Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little

Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little were prominent collectors of American folk art and active historians.

The couple married in 1925 and in 1928 they purchased a home in Hudson, Massachusetts, for a weekend and summer retreat.^[1] Then in 1937 they purchased a 165-acre property in Essex, Massachusetts, carefully restoring the 1738 farmhouse, preserving original finishes while documenting their work.^[2] They named it Cogswell's Grant, after John Cogswell, the original 1636 land receipt.^[3][4][5] The couple collected and decorated their house with various "country arts" until 1984 when Mrs. Little transferred property ownership to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, reserving life tenancy rights for herself and her family.^[1] The property is now a historic house museum which is owned and operated by Historic New England.^[6] Collections of the couple over the years can be found at many museums, including the Maryland Center for History and Culture in Baltimore and the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan.^[7] The couple received the inaugural Henry Francis du Pont Award from the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in 1984.^[8] They had three children: John B. Little, Warren M. Little, and Selina F. Little.^[9]

Bertram K. Little (1899–1993) served as director of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now known as Historic New England) for 23 years.^[10]

Nina Fletcher Little (1903–1993) published six books including American Decorative Wall Painting: 1700–1850, and over 100 articles and exhibition catalogues. She was a primary consultant on the original 1957 conception of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Colonial Williamsburg,^[11] the United States' first^[12] and the world's oldest continually-operated museum dedicated to the preservation, collection, and exhibition of American folk art.^[13] She is now recognized as one of the most important scholars in the field of American folk art.^[2][9]

References

1. "Cogswell's Grant History". Historic New England. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
2. "Cogswell's Grant". Historic New England. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
3. Reif, Rita (August 8, 1993). "A Family Totally at Home With Folk Art". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
4. Brown, Nelly (July–August 2001). "Protecting Special Places". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
5. Harris, Patricia; Lyon, David (September 7, 2013). "On the trail of folk art in Essex". Boston Globe. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
6. Brown, Nelly (July–August 2014). "Lives in Art". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
7. Reif, Rita (February 1994). "Folk-Art Auction Approaches Fine-Art Prices". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
8. "Judith and John Herdeg Receive Henry Francis du Pont Award". Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. 2021-10-05. Retrieved 2022-09-16.
9. "Nina Fletcher Little Obituary" (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
10. "Bertram Kimball Little Obituary" (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
11. Gerard Wertkin, ed. (2 August 2004). Encyclopedia of American Folk Art, page 2. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 9781135956158.
12. Sonja Barisic (August 28, 2007). "Colonial Williamsburg folk art museum gets a new home". USAtoday.
13. Ben Swenson. "The Eye of a Folk Art Pioneer". Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Spring 2017.