Frederic Huntington Douglas

Frederic Huntington Douglas (October 29, 1897, in Evergreen, Colorado – April 23, 1956) also known as Eric Douglas. "was one of the first scholars to recognize the artistic achievements of American Indians as well as the arts of Africa and Oceania."

Early life Douglas was the son of Charles Winfred Douglas (1867–1944), a canon in the Episcopal Church, 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. He had two children with wife Freda: Ann Pauline Maher (1928–1988), David Douglas (1932–1999), and Eve (Mrs. Wallace Jolivette).

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.

Career Douglas was hired as curator of [American] Indian Art at the Denver Art Museum in 1929 He served as director of the Denver Art Museum from 1940 to 1942.

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." 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."

Douglas was contracted to reorganize the exhibitions and collections at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University . Pages from this book are now in the collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Military service Douglas spent a brief time during 1918 as a private in the Infantry. the Denver Art Museum's "Leaflet Series", its "Material Culture Notes" (1939–1969). and Salome: a poem

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. 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.

"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."

"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."