Ethan Allen Greenwood facts for kids
Ethan Allen Greenwood (born 1779, died 1856) was a very interesting person from early American history. He was a lawyer, a talented portrait painter, and he even owned his own museum! He lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 1800s. In 1818, he opened a famous place called the New England Museum.
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Early Life and Education
Ethan Allen Greenwood was born on May 27, 1779. His parents were Moses Greenwood and Betsy Dunlap. He grew up in Hubbardston, Massachusetts. As a young person, he went to school at the Academy at New Salem and the Leicester Academy.
In 1806, he graduated from Dartmouth College. He also studied at West Point, which is a famous military school.
A Talented Portrait Painter
Between 1801 and 1825, Greenwood became a very busy artist. He painted many portraits, possibly as many as 800! He used a special method called "physiognotrace." This technique helped artists create accurate outlines of people's faces.
Around 1813, Greenwood had his own art studio in Boston. He worked with other well-known artists, including Gilbert Stuart. In 1814, he joined a group called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.
Life in Hubbardston
In 1829, Greenwood married Mrs. Caroline Carter Warren. She was from Roxbury, Massachusetts. After his parents passed away, he built a large house on their land in Hubbardston. He became very involved in the public and business life of his hometown.
Greenwood's Diaries
Throughout his life, Ethan Allen Greenwood kept detailed diaries. These diaries tell us a lot about his daily activities. One expert who read his diaries noted that Greenwood "each day recorded both the weather and the title of the book he was reading." He even wrote down which library he borrowed books from!
His diaries are now kept at the American Antiquarian Society. They give us a peek into what it was like to be a museum director in the 1820s.
A Museum Director's Day
Here are some interesting notes from his diary in 1824:
- "June 1st, 1824. A Mermaid arrived here last week & I agreed to exhibit it. Busy setting up Shark." (This shows he was getting new and exciting things for his museum!)
- "2nd. Purchased some Indian Curiosities." (He bought items related to Native American culture.)
- "3rd. Bought four figures of an Italian $4.00."
- "5th. Bought four Busts of Voltaire, filling up jars of reptiles...." (He collected many different types of items, from art to preserved animals.)
- "7th. Artillery Election good run of business & in the eve a 'Glorious House' $342.75. Best day since the Museum began." (This was a very successful day for the museum, earning a lot of money!)
- "10th. Bought a young Shark."
The New England Museum
The New England Museum became very popular in Boston. Greenwood even opened other museum locations in Portland, Maine, and Providence, Rhode Island.
However, between 1834 and 1839, he faced some money problems. Because of this, he had to sell his museum collections. A man named Moses Kimball bought them. Kimball then used some of Greenwood's collection to start his own place, the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts. Kimball sold the rest of the collection to a museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1840.
Ethan Allen Greenwood passed away on May 3, 1856. He is buried in Hubbardston, Massachusetts.
