Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

William Rutherford Mead (AC 1867) and Olga Kilyeni Mead Papers, 1840-2001 (bulk 1846-1950)

Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Elaine Trehub, Claudia Gunter, Peter Nelson.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Biographical Note

William Rutherford Mead was born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1846. Mead graduated from Amherst College in 1867, after which he studied architecture in Boston and in Europe under Russell Sturgis, Jr.

Mead started an architectural partnership with Charles F. McKim in New York City in 1872. In 1879, they were joined by Charles F. McKim to form McKim, Mead, and White, of which he was principal until his death in 1928. The firm designed many of the most notable structures in the country, including the Agricultural and New York State buildings at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, the Boston Public Library, Rhode Island State Capitol, the old Madison Square Garden (since demolished), and the Columbia University library.

In 1883, Mead wed Olga Kilyeni in Budapest, Hungary. In 1902, King Victor Emmanuel conferred upon Mead the decoration of Knight Commander of the Crown of Italy in recognition of his pioneer work in introducing the Roman and Italian Renaissance architectural style in America. Also in 1902, Amherst College conferred upon Mead the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1909, he recieved a degree of M.S. from Norwich University in Vermont.

Mr. and Mrs. Mead lived abroad in Rome, where Mr. Mead was the President of the American Academy in Rome until his death in 1928. When Mrs. Mead died in 1936 in New York City, her entire estate was bequeathed to Amherst College. Much of that bequest was used to fund construction of the Mead Art Building, designed by James Kellum Smith of McKim, Mead and White and completed in 1949.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Personal, professional, and family correspondence, financial records, articles and printed matter, photographs, music scores and general memorabilia documenting the personal and professional lives of William Rutherford Mead as an architect with McKim, Mead and White, and of his wife Olga Kilyeni Mead. The collection includes papers related to Mead's architectural designs for "Redtop," the house in Belmont, Massachusetts, which Mead designed for his sister Elinor Mead Howells and her husband William Dean Howells, 1876-1878; papers relating to the Meads' relationship with Amherst College, including information about their bequest for the construction of the Mead Art Museum. Photographs include portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Mead, family photographs, photographs of William and Elinor Mead Howells, and various travel images and unidentified family photographs. Also included in the collection are several dozen music scores, chiefly 19th century, by Hungarian, German and French composers.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into four series:

• Series A: William Rutherford Mead, 1840-2001
• Series B: Olga Kilyeni Mead, 1895-1936
• Series C: Photographs, ca. 1860-1920
• Series D: Sheet Music, ca. 19th century

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Series A: William Rutherford Mead

Series A, William Rutherford Mead, 1840-2001, includes family and personal correspondence, certificates and other official documents, biographical and genealogical information and other materials documenting Mr. Mead's personal life and professional career as an architect with McKim, Mead and White. Papers in this series document, in particular, Mead's relationship with Amherst College and the design and construction of "Redtop," the house in Belmont, Mass. which Mead designed for his sister Elinor Mead Howells and her husband William Dean Howells, 1876-1878.

Series B: Olga Kilyeni Mead

Series B, Olga Kilyeni Mead, includes incoming and outgoing correspondence, financial records, biographical information and general memorabilia.

Series C: Photographs

Series C, Photographs, ca. 1860-1920, include portraits of both William Rutherford and Olga Kilyeni Mead as well as photos of the William and Elinor Mead Howells family. This series also includes several folders of unidentified family photos and a scrapbook of travel images, ca. 1910.

Series D: Sheet Music

Series D, Sheet Music, is a collection of 19th century scores by chiefly Hungarian, German and French composers. The scores were included within the papers of Mr. and Mrs. Mead. The series is arranged alphabetically by the (often presumed) name of the composer. The inventory for this series was prepared without any working knowledge of Hungarian and without scrupulous notations of foreign diacritics and punctuation; it is, therefore, only a rough approximation of the chief information about each score.