiter Howard held three overlapping positions at the Museum. He was curator of educational work, 1921-30, curator of classical art, 1924-30, and assistant director to Frederic Allen Whiting, 1925-30.
For six years Howard trained in singing and composition under Boston and New York teachers. He studied at Harvard College in 1901-02 and was director of music at Phillips Academy and Andover Theological Seminary in 1901-04. From 1905 until the beginning of World War I in 1914, he was director of the University Travel Bureau in Paris, and traveled in Europe and Russia to study art.
In 1914 Howard returned to the US and gave lectures. In 1915-18, he was a professor at the Fine Arts University of South Dakota. In 1918, he served as the education director of the Army YMCA at Fort Thomas, Kentucky and Camp Sherman, Ohio. From there he joined the Minneapolis Institute of Art as educational director in 1919-20.
While Howard published at least ten journal articles, only one dates from his Cleveland tenure. His articles include “History of Interior Decoration,” “Art at the Panama-Pacific Exposition,” “Impressions of a Returned Wanderer,” and “Non-technical Laboratory Work for the Student of the History of Art.”
In 1930 Howard left CMA for a position as director of education at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. In 1932-33 he was acting principal of the School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, and in 1933-39 he was director of the Kansas City Art Institute. A severe illness forced him to step down from his career in 1939. He died in 1950 in Queens, New York.
-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, August 2024