Royal B. Farnum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Royal Bailey Farnum (June 11, 1884 – August 29, 1967) was an American art educator who served in administrative roles in various public and private educational institutions in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island during the first half of the 20th Century.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

He was born in Somerville, Massachusetts to Daniel Stoddard Farnum and Flora L. Bailey. He married the former Adeline Burnett on December 19, 1907 and raised three children.[2]

He graduated from the Massachusetts Normal Art School in 1906 and took a job as the Director of the Normal Department of the Cleveland School of Art, while simultaneously teaching art in the Cleveland Public School District. In 1909, he became the Director of Art Education for the State of New York.

Farnum was initially hired to be the Superintendent of the Department of Applied Arts at the Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics Institute in 1918, but rose to the presidency the next year, serving until 1921.[3]

In 1921, he returned to the Massachusetts College of Art to serve as its President and as Director of Art Education for the state of Massachusetts.

[edit] The Rhode Island School of Design

In 1929, he took a job as Educational Director for the Rhode Island School of Design and was subsequently promoted to Executive Vice President in 1937.

He served as president of the National Association for Art Education from 1936-1938, the National Association of Schools of Design form 1925-1936, and the Federal Council on Art Education from 1925-1936.

During World War II, he helped the war effort by assisting in the development of color schemes for optimal camouflage.

Farnum was bestowed with an honorary Art D. from Brown University in 1935 and received the Michael Friedsam Medal in 1942. RISD's Farnum Hall is named after him. He retired from RISD in 1946 and died in Plainfield, Connecticut in 1967.

[edit] Selected works

  • Farnum, Royal (1914), Present status of drawing and art in the elementary and secondary schools of the United States, Washington: G.P.O., OCLC 1399567 .
  • Farnum, Royal (1916), The manual arts in New York State, Albany: University of the State of New York, OCLC 26408179 .
  • Farnum, Royal (1948), Learning more about pictures, with reference text on selected works of art, Westport, CT: Artext Prints, OCLC 1438662 .

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ohles, Frederik & Ohles, Shirley (1978), Biographical dictionary of modern American educators (1 ed.), Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, ISBN 9780837198934, OCLC 3447005 
  2. ^ “Dr. Farnum, 83, Dies; Famed in Art World”, The Providence Journal (Providence, Rhode Island): 1, 29 Aug 1967 
  3. ^ Saffran, Michael (March 2007), “RIT's presidential history”, RIT news & events (Henrietta, NY: Rochester Institute of Technology) 39 (11), <http://www.rit.edu/~930www/NewsEvents/2007/Mar02/t6.html>. Retrieved on 18 January 2008 
Academic offices
Preceded by
James F. Barker		 President of Rochester Athenæum and Mechanics Institute
1919 – 1921		 Succeeded by
John A. Randall
 This biography of an academic administrator is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.