the Austins

Holcombe Austin was a philosophy professor at Wheaton College from 1941-1972, and his wife Ethelind Austin worked at Wheaton as a librarian. Ethelind Austin was the younger sister of Samuel Hoyt Elbert, who originally acquired the Embroidered Textile with Cranes and Pine Trees. Prof. Elbert gave this damask to the Austins as a gift in 1950s or 1960s, and then the Austins kept it until donated to Wheaton College at 1987 when Sue McCulloch Austin, Prof. Austin's mother, passed away. Since Prof. Austin was employed in 1941 at Wheaton, his family lived in Dr. Mack's house where now Watson Fine Arts locates. Then in 1959 when the college planned to build Watson, the Austin family moved to a temporary location--Amen-Gulley Cottage, and waited for their Austin House to finish building. Finally they moved into the Austin House at the end of 1960 and then settled there until they passed away. 

Text Sources:

Japanese Textile Information Sheet, in Ethelind Austin Former Faculty File, RG.005.900, Marion B. Gebbie Archives, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, U.S.A.

Letters between Professor Holcombe Austin and President Howard Meneely [1959], in Folder 11 Faculty File Collection, RG.005.900, Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections, Wallace Library, Wheaton College, Norton MA, U.S.A.

Letters between Professor Holcombe Austin and President Howard Meneely [1960], in Folder 11 Faculty File Collection, RG.005.900, Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections, Wallace Library, Wheaton College, Norton MA, U.S.A.

Sue Ricketts, email message to Leah Niederstadt, February 6, 2014.

Yitong Cai, email message to Zephorene Stickney, April 9, 2014. 

Image Source:

Holcombe and Ethelind Austin [1990] Image, in the Faculty Black and White Photograph Collection, RG.023, Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections, Wallace Library, Wheaton College, Norton MA, U.S.A.