The Clark in Williamstown

Road to South Williamstown
1907 postcard
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Road_to_South_Williamstown,_Williamstown,_MA.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

A great art museum in a very quiet little town in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, bordering Vermont and Upstate NY. It's The Clark in Williamstown. The name of the town comes from a Colonel Williams, killed on the French and Indian War: he had bequeathed a large sum of money to the town with the condition to be named after him.The colonel also started a free school there, which became a college in 1793: the Williams College.

But let's come back to The Clark. It was created by the Clarks, husband and wife, refined art collectors who spent a huge fortune (he was the son of one of the co-owners of Singer Sewing Machines) to build their private collection: Old Masters, Barbizon artists and Impressionists, along with some fine American masters, like Sargent and Winslow Homer.

William Orpen, Portrait of Robert Sterling Clark
oil on canvas, 1921-22
The Clark
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Orpen_Robert_Sterling_Clark.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

Eventually the Clarks became preoccupied about the safety of their treasures. It was at the beginning of the Cold War, and they feared that a museum in a large city (like the Met) would not be a safe place in case of an enemy attack. Thus they started looking for a place far away from the big cities and unleashed world. And they found Williamstown. Today The Clark is a museum and the home of a research and academic program, offering fellowships and lectures.

(New England)