User:Seb-Dragon/sandbox/sources

=Hildburgh Sources=

V&A Archive Research Guide Donors, collectors and dealers associated with the Museum and the history of its collections
p.46 downloaded from https://vanda-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/05/02/14/01/30/203468f3-777f-48b1-8b7e-13551dc47462/Donors_collectors_research_guide.pdf Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876–1955), nicknamed ‘The Egg’, was an American art collector who gave or bequeathed over 5,000 gifts to the V&A.  Dr Walter Leo Hildburgh was born in New York in 1876. After obtaining a PhD from Columbia University he worked in scientific research. A man of independent means, however, he pursued a range of interests: he became an international figure-skater (known as ‘The Egg’ on account of his premature baldness), was an excellent swimmer, and studied folklore (he became a member of the Folklore Society in 1906), anthropology, and magic. In 1912 Hildburgh settled in London and became a frequent visitor to the Victoria and Albert Museum. His gifts to the Museum over the years (including his bequest) amounted to over 5,000 objects, mostly to the Metalwork and Sculpture departments. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday in 1946, Hildburgh presented to the Museum 300 examples of English alabasters. Hildburgh was elected to the fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in 1915, and was awarded a D.Litt in the History of Art from the University of London in 1937. He died in London in 1955, aged 79. An exhibition of objects given by Hildburgh opened in 1958.

Object note for Double salt cellar and caster
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93311/double-salt-cellar-unknown/ Walter Leo Hildburgh was one of the most dedicated and generous patrons in the history of the V&A. His name is not well-known outside the museum world, but his influence on the shaping of the collections was immense. Born in New York in 1876, he trained as a scientist. Initially his collecting interest was ethnography, but after 1914 he turned to the decorative arts. His tastes were eclectic, but he developed his closest links with the Departments of Metalwork and Sculpture. Encouraged by successive Keepers of Metalwork, he began to accumulate European silver, with the gaps in the existing collections in mind. He travelled widely on collecting expeditions, usually recording when and where he bought something, but not (frustratingly for posterity) from whom.  Hildburgh's abiding passion was the art of Spain and Portugal, and it is no coincidence that the Museum holds one of the finest collections of Hispanic silver in the world. He also fell into the charming habit of giving the Museum presents at Christmas and on his own birthday. In some ways he was a shadowy figure, living frugally in a flat surrounded by what he called `the Museum mistakes', and devoting all his resources to collecting, but he is known to have been a keen skater. From 1924 when he offered the first objects to the Museum on loan, to 1956 when the huge collection was bequeathed, Hildburgh was part of the Museum landscape. We continue to benefit from his generosity; his will set up a fund for future purchases, administered in the spirit of his earlier acquisitions.

Object note for Marble Statue of Vertumnus and Pomona, by Laurent Delvaux, English, ca.1725
The location of Vertumnus and Pomona is not recorded from 1921 until 1948, when it was acquired by Dr W.L. Hildburgh F.S.A. from Bert Crowther, Isleworth, Middlesex, towards the end of 1948. It was given by Dr Hildburgh to the Museum as customary New Year gift in 1949

Catalogue of Samplers
"Catalogue of Samplers" Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Textiles HMSO 1922 https://archive.org/details/catalogueofsamp00vict/page/n7 Note to the Third Edition Since the publication of the second edition [1915] the number of samplers in the Museum collection has almost doubled. A great part of this increase is due to important accessions of Spanish and Italian samplers, which have been procured and contributed by donors with the express object of strengthening the collection in examples from these countries. AF Kendrick, December 1921

'''VI. Spanish''' (p.37) The collection has been greatly strengthened by the gifts of Dr W.L. Hildburgh, FSA, who obtained many samplers in embroidery and drawn work during his recent travels in Spain. The chapter discusses 56 items, 46 of which were donations by Hildburgh in 1917 or 1919.

The Victoria and Albert Museum - the Making of the Collection
Anna Somers Cocks, 1980. Windard

'''p.36 (Metalwork chapter) ''' 1956 brought a gigantic request from a slightly eccentric American, Dr W.D. (sic) Hildburgh, who for years had had the endearing habit of giving the museum presents at Christmas and on his own birthday. There is a dashing photograph of him as a young man pirouetting on iceskates in the Alps at the beginning of the century, but this is the only demonstration of frivolity this amateur scholar and antiquary ever gave. He had become involved with the department through the Keeper, H.P. Mitchell, who caught him on the rebound after he had given some ironwork to a minor New York museum only to find when he called two years later that his gift had been sold. Mitchell widened his horizons from being merely a collector of folk-lore and peasant art to becoming a discriminating collector of foreign goldsmith's work. Plates 39 and 40 show two of his pieces, the former being part of his particularly large number of Spanish purchases which prompted Charles Oman to produce a catalogue of the by now very strong collection of Hispanic silver in the department. He bought immense quantities of objects for every department, filling in wherever he saw a glaring gap and, with great skill buying pieces which were still underestimated and so quite cheap - seventeenth- and eighteenth century German boxwood carvings were one example of this. Although a rich man when young, by the end of his life Hildburgh had probably spent most of his money on the museum, and his life was eccentrically austere. The retired Keeper of the department, Basil Robinson, visited him one day at his house in Kensington to find him cooking lunch by placing an open tin of sardines between two enamelled plates and heating them on an gas ring.

