The William Benton Museum of Art has a proud past, a vibrant present and an exciting future. The Benton opened officially in 1967, but its roots go back to the early twentieth century and the days of the Connecticut Agricultural College, which evolved into the University of Connecticut. The building that housed the original Museum was constructed in 1920 and served as “The Beanery,� the campus' main dining hall until the mid-1940s. The small, elegantly designed College Gothic structure, with its gracious sculpture garden, is among the core campus buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Museum collection traces its beginnings to College President Charles Lewis Beach who bequeathed his impressive holdings of American art to the University on his death in 1933, along with a trust fund for future acquisitions. It was President Beach's intent that the collection "instill and cultivate an appreciation of works of art in the student body of the College and in such other persons as may avail themselves of said collection." This original collection included works by Childe Hassam, Henry Ward Ranger, Emil Carlson, Charles H. Davis, Ernest Lawson and Guy Wiggins.

Since then, the Benton has added works by such renowned artists as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Hart Benton, Fairfield Porter, George Bellows, Rembrandt Peale, Georges Braque, Gustav Climt, Edward Burne-Jones, Maurice Prendergast and Kiki Smith.

In 1965, Dr. Walter Landauer, an internationally recognized geneticist and professor, gave the University 107 Käthe Kollwitz prints and drawings. In 1966, during the Presidency of Dr. Homer Babbidge, these treasures and the Beach Collection, which by then included works by such well-known artists as Mary Cassatt, George Bellows and others, found a home at the Museum later named in honor of prominent Connecticut Senator and University trustee William Benton. His family generously donated to the Museum some of his sizable collection of Reginald Marsh paintings and works by other important 20th century American artists.

The Benton Museum remains true to President Beach's vision by providing the academic community, the citizens of the State of Connecticut and the general public with diverse and widely acclaimed exhibitions, lectures, recitals, and readings. The Museum has an exceptionally fine collection of more than 5,500 works including paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, photographs, and sculptures.

The future is bright for the Benton with the new addition including the Evelyn Simon Gilman Gallery, new and refurbished galleries and lecture areas, an elegant Members Lounge, Café Muse, and The Store. This expansion serves to enhance the Benton's reputation as a museum of significance, a vital part of the University environment, and an important art venue in the Northeast.

WILLIAM BENTON: A Profile
William Burnett Benton was born in Minneapolis on April 1, 1900. Following his graduation from Yale University in 1921, he began an illustrious career in advertising, working in New York City and Chicago and in 1929 forming Benton and Bowles with Chester Bowles. Within six years, the agency was the sixth-largest advertising firm in the world. In 1936, the restless Benton sold his share in the agency to his partners for over $1,000,000, and he left to become Vice President of the University of Chicago. In 1941 he purchased the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

William Benton became U.S. Assistant Secretary of State in 1945 and took charge of the overseas information programs. During his time in office, he was involved in the development of UNESCO and the Fulbright Scholarship Act.

In 1949 William Benton was elected to the Senate and the following year he became the first Democrat to support Dean Acheson against attacks from Joe McCarthy. Over the next year, Benton became one of the Senate's leaders against McCarthyism. In 1951 Benton introduced a Senate resolution calling for the expulsion of Joe McCarthy, claiming that he had lied and "practiced deception" with his assertions that he had a list of communists working for the State Department. Joe McCarthy retaliated by accusing Benton of purchasing and displaying "lewd works of art" while in the State Department. As well as employing known communists, Benton was accused of anti-American behavior by having the Encyclopaedia Britannica printed in England rather than in the United States. According to McCarthy, Benton was the "hero of every communist and crook in and out of Government."

In 1951, as Benton came up for re-election, McCarthy continued his smear campaign against Benton accusing him of hiring "communists, fellow travellers, or dupes of the Kremlin" and using government money to send "lewd and licentious" materials abroad through the U.S. information program. Benton lost the election and retired from politics.

William Benton spent his final years working in the book business, publishing the 54 volume Great Books of the Western World and encyclopedias in French, Spanish and Japanese. In 1964, he bought the Merriam Company, which published the line of Webster's dictionaries. He worked on the 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, an editorial project estimated to have cost $32,000,000, the largest single private investment in publishing history.

In 1972, the Art Museum at the University officially became The William Benton Museum of Art to honor the former United States Senator from Connecticut and University of Connecticut Trustee. Shortly after the honor was bestowed, Senator Benton passed away but not before giving the Museum a selection of theater drawings from his large collection of works by Reginald Marsh. Through the generosity of the Senator's family and the artist's wife, the Benton Museum now possesses one of the most complete collections of Reginald Marsh's work on paper. William Benton died in New York on March 18, 1973.

Sources: The Lives of William Benton by Sidney Hyman, The University of Chicago Press, 1969, and spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk.