Anson Goodyear

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Anson Goodyear

| image = A. Conger Goodyear (Army officer, businessman, philanthropist).jpg

| caption = Colonel Goodyear, executive officer of the Camp Taylor, Kentucky training school for artillery officers during World War I.

| office = President of the Museum of Modern Art

| term_start = 1929

| term_end = 1939

| predecessor = Inaugural holder

| successor = Nelson Rockefeller

| birth_date = June 20, 1877

| birth_place = Buffalo, New York

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1964|04|24|1877|06|20}}

| death_place = Old Westbury, New York

| residence = A. Conger Goodyear House

| education = Nichols School

| alma_mater = Yale University

| parents = Charles W. Goodyear
Ella Portia Conger

| spouse = {{ubl|

{{marriage|Mary Martha Forman|1904|reason=div}}|

{{marriage|Zaidee C. Bliss|1950|1964}} }}

| children = 4

| relatives = Frank H. Goodyear (uncle)
George V. Forman (father-in-law)

}}

Anson Conger Goodyear (June 20, 1877 – April 24, 1964) was an American manufacturer, businessman, author, and philanthropist and member of the Goodyear family. He is best known as one of the founding members and first president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Early life and education

Goodyear was born in Buffalo, New York, on June 20, 1877. Conger was the eldest of four children born to Charles Waterhouse Goodyear (1846–1911), a wealthy businessman who was friends with President Grover Cleveland, and Ella Portia Conger (1863–1940). His youngest brother was lawyer Bradley Goodyear. The family, who were very prominent in Western New York, resided at 888 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.{{cite news|title=CHARLES W. GOODYEAR DEAD.; Active In Business Life, He Aided in Grover Cleveland's Nomination.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/04/17/archives/charles-w-goodyear-dead-active-in-business-life-he-aided-in-grover.html|accessdate=19 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=17 April 1911}}

He was educated at the Nichols School in Buffalo.{{cite web|title=Guide to the Anson Conger Goodyear Collection|url=http://drs.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=mssa:ms.0244&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes|website=library.yale.edu|accessdate=10 September 2015}} He graduated from Yale University in 1899.Syracuse University Library, [http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/g/goodyear_ac.htm Biography, A. Conger Goodyear], A. Conger Goodyear Papers Inventory, accessed September 1, 2012 While at Yale, Goodyear was a member of Alpha Delta Phi and the Wolf's Head Society; there he began collecting limited and first editions of books. He expanded the collection later, obtaining most of the letters of William Makepeace Thackeray to Jane Octavia Brookfield.{{cite news|title=A. Conger Goodyear, 86, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/24/a-conger-goodyear-86-dies.html|accessdate=14 September 2015|work=The New York Times |date=24 Apr 1964}}

Career

Goodyear was president of the Great Southern Lumber Company, based in Buffalo and operating a sawmill and related industry in Bogalusa, Louisiana (1920–38); and served as vice president of the Marine National Bank.{{cite web|title=Niagara Area Journal of Commerce ...: A Review of the Month, Volumes 9-10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2eg-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA133|website=Buffalo Live Wire|year = 1918|publisher=Buffalo Chamber of Commerce|accessdate=4 September 2015}} His father and uncle Frank had built railroads to serve their lumber operations in isolated areas; this Goodyear served as the vice president of the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad (1907–10), which supported operations in New York and Pennsylvania, and was president of the New Orleans Great Northern Railroad Company (1920–30), built to support the Bogalusa pine lumber operation.{{cite web|title=Goodyear, A. Conger (Anson Conger), 1877-1964|url=http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=6696|website=research.frick.org|accessdate=4 September 2015}} He served as chairman of the board of directors of Gaylord Container Corporation, a successor to the Great Southern Lumber Company; director of Paramount Pictures, director of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and as an executive or director of several other corporations.State University of New York at Buffalo, [http://libweb1.lib.buffalo.edu:8080/xtf/view?docId=ead/bechs/bechs_c64_02.xml;query=;brand=ubdefault A. Conger Goodyear biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910100523/http://libweb1.lib.buffalo.edu:8080/xtf/view?docId=ead%2Fbechs%2Fbechs_c64_02.xml%3Bquery%3D%3Bbrand%3Dubdefault |date=2015-09-10 }}, Finding Aid for the A. Conger Goodyear Papers, accessed September 1, 2012

=Public service and military career=

Active in the New York National Guard, Goodyear served as a colonel in World War I and was the executive officer of the Field Artillery Central Officers Training School at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky.