'''pp.85-86 (Furniture and Woodwork chapter) ''' a more precise understanding of this history of English furniture was "only just beginning to be unearthed by patient research in archives and by looking at the subject in the wider context of architecture and architects. One incentive to this was the three great architect designed rooms bought between 1936 and 1955....  The third, in 1955, was the Grand Drawing Room by Robert Adam which once formed part of Northumberland House, the great palace of the Percy family which for three centuries stood on the bank of the Thames near Whitehall, until the Metropolitan Board of Works compulsorily purchased it from the 6th Duke in 1873.  Together with many of the best furnishings, it was taken to the Duke's other London house, Syon. After the Second World War the present Duke sold it to the dealer in monumental masonry, Bert Crowther, who rented it out for décor at debutante balls.  It was to the great credit of the then Keeper of the department, Delves Molesworth, that he recognised something of great quality when looking at a stack of rather battered and tawdry panels, and persuaded one of the museum's benefactors, Dr Hildburgh, to buy them."

The Victoria & Albert Museum
Michael Darby, Anthony Burton, Susan Haskins and John Ayers, 1983. Scala/Philip Wilson in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum

pp.133-134 During the many decades when Mannerist and Baroque art was out of favour, the V&A did acquire examples through the good offices of Dr Walter Hildburgh, an American collector who for forty years devoted himself to buying for the museum in neglected fields. He worked closely with the staff of the Sculpture and Metalwork Departments who became accustomed to his "sturdy, rubicund figure, in its thick tweed suit and black overcoat, bustling along the galleries or rising behind a library desk to ask his invariable question, "Anything you want to see me about?". The collections of English eighteenth century sculpture, of Spanish metalwork, and above all of English alabasters, are largely his creation; and many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century objets d'art in the European galleries were given by him.  He served as an invaluable corrective to the Museum's own taste:  when the curatorial staff baulked at spending the Museum's money on an interesting object they did not like, they spent Dr Hildburgh's instead.

Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Historical Medical Museum - Collection Dossiers - WL Hildburgh https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b18328106

p.86 Letter from Hildburgh to the Director of the "Wellcome Historical Medical Museum", 25th September 1952.
.. Incidentally, it may carry some weight with your Trustees if you recall that I am a Past-President of the Folk-Lore Society, was for some [years] Hon. Librarian of the Japan Society, for six years a vice-President of the Royal Archaeological Institute, and have served on the Councils of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Anthropological Institute and the British Archaeological Association.

p.41 Dr WL Hildburgh's degrees etc (given to me by Mr Oman)
University of London: Doctor of Philosophy (in the history of art)  January 1937 University of London: Doctor of Literature  July 1937 Columbia University, New York: Doctor in Philosophy  13 June 1900 Hispanic Society of America, Corresponding Member 2 Nov 1937 Hispanic Society of America, Member  1 Nov 1946 American Geographical Society, Life Fellow 26 Nov 1929 The American Museum of Natural History: Associate Founder 17 Oct 1928

Deaths Announcements
The Times (London, England), Monday, Dec. 5, 1955 Issue 53395 p.1 HILDBURGH,- On Nov. 26, 1955, in London. WALTER,LEO Hildburgh, of 8. Elvaston Place. S.W 7, aged 79Mbr>Crematorium, Golders Green, Thursday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m.

Dr Walter Hildburgh - A correspondent writes:- (Skating)
The Times (London, England), Saturday, December 3, 1955, Issue 53394, p.9.

All pre 1914-18 skaters of Princes Skating Club and those across the Atlantic will hear with great regret of the death of Dr. Walter Hildburgh, while at the same time his many friends in the artistic world may be surprised to know of his prowess as a skater and that he was a gold medalist of the National Skating Association.

The main characteristics of the man, known to all skaters of that period affectionately as "The Egg " because of his early baldness and his domelike head, were courage, integrity, and tenacity. In witness of these it was certainly only after 10 or more attempts that he passed his "gold"; but when at last he did it, the school figures were as near perfection - as we knew them in those days - as was possible, this being all the more remarkable when we remember that he was nearly 40 years of age.

As an example of his courage and integrity one episode will suffice. In Berlin in 1931 when representing the United States as a judge in the World's Ladies Championship he had the temerity to place the great Sonia Henie third on his card, when all the other judges had her first. All skaters will know what kind of courage this required in the circumstances.

Dr. W. L. Hildburgh (Folk Lore)
The Times (London, England), Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1955 Issue 53396 p.11 H. A. L. B. writes:-,Your obituary notice of Dr. W. L. Hildburgh touched only incidentally on his interest in folklore. It first came to his notice in the use of amulets in Japan at the beginning of this century, and he became a member of the Folk-Lore Society in 1906, reading his first paper before the society on Spanish amulets in April of that year. He was elected to the council in January, 1909, and continued as an active member of it for the rest of his life. As a council member he was always outstanding for his practical outlook and for his constructive suggestions. His grasp of committee Procedure and his clear-headed handling of detail made him an ideal colleague, as did his even temper, his courtesy and his infinite patience.

He was self-effacing and never sought office, but when, after the vicissitudes of the Second World War, the society found difficulties assailing it, he did not hesitate to accept the presidency and to give his full weight to setting the society firmly on its feet. He was always prepared to take full responsibility for his actions and he was a just and loyal colleague. No one can take his place at the council table. In 1952 the Folk-Lore Society awarded to him the highest honour in its possession, the Coote Lake medal for folklore research, "for his long and valuable service to folklore, notably in the field of amulets throughout the world."

