Harvard to Obtain Washington Museum and Library From Former Argentine Ambassador

A valuable collection of medieval and Byzantine art and a research library in Washington, D. C., will become the property of the University in the near future, it was announced Saturday at a two-day symposium in Washington by Robert Woods Bliss '00, former Ambassador to Argentina under President Coolidge.

The new art center, which is housed in two buildings, is located on the Dunbarton Oaks Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bliss. They acquired the paintings, sculptures, textiles, tapestries and other articles in the collection during thirty years in the diplomatic service.

The library, consisting of about 11,000 books and periodicals, is chiefly concerned with the study of the art and culture of the eastern empire. A census will be made of all medieval objects of art in the United States and Canada, to be completed and made available to scholars in another two years.

Bliss has been a member of the Board of Overseers since June, 1939. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1933 after serving thirty years in many posts in Europe and South America and in the Department of State in Washington.

Third Byzanine Collection

With the addition of the Bliss collection in Washington, there are now three large museums of Byzantine art in America. The other two are the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Walters Gallery in Baltimore.

Among the dignitaries at the reception for the opening of the museum and library were President Conant, Edward W. Forbes '95, director of the Fogg Museum, and George H. Edgell '09, director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

As a part of the inauguration of the buildings, a two-day symposium on medieval and Byzantine art was hold at the Bliss estate."