Katharine McCook Knox

Katharine McCook Knox (1889–1983) was an American art historian, best known for her history of the Frick Art Reference Library, and for curatorial work on presidential portraits.

Personal life Katharine McCook was born in Washington, D.C., in 1889 and was raised in New York City. Her parents were Anson George McCook, a Civil War general and Secretary of the Senate from New York, and Hettie Beatty. She had one daughter, Kathleen Knox Smith.

Career Knox is known for her history of the Frick Art Reference Library, and for her work on presidential portraits, particularly on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Early in her career, she catalogued works of art in the White House art collection during the Herbert Hoover administration. She also served as consultant for exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the Phillips Collection, the Textile Museum, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, all in Washington, D.C.

Publications Knox, Katherine McCook. 1932. "Washington and his associates". American Magazine of Art. XXIV (6): 399–408. Surprise Personalities in Georgetown, D.C. 1958. The Story of the Frick Art Reference Library : The Early Years New York: The Library. 1979. The Sharples: Their Portraits of George Washington and his Contemporaries: A Diary and an Account of the Life and Work of James Sharples and his Family in England and America. New York Kennedy Graphics. 1972.