DR. W. L. HILDBURGH - GIFTS TO VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM (Main Obituary)
The Times (London, England), Monday, Nov. 28, 1955 Issue 53389 p 13

Dr. W. L. Hildburgh, a devoted collector of works of art, and one of the most important benefactors the Victoria and Albert Museum has ever had, died in hospital in London on Friday. He was 79.

He was born in New York in 1876 into a family which had emigrated to the United States in the early nineteenth century. He attended Columbia University, where he obtained a Ph.D., and afterwards engaged in various forms of scientific research. Since he did not have to depend for his livelihood on the proceeds of his research he was able to find time to become a figure-skater of intemational status, as well as a first-class swimmer.

He began to travel abroad in 1900 and thereafter his life was one of travel. In that year he started a prolonged tour of Japan, China, and India. At an early stage he began to develop as a collector, but his interest was at first attracted by folk-lore and anthropology. Three further visits were made to the same area in the following years and he made a prolonged stay in Ceylon studying magic. After this he passed on to the Middle East and then to Europe. In 1912 he established a base in London and thereafter he never paid more than fleeting visits to the United States.

TOURS OF EUROPE

Soon after his arrival in London he began to frequent the Victoria and Albert Museum. As a result his interests widened to include the history of art, and he began to tour Europe collecting. He started inexpensively on subjects like wrought ironwork, but, carefully tutored by Sir Eric Maclagan and by H. P. Mitchell, he began to acquire sculpture and metalwork. The first important fruits of this was the purchase in 1926 of the collection of English alabasters formed by Philip Nelson, of Liverpool. At that date there was little of this important variety of English medieval art in English museums, so he set to work to fill the gap and was able to present some 300 examples to the Victoria and Albert Museum on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in 1946.

During the same period he was collecting Spanish goldsmiths' work. He obtained a first-class knowledge of the subject by visiting the church treasuries of Spain, but most of his purchases were made outside that country. The collection which he placed on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, when added to the existing collection there, made it possible to study this branch of Iberian art better in London than anywhere else north of the Pyrenees. He formed smaller collections of Dutch, German, and Italian silver which were remarkably valuable considering that he rarely spent large sums for his purchases.

His interests were by no means confined to alabaster carvings and goldsmiths' work. His collection of later Englsh sculpture was built up especially to fill another gap at South Kensington, but he could never resist a good ivory or an Italian bronze at a reasonable price.

PLEASURE OF THE CHASE

As a collector he was almost free from the lust of possession. He enjoyed the hunt for unfamiliar works of art in unlikely places and Prided himself on buying ahead of fashion. He regarded his purchases as the raw materials for research, and when he had discovered and published all that he could about them they would sooner or later be passed on to the museum as gifts. He was a prolific writer of short studies for learned magazines, particularly those of the Society of Antiquaries of which he became a Fellow in 1915. His one book, Spanish Medieval Enamels, appeared in 1936.

A Benefactor Of Perception - Hildburgh Exhibition at V and A
The Times (London, England), Thursday, January 30, 1958, Issue 54062, p.3.

There opens to-day, in the Recent Acquisitions Court of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, an exhibition in memory of a benefactor of quite exceptional perception and generosity - the late Dr. Walter Leo Hildburgh.

By birth an American, Hildburgh was born in New York in 1876, but never lived permanently in the United States after 1900.

He had a scientific training. but, not needing to earn his livelihood, he was able to follow his various interests (which included folk-lore and figure-skating) in many parts of the world. In 1912 be settled in London and became a frequenter of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Comfortably off, rather than rich, his own personal demands were small, and he became one of the museums most remarkable and generous donors. Between 1912 and his death in 1955 his gifts (including objects left by will) totalled well over 5.000, almost entirely to two departments - Metalwork and Sculpture.

It was one of Hildburgh's great qualities as a benefactor that he was willing to have his taste and generosity guided in directions which would be particularly useful to the museum and he was much encouraged in his work by Sir Eric Maclagan and H. P. Mitchell. His favourite method was to form a specialized collection, write a paper about it for a learned society, and then give it to the museum. In his later life, too, it was his habit to make a gift of 30 or 40 objects twice a year - on New Year's Day and on his birthday. His remarkable collection of Spanish silver he did not consider complete enough to give in his lifetime, but he left it to the museum by will.

Naturally in such an exhibition as this it is only possible to show a very small proportion of the whole. But the exhibits include a selection of a few of the most beautiful things of each of the types of works of art in which Hildburgh specialized. A catalogue would be wearisome here. But particular mention must be made of a group of English alabaster carvings, chosen from the 200 which he gave in 1946, thereby making the museum unrivalled in this previously neglected sphere.

From Hildburgh's gifts or bequests of metalwork the Spanish silver is the most striking, perhaps the outstanding piece being a parcel-gilt processional cross of about 1400, which was originally ornamented with panels of translucent enamel. When Hildburgh first saw this cross, the original enamel had gone and had been replaced with modern imitation. He had the courage to buy the cross and have the fake enamel removed, thus revealing the fine engraving which had underlain the original enamel.

A Great American Collector
Antique Dealer's Fair and Exhibition Number June 1957 pp18-20

An obituary notice to Dr WL Hildburgh, which appeared in the Times Newspaper, at the time of his sudden death at the age of 79 (November 1955), disclosed more details about this great connoisseur and devoted collector than most people had known about him at that time. Moreover, since his death it is now know that he was one of the most important benefactors that the Victoria and Albert Museum has ever had. He was born in New York in 1876 into a family which had emigrated to the United States in the early nineteenth century, yet because of his long years of residence in London and his generosity to the Victoria & Albert, there was often some uncertainty as to his nationality. Although he had made London his home since 1912 his status was quite clear. Walter Leo Hildburgh ceased to be a citizen of the United States: he was an American who lived quietly in London. Neither was it also widely known that he was a figure skater - although he was no dancer - of international status and a first class swimmer.

