Wheaton College Permanent Collection

The Newell Bequest Fund was established from the large collection of ancient and classical objects (coins, glass, bronzes, etc.) bequested in 1966 by Adra Newell and assembled by her husband, Edward Newell. Throughout the following years, the collection was evaluated and part of it sold in order to establish an endowment fund. The Newell Bequest Fund has enabled Wheaton's Permanent Collection to acquire many different objects in the Collection to be used for Wheaton students' educational experience in both Art and Classics departments. The Greek Black-Figure Attic Amphora with Images on Both Sides was the first object purchased with the Newell Bequest Fund in 1981.

Wheaton College's Watson Gallery became interesting in purchasing an item with the newly found Newell Bequest Fund. The amphora caught the attention of the Wheaton College Art and Classics departments, causing an epistle dialogue between Edward Merrin, the director of the Merring Gallery, and Roberta Olson, Wheaton's Assistant Professor of Art History. Olson used both Ellen Hirschland, Wheaton alum, and her husband, Paul Hirschland, as art consultants to authenticate the amphora. Both of the Hirschlands suggested that Olson ask Paul's colleague and then Chairman of Greek and Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dietrich von Bothmer, to authenticate the amphora.

After von Bothmer's approval of the amphora, Watson Gallery officially purchased the amphora on March 3, 1981 from the Merrin Gallery. In the spring semester of 1983, the Watson Gallery exhibited the amphora for public viewing.

Text Sources:

Merrin, Edward. Edward Merrin to Roberta Olson, New York, NY, March 24, 1981.

Merrin, Edward. Edward Merrin to Watson Gallery, Norton, MA, March 3, 1981.

Olson, Roberta. Roberta Olson to Dietrich von Bothmer, New York, NY, February 18, 1981.

Olson, Roberta. Roberta Olson to Edward Merrin, New York, NY, February 18, 1981.

Olson, Roberta. Roberta Olson to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hirschland, New York, NY, February 23, 1981.

Wheaton College. Watson Gallery Notes, Vol. 3, Num. 1, Spring 1983.