In the 1930s, Goodyear became president and later chairman of the board of the American National Theater and Academy. After World War I, Herbert Hoover, as director general of relief of the Supreme Economic Council, appointed Goodyear president of the council's coal mission, putting him in charge of coal distribution in Austria, Hungary, and Poland. According to Kendrick Clements:

:The gregarious, energetic, and ingenious Goodyear cheerfully accepted Hoover's orders to do anything necessary to get the coal moving. Employing his native charm and his authority to provide or withhold food shipments, he calmed strikes and opened borders. At one point, he got Hoover to send him $25,000 worth of tobacco to distribute among miners. Within a month, his unorthodox methods contributed to doubling coal production in Central Europe.{{cite book|author=Kendrick A. Clements|title=The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918–1928|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZHGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|year=2010|page=18|publisher=Springer |isbn=9780230107908}}

During World War II, Goodyear was commander of the Second Brigade of the New York Guard, with the rank of major general.George F. Goodyear, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jtZMAAAAMAAJ&q=%22conger+goodyear%22+%22major+general%22 Goodyear Family History], 1976, page 137 Later in World War II, he was a deputy commissioner for the Pacific Ocean area, including Hawaii, of the American Red Cross. In this capacity, he toured the Pacific battlefronts, covering 50,000 miles.New York Times, [https://www.nytimes.com/1944/11/27/archives/red-cross-widens-services-in-pacific-new-recreation-and.html Red Cross Widens Services in Pacific], November 27, 1944 Later, as a military observer, he was at the front in Okinawa with New York's 27th Division and reported to the Secretary of War on conditions in the field and troop morale.National Infantry Association, Infantry Journal], Volumes 60-61, 1947, page 54

=Art collector and Museum of Modern Art=

File:Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo & Anson Goodyear.jpg, Frida Kahlo, and Goodyear (on the right) in 1931]]

A noted philanthropist and avid collector of late 19th- and early 20th-century American and European art, Goodyear had a personal collection containing several important works by Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin's Spirit of the Dead Watching.{{cite web|title=Goodyear, A. Conger (Anson Conger), 1877-1964|url=http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=6696|website=research.frick.org|accessdate=4 September 2015}} He also had works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Honoré Daumier, and Edgar Degas.

He was invited by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Mary Quinn Sullivan, and Lillie P. Bliss to help establish the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He served as its first president (1929–39), and as a member of the board of trustees of MOMA, after moving to New York City.Museum of Modern Art, [https://books.google.com/books?id=s3mwXcyBjvIC&pg=PA82 Imagining the Future of The Museum of Modern Art], 1998, page 82

Goodyear traveled to Europe at his own expense to collect paintings for the museum's first showing. While there, he visited England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany, and borrowed 25 paintings valued at $1.5 million ({{Inflation|US|1500000|1929|r=-3|fmt=eq}}). In 1939, on the eve of the opening of the museum building on 53d Street, Nelson A. Rockefeller, later the Governor of New York, succeeded Goodyear as MOMA's chief executive.

Goodyear was also the author of several nonfiction works, including:

A Memoir: John George Milburn, Jr. (1938), with Milburn Jr. Milburn Jr. became a lawyer and was son of prominent New York lawyer John G. Milburn; John Jr's older brother was Devereux Milburn, an internationally known polo player.{{cite web|title=JOHN GEORGE MILBURN, JR.: A Memoir|url=http://www.abaa.org/book/225400734|website=abaa.org|accessdate=15 September 2015}}
American Art Today: Gallery of American Art Today, New York World's Fair (1939), with Grover A. Whalen{{cite book|last1=Goodyear|first1=Anson Conger|title=American Art Today: Gallery of American Art Today, New York World's Fair|date=1939|publisher=National Art Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKRWAAAAMAAJ}}
The Museum of Modern Art. The First Ten Years (1943){{cite book|last1=Goodyear|first1=Anson Conger|title=The Museum of Modern Art: The First Ten Years|date=1943|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iS5NAAAAYAAJ&q=the+museum+of+modern+art+the+first+ten+years}}