As a collector he was amost free from the lust of possession: and whilst he was invariably an early visitor each year to the Antique Dealer's Fair his never-ending hunt for unfamiliar works of art usually took him to the unlikely places. He prided himself in buying ahead of fashion and he looked upon his purchases as the raw material for research. Thereafter when he had discovered and published all he could about them they would sooner or later find their way to the Museum as gifts. His learned studies appeared in the Antiquaries Journal and in the Connoisseur.

Dr Hildburgh went about the important matter of collecting works of art in precisely the manner which it is most desirable that all serious collectors should. He travelled widely. He knew Japan, China, India, Ceylon and the Middle East. But it was Europe that he knew intimately and it was in Europe that he found most of his collectable objects. Under the tutelage of Sir Eric Maclagen and HP Mitchell he started collecting metalwork and sculpture. His first major success in this line was of the purchase in 1926 of the collection of English alabasters whih had belonged to Philip Nelson of Liverpool: and on his seventieth birthday in 1946 he presented some three hundred English alabasters to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

At the same time, he was collecting Spanish goldsmiths' work obtaining his wide academic knowledge of the subject from visits to the churches of Spain and their individual treasuries. It was, in fact, the result of the loan of his Spanish collection which enabled this branch of Iberian art to be studied to greater advantage in London than anywhere else north of the Pyrenees. His smaller collection of Italian, German, and Dutch silver were of considerable importance, but this generous American will always be remembered also for his later English scupture and for his ivories and bronzes. The works shown on these three pages are testimony to his outstanding benefactions an to his judgement in acquiring them.

1: Late sixteenth century, 14 inch high Augsburg shrine in ebony, silver and parcel-gilt, with the mark of Georg Hollthaler(?) 2:M.29-1946 Venetian brass dish, circa 1550, engraved with the arms of Mocenigo 3:M.417-1936 North Italian chalice, circa 1500, in silver-gilt set with niellos 4: M.237 & A-1956 Silver-gilt ewer (with basin), with Venice mark, circa 1580. 5. The basin which accompanies the ewer seen in 4 6 Silver, parcel-gilt processional cross, formerly enriched with enamels, circa 1400, with Barcelona mark 7 Silver, parcel-gilt basin, Spanish, 1520, wih a coat of arms in cloissonne enamel (from the Rothschild collection) 8 A marble bust, by Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823) of Sir George Savile, signed and dated 1784. 9 and 10 Two South German mid-eighteenth century boxwood figures of "Courage" and "Fear" 11 An Italian (Manutan) late fifteenth- or early sixteenth century bronze group of Hercules and Antaeus by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, called Antico (1460-1528) 12 A.23-1951 Painted limewood German (Upper Rhenish) figure of "Death", first half of the sixteenth century. 13 A.1-1952 Mid fifteenth century English alabaster, "The Trinity" 14 A.66-1951 Spanish (Valladolid) painted pinewood figure of "St Roch", of the second half of the sixteenth century

Dr Walter Hildburgh
New York Times, Sunday November 27, 1955 p.89 London, Nov 26 (Reuters) Dr Walter L. Hildburgh, American-born art collector and benefactor of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, died here in a hospital last night. He was 79 years old. Dr Hildburgh held a Doctor of Science degree from Columbia University, New York. A widely travelled man of diverse interests and accomplishments, Dr Hildburgh settled in England just before World War 1 and devoted himself to the history of the applied arts. Over the last thirty years he had presented objects valued at $300,000 to the museum, mostly in the fields of sculpture and metalwork. Dr Hildburgh was interested also in folklore and was at one time president of the Folklore Society here. In his younger days he was a skater of international repute.

ALABASTER SAINTS
New York Times Feb. 28, 2014, Section C, Page 26

Collectors of medieval art in the early 1900s vied for English alabaster sculptures torn out of churches during the Reformation. Dealers’ inventory in the early 20th century was reliably authentic, partly because prices until recently were modest. “The rewards for a faker wouldn’t be sufficiently high to justify it,” Paul Williamson, the keeper of sculpture, metalwork, ceramics and glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, said in an interview. “Object of Devotion: Medieval English Alabaster Sculpture From the Victoria and Albert Museum,” a show of saint statues and tableaus carved between 1370 and 1520, opens next Friday at the Museum of Biblical Art in Manhattan. Most of its 60 pieces were gifts in the 1940s from Walter Leo Hildburgh, a wealthy American expat inventor in London. He collected widely and wrote about finds like Japanese carved ivory gourd amulets and German waffle irons. He lived near the Victoria and Albert and donated artifacts and archives to numerous other institutions, including the British Museum, Columbia University’s library and the American Museum of Natural History. “He didn’t spend any money on himself at all,” Dr. Williamson said. Mr. Hildburgh was apparently drawn to alabaster scenes of martyrdom and gore. In the New York show, an altarpiece fragment found in a Norfolk village shows a Roman soldier pulling intestines out of St. Erasmus. St. Edmund is portrayed punctured by 11 arrows from Danish soldiers.<BR> The show’s catalog (from Art Services International) explains how the stone was quarried in English Midlands pits. Carvers sanded and filed it into somewhat standardized forms. Records from the 1490s show that one artisan was owed money for 58 heads of John the Baptist. By the 1600s, the stone supplies had largely run out, although some nodules still protrude here and there.<BR> Inspired by the Victoria and Albert exhibition, which has been touring the United States since 2010, scholars are collaborating on an essay collection, “Alabaster Sculpture in Late Medieval England: New Directions in Scholarship” (Western Michigan University Press/Medieval Institute Publications). Topics include variations on doomsday scenes and decapitation.<BR> Through March 17, the London dealer Sam Fogg is displaying five English alabaster saints (priced in the mid-six figures for the set) at the Richard L. Feigen & Company gallery in Manhattan, in the show “Wonders of the Medieval World.” The statues were carved in the 1460s for a Spanish merchant’s chapel. His descendants sold them through Sotheby’s in London in 2012 for about $234,000.<BR> The martyred saints are depicted carrying the tools of their own deaths. St. Apollonia holds a pair of tongs used to pull out her teeth. St. Catherine has the wheel that she was tied to and the sword that beheaded her.<BR>

