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Bertha Palmer And Anna Wintour: How Does Private Patronage Impact Identity-Building Within Cultural Institutions?, Marie Redetzki

MA Theses

Founded to provide a young nation with cultural foundations and dedicated to educating its public, the large historic cultural institutions of the United States find their origin in private initiatives and of private-public-partnerships for the benefit of the communities they serve. This thesis outlines that, at its core, museums and their funding structures in the United States exist in the format we find today because of the active and informed contributions of their patrons. It is these contributions that have shaped the American museum landscape over the course of its history. Two case studies – Bertha Palmer and her bequest …