=Philanthropy=

Goodyear donated a collection of Civil War materials he had compiled to Yale University in 1953. The collection contained correspondence, diaries, proclamations, and other papers relating to the Civil War.{{Cite web|url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3814?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=mssa:ms.0244&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes|title=Collection: Anson Conger Goodyear Collection {{!}} Archives at Yale|website=archives.yale.edu|access-date=2019-06-14}}

By the time of his death, Goodyear donated nearly 300 artworks to the Albright-Knox in Buffalo, NY. He also bequeathed many important works, including Giacomo Balla’s Dinamismo di un Cane al Guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash), 1912; Salvador Dalí’s The Transparent Simulacrum of the Feigned Image, 1938; and Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938. Shortly before his death, the museum established the A. Conger Goodyear Fund for the acquisition of new artwork, greatly enhancing its ability to grow its collection in the years to come.{{Cite web|title=Albright-Knox|url=https://www.albrightknox.org/art/collection/major-gifts-collection/gifts-conger-goodyear|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905142531/https://www.albrightknox.org/art/collection/major-gifts-collection/gifts-conger-goodyear |archive-date=2017-09-05 }}

He was a close friend of actress and theater producer Katharine Cornell, also from Buffalo. Upon her death in 1974, she bequeathed part of her foundation's assets to MoMA in his honor.{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/GoodyearScrapbooksf |title=A. Conger Goodyear Scrapbooks in the Museum of Modern Art Archives |publisher=Moma.org |date= |accessdate=2010-04-03}} Goodyear was also a director of the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts,Arshile Gorky, Matthew Spender, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qqRIAQAAIAAJ&q=%22conger+goodyear%22+buffalo+academy Arshile Gorky: Goats on the Roof: A Life in Letters and Documents], 2009, page 148 an honorary governor of the New York Hospital,New York Hospital. Society, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vuYhAQAAMAAJ&q=%22conger+goodyear%22 Annual Report], 1963, page 5 and a donor to Dartmouth College.Hood Museum of Art, T. Barton Thurber, [https://books.google.com/books?id=36zrAAAAMAAJ&q=%22conger+goodyear%22+dartmouth+college European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights From the Hood Museum of Art], 2008, page 197 He was also a member of the Saturn Club in Buffalo. A friend of Ernest N. Harmon, Conger also made donations to Norwich University, and Norwich's Goodyear Hall is named for him.Ernest N. Harmon, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jj1QAQAAIAAJ&q=%22conger+goodyear%22+%22major+general%22 Combat Commander: Autobiography of a Soldier], 1970, page 307

Personal life

File:A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury N.Y.jpeg in Old Westbury, NY]]

On June 29, 1904, Goodyear married Mary Martha Forman (1879–1973), the only daughter of George V. Forman, also of Buffalo. George Forman was prominent banker and the founder of VanderGrift, Forman & Company, which later became part of the Standard Oil Company,{{cite news|title=Candace F. Byers Becomes a Bride|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/22/style/candace-f-byers-becomes-a-bride.html|accessdate=28 October 2015|work=The New York Times|date=June 22, 1986}} and the Fidelity Trust and Guaranty Company, which later became M&T Bank. Before they divorced, Goodyear and Forman had four children:

George Forman Goodyear (1906–2002), who married Sarah Norton in 1932.{{cite news|title=Weddings & Engagements|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2021/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201932/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201932%20-%203451.pdf|accessdate=10 September 2015|publisher=Buffalo Courier-Express|date=May 22, 1932}} After Sarah's death, he married Marion Gurney (née Spaulding), the mother of his son-in-law.{{cite news|last1=Freeman|first1=Patricia|title=Playwright A.R. Gurney Jr.'s Cocktail Hour Leaves His Genteel Family Shaken, Not Stirred|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20119411,00.html|accessdate=16 April 2016|issue=3|work=People|date=January 23, 1989|volume=31}} George was one of the founders of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo.{{cite web|title=Forgotten Buffalo featuring WGR TV & WGRZ TV|url=http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/forgottenbuffalomedia/ch2wgrwgrztv.html|website=www.forgottenbuffalo.com|publisher=Forgotten Buffalo|accessdate=28 November 2016}}
Mary Goodyear (1907–1977), who married Theodore G. Kenefick (1898–1972)
Anson C. Goodyear Jr. (1911–1982)
Stephen Goodyear (1915–1998), who first married Aline Fox in 1942. She died in 1943 and he then married Mary Van Rensselaer Robins, the granddaughter of Thomas Robins Jr., in 1944.{{cite news|title=MISS MARY ROBINS BECOMES A BRIDE; Wed in Church of Ascension to Dr. Stephen Goodyear by Bishop Austin Pardue|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/10/04/86731937.html?pageNumber=25|accessdate=14 April 2016|via=timesmachine.nytimes.com|work=The New York Times |date=October 4, 1944}} Robins was the granddaughter of Mary Van Rensselaer Cogswell (1839–1871) and Andrew K. Cogswell (1839–1900). Goodyear and Robins divorced and in 1964, Robins married Julien D. McKee (1918–2006){{cite news|title=Obituaries and death notices, Nov. 8, 2006 Laurette Forest, Julian D. McKee, Stetson services|url=http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/obituaries/obituaries-and-death-notices-nov-laurette-forest-julian-d-mckee/article_3ab93a54-e842-5465-b583-06ff5327f949.html|accessdate=14 April 2016|work=SentinelSource.com|publisher=The Keene Sentinel|date=November 8, 2006}}{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=Mrs. Goodyear Wed To Julien D. McKee|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/14/mrs-goodyear-wed-to-julien-d-mckee.html|accessdate=14 April 2016|work=The New York Times |date=14 June 1964}}

In 1950, he married Zaidee C. Bliss (née Cobb) (1881–1966),{{cite news|title=MRS. A.C. GOODYEAR, ACTIVE IN WELFARE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/07/22/archives/mrs-ac-goodyear-active-in-welfare.html|accessdate=8 March 2017|work=The New York Times|date=22 July 1966}} widow of Cornelius Newton Bliss Jr., a financier who was the son of Cornelius N. Bliss, the former Secretary of the Interior and director of the Metropolitan Opera Company.

His home in Old Westbury, New York, the A. Conger Goodyear House (built in 1938 by Edward Durell Stone), is on the National Register of Historic Places.Alex Hoyt, [http://www.architectmagazine.com/architecture/esto-gallery--conger-goodyear-house.aspx A. Conger Goodyear House: A Look at an Edward Durell Stone House on Long Island That Narrowly Avoided Demolition], Architect magazine, November 17, 2011 Goodyear died in Old Westbury, New York on April 24, 1964.James Trager, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xvGhQoNT27IC&pg=PA653 The New York Chronology], 2004, page 653 After his death, his art collection was bequeathed to the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts.{{cite web|title=Goodyear, A. Conger (Anson Conger), 1877-1964|url=http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=6696|website=research.frick.org|accessdate=4 September 2015}}

=Descendants=

Through his eldest son, George Forman Goodyear, he was the grandfather of Mary "Molly" Forman Goodyear (b. 1935), who married Albert Ramsdell Gurney Jr. (1930–2017), a prominent playwright,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/theater/playwright-a-r-gurney-dead.html?_r=0 |title=A.R. Gurney, Playwright Who Explored Upper-Crust Anxieties, Dies at 86 |first=Robert |last=Berkvist |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 14, 2017}} Anne Goodyear, who married U.S. Representative William H. Hudnut III (1932–2016),{{cite news|title=George F. Goodyear|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/buffalonews/obituary.aspx?n=george-f-goodyear&pid=1301750#sthash.IK3t7yq9.dpuf|accessdate=16 April 2016|work=The Buffalo News|date=June 14, 2002}} and Sarah C. Goodyear.