Society of Antiquaries
"Italian Wafering Irons of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries" Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Thursday, 18th March 1915 pp161-199 https://archive.org/details/proceedingsser227sociuoft/page/160 "Germanic Wafering-Irons of the Sixteenth Century" 26th Mar 1914 pp.144-151 https://archive.org/details/proceedingsser226sociuoft/page/151

The President referred to previous exhibitions of similar specimens, though possibly not of German origin. He preferred the Engish name wafering-irons to the French gauffering. It was no doubt a surprise to many present to see so many examples in a private collection, but Dr. Hildburgh was an enthusiastic collector of many other out-of-the-way things, and would perhaps allow the Society on future occasions to become acquainted with other groups of no less interest to antiquaries.

(about wafering irons: https://archive.org/details/ArtandLoveinRenaissanceItaly/page/n131)

DEATH ENDED THE VIGIL
The World (New York), Sat 8 Nov 1890, p.6 Mrs Hildburgh Lay Dead While Her Family Awaited Her

In the dense fog of early morning yesterday the body of a well-dressed woman of evident refinement was found in the stone area-way of a four storey brown-stone mansion at No 42 East Sity –eighth street. A servant employed in sweeping the sidewalk in front of the residence of Thomas Powell Fowler, on the opposite side of the street, made the discovery, and hastening to No 42 rang the bell furiously and gave the alarm. The response was "It must be poor Mrs Hildburgh".

The woman's skull was crushed in and the blood was flowing from her nose and mouth in streams down her black dress. Tenderly she was picked up and carried into the basement and the police were informed of the tragedy. A man who claimed to be a doctor strenuously denied that any sick or dead woman was in the house, and the facts came out slowly, revealing a sad story of sickness and dementia, ending in suicide, by a leap of fully forty feet from a third-story window.

Henry Hildburgh, a wealthy insurance broker of the firm of Hildburgh & Co of No 206 Broadway, the Evening Post Building, resided at No 42 East Sixty-eighth street, near Fifth Avenue, one of a massive four-story and basement brown-stone row of dwellings, with his wife Lillie and two children and a corps of servants. Mrs Hildburgh was afflicted with dementia and occasionally became violent. She occupied the large room in the third story overlooking Sixty-eighth street, and three trained nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital were employed to watch her. During her paroxysms Mrs Hildburgh developed suicidal mania and it was deemed prudent not to leave her alone. Mr Hildburgh is a member of the Tammany Hall General Committee of the Twenty-first District and was active in the recent Mayoralty campaign. Thursday evening when he came home to dinner he was startled to learn that while the nurse was preparing Mrs Hildburgh's meal the latter had disappeared from her room. The husband, children and servants made a careful search for the missing woman, but without success and the nurses were sent to the East Sixty-seventh street police station-house to report the fact. They expressed a fear that Mrs Hildburgh had gone to Central Park to drown herself in the lake. They declined to divulge her name or address and merely described her as "a lady thirty seven years old and weighing 160 pounds, was dressed in black." An alarm was sent to the Central Park and Police Headquarters.

Acting up the theory that the crazy woman would return home in the morning, the distracted family sat up waiting all night, leaving the door ajar. When daylight came Mr Hildburgh started for the Park. It was nearly 7 o'clock and in less than half an hour after his departure the missing woman had leaped to her death, unobserved by either the family or the score of servants who were at work in the vicinity. When Mr Hildburgh returned it was to behold the mangled body of his wife.

His theory is that the insane woman quietly stole from the house during the temporary absence of her nurse and wandered <..>through the Park until daylight when she started for home and probably fell or threw herself from the tall stoop to the stone-paved areaway. At the same time he admits that she may have been secreted in the house and either made a wild leap from the third-story window or fell out while raising the heavy sash. The police argue however that Mrs Hildburgh could not possibly have been crushed so terribly by a fall of eight or ten feet, and from what is gathered from the domestics it seems clear that the poor woman in a fit of suicidal mania cunningly concealed herself in some remote corner and while the family were in the parlours watching for her return stole into here room and sprang head first to the ground forty fee below.

Deputy Coroner Weston viewed the body last evening and, satisfied with the correctness of the story as told by the family of the dead woman, issued a permit for her burial. The funeral will be private.

MYSTERY MADE
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Fri 7 Nov 1890 p.7 Of an Apparently Rich Woman's Strange Death

Her Crushed and Mangled Body Found in the Areaway of Her Home Early This Morning – Supposed to be the Wife of Henry Hildburgh

The residents of that aristocratic part of New York city lying on Sixty-eighth street, between Park and Madison avenues, received a shock this morning when the crushed and mangled body of one of their wealthiest neighbors was found in the areaway of her own house.

