Wai-kam Ho
Scope and Contents note
No defined schema was evident for the files when they entered the archives collection. Where discernable, files were separated by corresponding curator and processed as a subseries. A subseries of files containing correspondence between multiple curators and a single person or institution was created. Documents from this subseries deemed important were pulled and given their own folder. Internal correspondence is chiefly separated by department, but also by Asian Department curator. This series is arranged alphabetically thereafter chronologically, with the exception of the Stephen Little and J. Keith Wilson subseries which are arranged chronologically by year thereafter alphabetically.
Dates
- Majority of material found within Bulk, 1975-2003
- 1952-2005
Conditions Governing Access note
Subject to review by archives staff. For more information or to access this collection contact archives staff at archives2@clevelandart.org.
Biographical/Historical note
Wai-kam Ho was born in South China. He graduated from Lingnan University, Canton in 1947. He then went to Peking to enter the Graduate School of History at Yenching University. Ho came to the United States in 1951 to continue his graduate work for a joint Ph.D. degree in the Department of Fine Arts and the Department of Far Eastern Languages at Harvard University. Ho was employed at the Cleveland Museum of Art during the summer of 1958 and came to the Museum as Assistant Curator of Oriental Art in January of 1959. His main interest was in cultural history which gave him an opportunity to specialize in one branch of cultural history – art history.
From 1958 to 1983, Ho collaborated with Sherman Lee to advance the scholarship of Chinese art history, as well as the museum’s exhibitions and acquisitions in the field. Ho’s vast knowledge of Chinese literature proved immeasurable as he could authenticate a painting by researching an obscure seal used only during narrow epoch in history. For his abilities, Ho received the special title of Senior Research Curator of Chinese Art, a title not used since his departure. In 1983, Wai-kam Ho left the museum to become the Laurence Sickman Curator of Chinese Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; it was the first endowed curatorship of its kind in the country.
Extent
From the Collection: 47.5 Cubic feet (95 boxes)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Separated Materials note
Prior to processing, much of Wai-kam Ho's correspondence was interfiled with other curator's correspondence and can be found in the Multiple Curators subseries.
Creator
- From the Collection: Chou, Ju-hsi (Person)
- From the Collection: Cunningham, Michael R. (Person)
- From the Collection: Czuma, Stanislaw J. (1935-) (Person)
- From the Collection: Ho, Wai-kam (1925-2004) (Person)
- From the Collection: Lee, Sherman E. (1918-2008) (Person)
- From the Collection: Lerner, Martin (Person)
- From the Collection: Pearlstein, Elinor L. (Person)
- From the Collection: Wilson, J. Keith (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives Repository