{{Short description|American scholar (1897–1956)}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Frederic Douglas|Frederick Douglass}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} '''Frederic Huntington Douglas''' (October 29, 1897, in Evergreen, Colorado – April 23, 1956) also known as '''Eric Douglas'''.<ref name=AA>{{cite journal|last1=Kent|first1=Kate Peck|title=Frederic Huntington Douglas 1897-1956|journal=American Anthropologist|date=August 1958|volume=60|issue=4|page=737|doi=10.1525/aa.1958.60.4.02a00110|doi-access=free}}</ref> "was one of the first scholars to recognize the artistic achievements of American Indians as well as the arts of Africa and Oceania."<ref name="The Douglas Society">{{cite web|url=http://denverartmuseum.org/membership-support/douglas-society |title=Friends of Native Arts: The Douglas Society |website=Denver Art Museum |access-date=March 2, 2017}}</ref>

==Early life== Douglas was the son of Charles Winfred Douglas (1867–1944), a canon in the Episcopal Church,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Groves|first1=Karen|title=Canon Douglas|url=http://justaroundhere.com/index.php/all-sections/names-faces/names-faces-of-historical-significance/1629-douglas-canon-charles-winfred|website=Just Around Here|access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Parker|first1=Dorothy Mills|title=Musician, Linguist, Priest and Poet|url=http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/the_living_church/TLCarticle.pl?volume=219&issue=3&article_id=2|website=Episcopal Archives|access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref> and Josepha Williams Douglas (1860–1938), one of the first female doctors in the state of Colorado. Douglas spent his early years at his family's home in Evergreen, CO, which later became the Hiwan Homestead Museum.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Maher|first1=Jack|title=Hiwan Homestead Museum brings the past alive for students|url=http://yourhub.denverpost.com/blog/2016/04/hiwan-homestead-museum-brings-the-past-alive-for-students/143893/|website=Denver Post|access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref> He had two children with wife Freda: Ann Pauline Maher (1928–1988), David Douglas (1932–1999), and Eve (Mrs. Wallace Jolivette).<ref name=HMW>{{cite web|last1=Wormington|first1=H. Marie|title=Frederic Huntington Douglas|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7471BC2E834988E89B535DB21E55865A/S0002731600014815a.pdf/div-class-title-frederick-huntington-douglas-1897-1956-div.pdf|website=Cambridge}}</ref>

==Education== He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921 from the University of Colorado and from 1921 to 1926 studied Fine Arts at the University of Michigan and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.<ref name=HMW /><ref name=AA /> Douglas married Freda Bendix Gillespie (1902–1979) in 1926.<ref name=AA />

From 1926 to 1929, Douglas was primarily a painter and wood carver. He and his wife, Freda, went on a trip around the world in 1928. This trip helped to develop a lifelong love of world arts, especially Japanese prints, Balinese wood carvings, and Asian textiles. Douglas collected broadly in this areas, as well as American textiles and American Indian arts.<ref name=HMW />

Douglas received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Colorado in June 1948 and the University of Colorado Recognition Metal in 1956.<ref name=AA /><ref>{{cite web|title=Honorary Degrees, University Medals and Distinguished Service Awards|url=http://www.cu.edu/regents/honorary-degrees-university-medals-and-distinguished-service-awards-full-list-z#d|website=University of Colorado Board of Regents|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref>

==Career== Douglas was hired as curator of [American] Indian Art at the Denver Art Museum in 1929<ref name=HMW /><ref name="The Douglas Society"/><ref name=AA /> and was preceded by Edgar C. McMechan who was the first curator of Indian Art at DAM beginning in 1925.<ref name="American Indian Art - Past Staff">{{cite web|title=American Indian Art - Past Staff|url=http://denverartmuseum.org/collections/american-indian-art|website=Denver Art Museum|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref> He served as director of the Denver Art Museum from 1940 to 1942.<ref name=AA /> From 1942 to 1947 he held the title of Curator of Indian Arts at DAM.<ref name=HMW /> He served as curator of Native Arts at the Denver Art Museum from 1947 until April 23, 1956.<ref name=AA /> During this time he was joined by assistant curator, Kate Peck Kent,<ref name="American Indian Art - Past Staff"/> who went on to become "professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Denver, a research associate at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a resident scholar at the School of American Research."<ref>{{cite web|title=Kate Peck Kent Bio|url=https://www.adobegallery.com/books/authors/Kate_Kent55854645|website=Adobe Gallery|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref>

Douglas created the ''Indian Leaflet'' series in 1930 which provided "summary accounts of culture areas and specific tribes alternated with comparative discussions of artifact types."<ref name="The Douglas Society"/> He also established "Indian Fashion Shows" (or Indian Style Shows) that used clothing from the Denver Art Museum's American Indian collection that were modeled by "society ladies and Native Americans."<ref name="The Douglas Society"/> He presented this fashion show over 100 times across the country.<ref name=HMW />

He served as a Commissioner of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (Federal Arts and Crafts Board) and as a trustee of a number of museums.<ref name=HMW />

Frederic Douglas, along with Rene d'Harnoncourt and Henry Clumb, was involved in the Indian Court,<ref>{{cite web|title=A Federal Art Project: Posters for Indian Court|url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa77.htm|website=Traditional Fine Arts Organization|access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Indian court, Federal Building, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939 Antelope hunt from a Navaho drawing, New Mexico / / Siegriest |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/98518807/|website=Library of Congress |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref> Federal Building, at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition during the World's Fair in San Francisco. He served as a commissioner of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (Federal Arts and Crafts Board) and as a trustee of "various museums."<ref name=HMW /><ref name="The Douglas Society"/> Douglas was enlisted by Rene d'Harnoncourt to design the Indian Art of the United States exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which opened in 1941 and included a major catalog written by Douglas and d'Harnoncourt.<ref>{{cite book|last1=curator|first1=catalogue by Beverly Gordon with Melanie Herzog; exhibition organized by the Elvehjem Museum of Art; guest|last2=Potter|first2=Beverly Gordon with Frances|last3=Herzog|first3=Melanie|title=American Indian art : the collecting experience : Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 7-July 3, 1988|date=1988|publisher=Elvehjem Museum of Art|location=[Madison]|isbn=9780932900180|page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Museum of Modern Art Press Release - January 20, 1941|url=https://www.moma.org/d/c/press_releases/W1siZiIsIjMyNTIxMyJdXQ.pdf?sha=19a010033bb95193|website=Museum of Modern Art|access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="The Douglas Society"/> A joint statement by Douglas and d'Harnoncourt clearly articulates their position on invention, innovation, and adaptation of arts. They wrote: "There are people who have created for themselves a romantic picture of a glorious past that is often far from accurate. They wish to see the living Indian return to an age that has long since passed and they resent any change to his art. But these people forget that any culture that is satisfied to copy the life of former generations has given up hope as well as life itself. The fact that we think of Navajo silversmithing as a typical Indian art and of the horsemanship of the Plains tribes as a typical Indian characteristic proves sufficiently that those tribes were strong enough to make such foreign contributions entirely their own by adapting them to the pattern of their own traditions. Why should it be wrong for the Indian people of today to do what they have done with great success in the past? Invention or adaptation of new forms does not necessarily mean repudiation of tradition but is often a source of its enrichment."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=Frederic|title=Indian Art of the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/indianartofunite00doug|url-access=registration|date=1941|publisher=The Museum of Modern Art|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/indianartofunite00doug/page/10 10]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Croteau|first1=Susan Ann|title=But it Doesn't Look Indian: Objects, Archetypes and Objectified Others in Native American Art, Culture and Identity|date=2008|isbn=978-1109058161|page=1}}</ref>

Douglas was contracted to reorganize the exhibitions and collections at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University {{circa|1950}}.<ref name=HMW /> He also regularly lectured at Harvard University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Denver.<ref name=HMW />

"With tremendous courage Eric continued his work despite the amputation of his left arm, intolerable pain, and the knowledge of imminent death from cancer.<ref name=HMW /> "Only two months before his death he went to Berkeley [California] to serve as a consultant in the planning of the building and the exhibitions for the University of California Anthropological Museum."<ref name=HMW />