It was nearly 8 o'clock when a servant girl, opening the blinds of 41 East Sixty-eighth street, saw a blood stained mass lying in the areaway of 42, just across the street. The girl was horrified, but retained her presence of mind sufficient to call some men servants, who rushed across the street. There they found the bleeding form of Mrs Lillie Hildburgh, wife of Henry Hildburgh of the insurance firm Hildburgh & Co, 206 Broadway, New York. The house is a four story and basement brown stone building. One of the windows on the third story was open and it was evident that the woman, who was dressed in her bed robe, had jumped to the street. A physician was called, but pronounced the woman dead. In the meantime the inmates of the house had been aroused and were driven nearly frantic by the awful sight that met their gaze. No explanation would be given to the neighbors who had been attracted to the scene and even the policeman on the beat could get scarcely any information. A messenger was at once dispatched to the Sixty-seventh street police station to ask that no information be given to newspaper men. The police were given the wrong name of Hillberg, evidently in the hope that it would hide the identity of the dead woman. The body was removed to the house and the coroner notified.

When a reporter called at the house he was told by a handsome, dark eyed woman who answered the door bell that no one was in the house, and all information was positively refused. The house is one of a row of brown stone dwellings, magnificently furnished and undoubtedly the residences of wealthy people.

From neighbours it was learned that Mrs Hildburgh, the dead woman, was 37 years of age and had been sick for some time past. Three nurses were in constant attendance, but through some carelessness the patient was left alone. Then probably in a moment of delirium the woman had evidently stolen to the window, raised the sash and thrown herself to the area-way below, a distance of forty feet. Death must have been instantaneous. The woman could not have lain there very long before being found, although the heavy mist that prevailed might have hidden her from the sight of passersby.

LEAPED TO HER DEATH
The Evening World Fri 7 Nov 1890 p.3 Broker Hildburgh's Beautiful Wife Found Dead in the Area

In Her Nurses' Absence She Jumped Out of the Window

Her Corpse Lay There for Hours in the Early Morning

The body of a beautiful woman, her head and night clothes covered with blood, was seen lying in the area way of the elegant residence 42 East Sixty-eighth street, between Madison and Park avenues at 7:50 o'clock this morning by the servants of Thomas Powell Fowler, who lives directly opposite.

They ran across the street, and after a hasty examination, which showed that the woman was dead, notified the police of the East Sixty-seventh street station.

It was discovered that the woman was Mrs Lillie Hildburgh, wife of Henry Hildburgh, of the firm of Henry Hildburgh & Co., insurance brokers at 206 Broadway, and who lives at 42 East Sixty-eighth street.

Mrs Hildburgh was a brunette, apparently about thirty-seven years old. She was arrayed in her night clothes, which, with the spot where she lay, were covered with blood.

As soon as Mr Hildburgh was aroused and informed that his wife lay dead in front of his house, he hurried around the police station and requested Capt Gunner to keep all information in regard to the affair from the newspapers.

An Evening World reporter, however, learned that Mrs Hildburgh had been an invalid for some time, and was out of her mind.

She was confined to her room on the third floor of the house and was attended by three woman nurses.

Except in here moments of delirium Mrs Hildburgh was a most tractable patient.

Last night she was resting comfortably, and soon after midnight the nurses, thinking that their patient was all right, went to sleep.

When found Mrs Hildburgh had been dead several hours, and it is thought that she woke about 3 o'clock in a delirium.

It is believed that, seeing that her nurses were asleep, she went to the window, raised it and deliberately jumped to her death.

The distance was about forty feet, and Mrs Hildburgh struck the stone flagging in the area on the back of her head.

Her skull was crushed, and death must have been instantaneous.

The nurses awoke about 7:30 o'clock this morning and immediately discovered that their patient was missing.

Then they began a search of the house and in their anxiety examined every nook and corner, but of course without success.

They were just about going outside to look in the areaway, with the terrible dread that the patient might have fallen out of the window, which they strangely had not previously thought of doing, when the door-bell rang.

They were informed that the dead body of a woman had been found in front of the house.

It was almost unnecessary for them to go and look at the body. They knew intuitively that they would find Mrs Hildburgh lying there.

Their worst fears were quickly realized.

Gently they gathered up the beautiful and unfortunate woman's body and carried it into the house.

After the police had learned all that the distracted nurses could tell, they notified Coroner Schultze, who will hold an inquest.

Hildburgh & Co. are prominent insurance brokers at 206 Broadway, the members of the firm being Henry Hildburgh and Isidor Kahn.

When an EVENING WORLD reporter called at the office of Hildburgh & Co at 11 o'clock this morning, he found a young man and a boy in charge.

Both appeared entirely ignorant of the affair. The young man acted as spokesman, the boy nodding assent to his remarks.

The young man said Mr Hildburgh had been to the office early, but went out about 10 o'clock, leaving no word as to when he would return.

Isidor Kahn, Mr Hildburgh's partner, was also out and the young man did not know when he would return.

Mr Hildburgh, the young man said, was about forty years old and had two sons.

Mr Hildburgh's office consists of Room E, on the first floor of the Post building. It is elaborately furnished.

A reporter saw Mr Kahn later and that gentleman said that Mr Hildburgh had been at the office this morning and told him that his wife had committed suicide.

Mrs Hildburgh was a daughter of Gottlieb Rosenblatt, a real estate agent and special partner in the silk importing firm of Dreyfus, Kohn & Co. She married Mr Hildburgh in 1874.

