(c) 2017 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Thomas Gold Appleton

Boston, 1812 - 1884, New York

Biographyhttp://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr95011486
found: DAB (Appleton, Thomas Gold; essayist, poet ,and artist; b. 3/31/1812; d. 4/17/1884)
http://www.bpl.org/general/trustees/appleton.htm accessed 9/1/2017
Trustee of the Library, 1852-1856. Born 1812 to a Boston merchant and manufacturer; died 1884 while on a trip to New York. An essayist, amateur artist and poet, as well as a collector and patron of the arts, Thomas Appleton was a celebrated citizen of Boston. After graduating from Harvard University in 1831, Thomas Appleton pursued his interests in art and literature, living in Europe for a time. Even before his return to Boston, he became a trustee of the Boston Public Library as part of a contemporary movement to make art and learning available to everyone. Also a trustee for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he made many contributions of money and artwork to both institutions; the Library’s print collection originated from the generous donation of his Tosti collection of engravings in 1869. After his death, a bust in his image was donated by family members to the Library in 1885 and can now be seen in Bates Reading Hall today.

Sources:
Hughes, Lynn Gordon. “Thomas Appleton”, Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography [online database] at http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/thomasappleton.html.
Wadlin, Horace G. The Public Library of the City of Boston: A History. Boston: Trustees of the Boston Public Library, 1911.

Illustration:
“Thomas G. Appleton”, salt print, 1850’s, from Portrait Collection, Print Dept.

Person TypeIndividual

Last Updated8/7/24

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