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Waldo Lincoln
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WALDO LINCOLN (1849-1933), 1929
Frank O. Salisbury (1874-1962)
oil on canvas
50 1/8 x 40 1/8 (127.3175 x 101.9175)
signed l.r.: 'Frank O. Salisbury/19[29]
Members of the American Antiquarian Society, 1929
Weis #73
Hewes #74
More
information
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| Prominent Worcester,
Massachusetts,
resident Waldo Lincoln became a member of the American Antiquarian
Society
in 1898, was elected vice president in 1906, and became president in
1907,
a position he retained until his retirement in 1927. Lincoln worked
hard
to give the Society financial security by establishing an endowment
system;
during his term as president, both the library's capacity and income
doubled.
Implementing Stephen Salisbury III's bequest for a new building for
the
Society, Lincoln arranged the acquisition of land at the southwest
corner
of Salisbury Street and Park Avenue and supervised the building's
design
and construction. The new building was emblematic of the
transformation
of the Society, as noted years later in Lincoln's obituary: 'Under
Mr. Lincoln's
capable administration of the Society's affairs, its finances were
sufficiently
strengthened to permit removal of its valuable collection, books,
and papers
from the crowded quarters of the old brick structure north of the
Courthouse
at Lincoln Square to the present exceptionally fine home of the
organization,
built under his direction.'(1) Lincoln also garnered dramatic growth
for
the Society by establishing a partnership between president and
librarian,
which began when he hired Clarence Brigham as librarian in 1908.
With Lincoln's election to membership, he became the fourth
generation
of his family to join the Society. Both his great-grandfather Levi
Lincoln,
Sr. (1749-1820) and his grandfather Levi Lincoln, Jr. (1782-1868)
were
charter members of the institution. As his forbears before him,
Waldo
Lincoln was generous with his personal resources on behalf of the
Society.
In the 1920s he built up the Society's holdings of material from
the West
Indies by personally traveling to Jamaica and Bermuda to purchase
early
newspapers, prints, and books.(2) In 1929 he donated his personal
collection
of over eight hundred early American cookery books. He entertained
regularly
on behalf of the Society. '[The] October luncheons at the Lincoln
mansion
will always stand out because of his cultivation, courtesy and
cheer.
He was a vital cog of the Society. And he continued faithful unto
the
end.'(3) After his death, the family donated his personal papers
to the
Society.(4)
Lincoln, who was born and raised in Worcester, graduated from
Harvard
College in 1870. His interests in chemistry led to his
establishment of
several firms devoted to the development of paint and dyes,
including
the Ferric Chemical & Color Company. He retired from business
in 1893,
at the age of forty-four, and devoted the rest of his life to
philanthropic
activities in Worcester. Aside from his position on the boards of
several
banks in town, he was also the treasurer and a trustee of the
Worcester
Polytechnic Institute and a director of the Worcester Public
Library.(5)
Lincoln was avidly interested in Massachusetts history and
genealogy.
In 1902 he published his Genealogy of the Waldo Family which he
followed
with The History of the Lincoln Family in 1923. He contributed
often to
the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society writing dozens
of
obituaries of former members as well as publishing his historical
research
in essays such as his 'The Province Snow Prince of Orange' (1901)
and
'History of Bermuda Newspapers' (1925). In 1923 Lincoln compiled
the checklist
'Portraits in the Library of the American Antiquarian Society,'
one of
the Society's earliest records of the contents of the painting
collection.(6)
After his retirement from the presidency, Lincoln published his
'Bibliography
of American Cookery Books 1742-1860' in the Proceedings in 1929,
the same
year this portrait was painted.
In November of 1929, American Antiquarian Society member Clarence
W.
Bowen organized a group of fifteen subscribers to fund the
acquisition
of a portrait of the eighty-year old Lincoln.(7) Bowen recommended
the
artist Frank O. Salisbury, who had completed Bowen's portrait the
previous
year. He noted, '[Salisbury] will return to New York after
December 1st,
and has a number of orders on hand to keep him busy.... Mr.
Lincoln will
have to go to New York.... [T]here is nothing to be gained by
delay, and
there is no time like the present.'(8)
Lincoln sat for his portrait on December 12th and 13th of 1929.
The portrait
was completed three days later, giving credence to Bowen's promise
that
Salisbury was 'a very rapid worker.'(9) Bowen reported on December
16th,
'I am pleased to write. . .that Waldo Lincoln has been in New York
and
the English artist, Frank O. Salisbury, has painted a portrait of
him
which Mr. Lincoln's daughter, Mrs. [Josephine] Dresser, thinks is
a perfect
likeness.'(10) The portrait was presented to the full membership
at the
end of December and was later declared as '...one of the best
portraits
ever painted by that capable artist [Salisbury].'(11) A local
newspaper
article announcing the donation of the portrait stated, 'Those who
have
seen it rate it very highly not only as the work of a master but
as a
striking likeness of Mr. Lincoln, as his friends know his face, in
its
familiar kindly expression.'(12)
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1) Waldo Lincoln Succumbs at His Home Here,' Worcester
Gazette April
3, 1933.
2) Let us Assist,' Kingston Gleaner (Jamaica), January 22,
1921, American
Antiquarian Society Newsclipping File. Lincoln travelled to
Bermuda in
1924.
3) Robert Washburn, 'Waldo Lincoln,' Worcester Gazette,
April 10, 1933.
4) Lincoln Family Papers 1879-1930, American Antiquarian
Society Manuscript
Collection.
5) For more on Lincoln's accomplishments, see his
obituary in Proceedings
of the American Antiquarian Society 43 (April 1933): 25-32.
6) Waldo Lincoln, 'Portraits in the Library of the American
Antiquarian Society,
'Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 33(October 1923):
235-247.
7) For a list of the subscribers, see Clarence W. Bowen to
Clarence S. Brigham,
November 2, 1929, American Antiquarian Society Archives. The
subscribers,
including Bowen, Brigham, Arthur Prentice Rugg and Henry W.
Cunningham,
each paid $100.
8) Ibid.
9) Ibid.
10) Clarence W. Bowen to Clarence S. Brigham, December 16,
1929, American
Antiquarian Society Archives. According to Salisbury's bill, dated
December
18, 1929, the artist was paid $1250 for the portrait and was
reimbursed
$95 for the frame. The remainder of the subscription money was
used to
pay Lincoln's expenses for the trip to New York. In a December 18,
1929
letter to Brigham, Lincoln himself noted, 'I am exceedingly
pleased to
have my portrait in the library.'
11) Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 43(April
1933): 31.
12) Waldo Lincoln is 80 Today,' Worcester Telegram December
31, 1929, American
Antiquarian Society Newsclipping File.
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Society
Last updated December 10, 2004
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