Her brother, M.G.Rosenblatt, is a member of his father's firm, and another brother is a lawyer.

Retirement
Short Lines in Insurance<BR> The Buffalo Review Thu, Jan 5, 1899 p.6<BR>

The firm of Henry Hilburgh & Co., was dissolved on 31 December 1899 by the retirement of Mr Henry Hildburgh

Columbia University Libraries - Archival Finding Aids - Collections of correspondence and manuscript documents
Walter Leo Hildburgh, 1875-1955, trained as an electrical engineer (Columbia, E.E. 97, A.M. '98, PhD, 1900) apparently devoted much of his life to art collecting and art philanthropy http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/inside/projects/findingaids/scans/pdfs/23_HE-HI_14.pdf

Michigan Mining Practices
School of Mines Quarterly Jan 1899 p.141 https://archive.org/details/schoolminesquar26chemgoog/page/n161

A Japanese Copper Reduction Works
School of Mines Quarterly Nov 1901 https://archive.org/details/schoolminesquar73chemgoog/page/n90

Columbia College in the City of New York - Catalogue
Studied Electrical Engineering at Columbia University from 1893, obtaining his undergraduate degree EE (Electrical Engineer) in 1897, and AM (Master of Arts) in 1898. He was a Doctor of Philosophy candidate in 1899 but there's no record he was completed his studies. https://archive.org/details/catalogue1898colu/page/318 <BR>EE=Course in Electrical Engineering <BR>CE=Course in Civil Engineering https://archive.org/details/catalogue1893colu/page/251 https://archive.org/details/catalogue1894colu/page/246 https://archive.org/details/catalogue1895colu/page/244 https://archive.org/details/catalogue1896colu/page/256

Archaeological Coll'n for Museum - American Art News article
American Art News Vol 16 No 17 February 2 1918 p.2 <BR> https://archive.org/details/jstor-25589219/page/n1

Through the generosity of Dr W.L. Hildburgh, the American Museum of Natural History has become the fortunate possessor of an archaeological collection made up of some 4,000 specimens from central N.Y.State, which well illustrate Iroquois Indian life in prehistoric and Colonial times. It is a remarkably full and valuable collection, rivaled only, if at all, by that in the N.Y. State Museum at Albany. <BR> The Hildburgh Collection has for many years been known to archaeologists as one containing exceedingly rare types of stone and pottery pipes, gorgets, banner stones, curiously carved stones used for ornamentation or as badges or authority, native copper implements, including kettles and knives, stone axes, chisels and pottery. It also contains a number of the ornamental bone combs for which the Iroquois were noted. A number of bone fish-hooks are also in the collection. Owning to their fragility, such specimens are rarely found intact. <BR> The collection, as a whole the most complete now in N.Y., has been presented by Dr. Hildburgh as a memorial of his father, the late Henry Hildburgh.

Museum Notes
Vol 18, 1919, No 1 January 1918

Dr. W. L. Hildburgh has presented to the American Museum a very carefully selected collection of archaeological objects from New York State, containing some fine Iroquois pots and pipes. This gift makes the exhibition and study collections for New York adequately represented in the Museum. Dr. Hildburgh has resided for a number of years in England and has made a large place for himself among English anthropologists.

Masks and Dramas of Old Japan by S. Ichikawa
Vol 29, 1929 No 3 May-June 1929, p.241

Japan, like the other great civilized nations, cherishes her ancient literature and her traditional dramas. Among the most famous are the the so-called No plays. These are higly indivudalistic types of drama and are still popular in Japan. The No plays require a special kind of stage and costume, for the characters in these plays are prominent in Japanese folklore, and the details of their costumes are fixed by tradition...Recently, the American Museum acquired and placed on exhibition in the Japanese Hall a collectdion of these Japanese dramatic masks, the gift of Dr W. L. Hildburgh..

American Museum Expeditions and Notes - Science of Man
Vol 32, 1932, No 5 Sep-Oct 1932 Japanese Sword Furniture. - The Japanese ethnological collections in the American Museum have recently been enriched by the addition of a collection of sword furniture consisting of sword guards, fuchi, kashira, menuki, etc., and a series of netsuke presented by Dr Walter L. Hildburgh. The sword furniture is a particularly acceptable addition to the Japanese collections, since up to the time of Doctor Hildburgh's gift the Museum possessed no examples of this specialized art. The chief interest lies not so much in the useof these ajuncts to the sword, but in their demonstration of the unexcelled utilization of metal alloys in the creation of design by the Japanese. The intricacy of the composition and the range of designs, which have their basis in Japanese tradition and natural environment, have long excited the admiration of art connoisseurs. Jewelry from the Far East. - In memory of their father, the late Henry Hildburgh, Dr. Walter L. Hildburgh and Sydney Cornelius Hildburgh have recently presented the department of anthropology of the American Museum a large and comprehensive collection of native jewelry from the peoples of India, China, Korea, the Straits Settlements, and other far eastern countries. Hitherto this ornamental phase of work in metal has been very scantily represented in the collections from that part of the world.