"In 1956, he was named honorary Curator of the American Indian section" of Nelson Rockefeller's Museum of Primitive Art (now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York).<ref name=HMW />

A book of ledger art drawings by a Cheyenne artist collected about 1865 known as the ''Frederic Douglas Ledger'' was once owned by Douglas.<ref>{{cite web|title=Picturing Change: The Impact of Ledger Drawings on Native American Art|url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa90a.htm|access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Hood Museum, Dartmouth">{{cite web|title=Unknown artist ("Douglas" Ledger), American (Tsistsistas (Cheyenne)), active mid - late 19th century Tsistsistas (Cheyenne) Central Plains Plains|url=http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/objects/2007.65.3 |website=Hood Museum, Dartmouth |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref> Pages from this book are now in the collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire<ref name="Hood Museum, Dartmouth"/> and the University of Iowa Museum of Art.<ref>{{cite web|title=Page 111 from the Frederic H. Douglas Ledger|url=https://uima.uiowa.edu/collections/arts-of-the-ancient-americas-and-native-america/north-america-cheyenne/|website=University of Iowa Museum of Art|access-date=March 7, 2017|archive-date=March 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307123818/https://uima.uiowa.edu/collections/arts-of-the-ancient-americas-and-native-america/north-america-cheyenne/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Military service== Douglas spent a brief time during 1918 as a private in the Infantry.<ref name=HMW /> He served in the Army Medical Corps from 1942 to 1944 in the Pacific Islands where he "expanded his interested to include the collecting of Oceanic Arts".<ref name=AA /> He served as a captain and later a major in the New Hebrides and the Philippines, Luzon during World War II.<ref name="The Douglas Society"/> At the time of his discharge Douglas was the rank of lieutenant colonel. "As registrar of the 31st General Hospital Unit he was the commanding officer of 130 nurses."<ref name=HMW />

==Publications== Douglas's publications include: ''Indian Art of the United States'' (1941),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Douglas|first1=Frederic Huntington|title=Indian Art of the United States|url=https://archive.org/details/indianartofunite00doug|url-access=registration|date=1941|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|location=New York|pages=219}}</ref> the Denver Art Museum's "Leaflet Series",<ref>{{cite book |title=Leaflet |oclc = 1334054}}</ref> its "Material Culture Notes" (1939–1969).<ref>{{cite book|title=Material culture notes |isbn = 9780742503441|oclc = 2732268|last1 = Walker|first1 = Patricia Chambers|last2 = Graham|first2 = Thomas|year = 2000| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref> and ''Salome: a poem''<ref>{{cite book |title=Salome : a poem |oclc=18964501 }}</ref>

==Legacy==

Douglas left much of his collections to the Denver Art Museum, including many of his rare books and books on American Indian and anthropological topics.<ref name=HMW /> Douglas also had an extensive collection of books on sex and those were donated to the Institute For Sex Research at Indiana University. Select dictionaries and philology books were donated to the Denver Public Library.<ref name=HMW />

"Following his death in 1956, he was then succeeded as curator of the department of native art by Royal Hassrick, Norman Feder, Richard (Dick) Conn, Nancy Blomberg and, at present, John P. Lukavic, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Curator of Native Arts."<ref name="The Douglas Society"/>

"In 1974 the Douglas Society, now Friends of Native Arts: The Douglas Society, was founded to honor and ensure the continuance of the work of Frederic Douglas."<ref name="The Douglas Society"/>

== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* {{cite news |url=http://yourhub.denverpost.com/blog/2016/04/hiwan-homestead-museum-brings-the-past-alive-for-students/143893/ |title=Hiwan Homestead Museum brings the past alive for students |author=Jack Maher and Devan Crean |date=April 11, 2016 | publisher=The Denver Post |quote=Story about Williams-Douglas family life at the lodge}} * {{cite book|author1=Patricia Chambers Walker|author2=Thomas Graham|title=Directory of Historic House Museums in the United States|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mE-Zx4SFOhIC&pg=PA39|year=2000|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-0344-1|page=39|chapter=Evergreen: Hiwan Homestead Museum}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Frederic}} Category:American art curators Category:Directors of museums in the United States Category:People associated with the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:1897 births Category:1956 deaths