Annual Reports
1899 Department of Anthropology - by donation W.L. Hildburgh, New York City 11 photographs fo archaeological specimens from New York State, an Indian mortar from Canandaigua, Cayuga Co., N.Y 1917 an archaeological collection of about 3,500 specimens from New York State and a series of ethnological specimens from North American Indians were presented by Mr W.L. Hildburgh. Also of great importance is a rich series of archaeological specimens from Iroquois sites in western New York State donated by Dr W.L. Hildburgh, an anthropologist of note. This collection was made by the donor and is accompanied by the original catalogue. For the immediate future the section of the Library dealing with primitive languages, magic, charms and amulets is to be strengthened - the latter subjects with the assistance of Dr W.L. Hildburgh, whose experienece has already proved of much value. 1918 The Library has been able to accumulate the nucleus of a section on Folk Lore by the purchase of something more than one thousand titles. In making the selection of these books, Dr W.L. Hildburgh, through his intimate knowledge of the subject, has greatly assisted in procuring the excellent collection that we now possess. Special gifts and acknowledgements - an ethnological collection, chiefly from North America, from Dr W.L. Hildburgh 1919 1920 1921 1922 1927 Patrons (By contribution of $1,000, or through honorary election) W.L. Hildburgh 1923 Department of Anthropology - By Gift DL W. L. HILDBURGH, London, England. Obsidian mirror, Mexico 1926 Report of the President - Amerian Museum Library To Messrs. Ogdnen Mills,... and W.L. Hildburgh we owe a lasting debt of gratitude. 1928 Valuable Gifts of the Year 1928 Dr. Walter L. Hildburgh - About 5,000 specimens of archaeological material from Europe, Egypt and Japan and ethnological collections from China, Japan, India, Ceylon, Siam and Burma, forming the Walter L. Hildburgh collection for 1928 1929, 1930 and 1931 Associate Founders - by contribution of $25,000 to the Museum W.L. Hildburgh

Marriage Certificate
1928 Marriage solemnized at St Columba's Church, Pont Street in the District of Chelsea in the County of London No 28 Nineteenth December 1928 Married in the St Columba's Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Scotland by Licence by me in the presence of RB Muir, Reginald P Wilson. Archibald Fleming, DD, Minister EA Knox, Registrar

Divorce
Reno Gazette-Journal Sat, Oct 3, 1936 p.3 https://www.newspapers.com/image/147169668 Decrees Granted Esther Volkman Harwood from Claude Harwood; Arthur E Voss from Olive Wright Voss;  Agnes Muir Hilburgh from Walter Leo Hilburgh;  Rose Louise..

In WL's will
3. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH TO AGNES MUIR STEWART of 10a Thorney Court London W.8. ALL my clothing and personal and household effects (hereinafter called "the said effects") requesting her but without imposing any trust upon her to dispose thereof in accordance with the wishes which I have heretofore expressed or may hereafter express to her. In the event that the said Agnes Muir Stewart shall predecease me then I GIVE AND BEQUEATH the said effects to GRETA Köhler of Vestmannagatan 13 Stockholm Sweden with a like request...

Gravestone (buried with her parents)
Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 17 August 2019), memorial page for Agnes Muir Stewart (unknown–19 Nov 1966), Find A Grave Memorial no. 89645259, citing Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, Scotland ; Maintained by Peter Drysdale (contributor 46883597)

In memory of James Todd Stewart Lat Col Glasgow Highlanders Died 12th February 1918 Aged 73 years Also his wife Margaret Gardiner Muir Died 18th July 1924 Aged 69 years Their son Matthew Muir Stewart Died 3rd January 1935 Aged 56 years and his wife Eveline Johnstone Annandale Died 24th November 1955 Aged 72 years Agnes Muir Stewart Died 19th November 1966 Aged 84 years Daughter of James T Stewart & Margaret G Muir

Final resting place
emailed response from Golders Green Crematorium<BR>

We have conducted a search of our records and have found some information on the late Walter Leo Hildburgh.<BR>

Register No: 128586<BR> Date of Death: 26th November 1955<BR> Cremation Date: 8th December 1955<BR> Age: 79 years<BR> Marital Status: Divorced<BR> Occupation: Art collector<BR> Place Death Registered and Date: Died at St Mary Abbots Hospital<BR> Funeral Directors: Kenyons<BR> Disposition of ashes: Dispersed.<BR>

Unfortunately there is no memorial at Golders Green Crematorium.<BR>

Skiatori italiani in Isvizzera
La Stampa Fortiva, Torino, 11 Febbraio 1912 p.17

Indetti dal Comitato sportivo di Engelberg, ebbero luogo I Campionata internazionali di pattinaggio artistico di figure obbligatorie del premio offerto dal marchese di S Marco.

La classifica generale della gare su sei figure diverse fu la seguente:

1. Ing Alberto Bonacossa di Milano 2. Alexander del Prince's Skating Club di Londra 3. Roger Foy del Club des Patineurs di Parigi 4. Lambert del Prince's S.C. di Londra 5. Cottens di Londra <BR>

Presiedeva la gara il dott W C Hildburgh, l'eccellente pattinatore londinese ben noto sulle piste di St Moritz e di Engelberg.

Google Translate: Italian skiers in Switzerland La Stampa Fortiva, Turin, 11 February 1912 p.17 http://www.byterfly.eu/islandora/object/libria%3A42163#page/17/mode/2up

Organized by the Engelberg Sports Committee, the International Figure Skating Championships of mandatory figures of the prize offered by the Marquis of S Marco took place.

The general classification of the races on six different figures was the following:

1. Ing Alberto Bonacossa of Milan 2. Alexander of the Prince's Skating Club of London 3. Roger Foy of the Club des Patineurs of Paris 4. Lambert of the Prince's S.C. of London 5. Cottens of London <BR>

Dr. W C Hildburgh, the excellent London skater well known on the slopes of St Moritz and Engelberg presided over the race.