# Branford Portraits

**Source**: https://branford.yale.edu/about/branford-portraits
**Parent**: https://branford.yale.edu/

Branford has its very own art museum, right inside the Dining Hall. You see these portraits every day. Do you know about the artists who painted them? Do you know about the subject of the portraits?

## About our paintings

### **Joshua Huntington (1786-1819)**

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Portrait: Unidentified American artist. Gift of Mrs. G. A. Strong\
Title: US Clergyman - Pastor of the Old South Church, Boston and Philanthropist. B.A. 1804\
Yale Tie: No

Bio:\
Joshua  Huntington was the son of [Jedidiah Huntington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedidiah_Huntington "Jedidiah Huntington"), a general in the [Continental Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Army "Continental Army") during the [American Revolutionary War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War "American Revolutionary War"). He graduated from [Yale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University "Yale University") in 1804. He was licensed to preach by the [New London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London,_Connecticut "New London, Connecticut") Association in September 1806 and ordained pastor of the [Old South Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Church "Old South Church") (then at the one [Old South Meeting House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Meeting_House "Old South Meeting House")), [Boston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston "Boston"), 8 May 1808, which charge he held until his death. He was one of the founders of the American Educational Society in 1815, and was president of the Boston Society for the Religious and Moral Instruction of the Poor, which was founded in 1816. He was the author of *Life of Abigail Waters* (1817).

His wife, Susan Mansfield Huntington (born 27 January 1791; died 1823), wrote a story entitled “Little Lucy.” Her memoirs, with her letters, journal, and poetry, were published by Benjamin B. Wisner.

### **Nathaniel William Taylor (1786-1858)**

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Portrait: Rebecca Taylor Porter, after Alexander Hamilton Emmons. Gift of the artist\
Title: Dwight Professor of Didactic Theology. Pastor of the First Church of New Haven. B.A. 1807, M.A. 1810\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Nathaniel William Taylor was an influential [Protestant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant "Protestant") Theologian of the early 19th century, whose major contribution to the Christian faith (and to American religious history), known as the [**New Haven Theology**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_theology "New Haven theology") or **Taylorism** was to line up historical [Calvinism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism "Calvinism") with the religious [revivalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revivalism "Revivalism") of the time ([The Second Great Awakening](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening "Second Great Awakening")). A graduate of [Yale College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_College "Yale College"), he returned to found the school’s first independent division, the Theological Department, an institution which later became the [Yale Divinity School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_Divinity_School "Yale Divinity School"). Taylor entered [Yale College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University "Yale University") when only 14 (1800) but could not graduate until 1807 because of an eye problem. While studying there, Taylor was heavily influenced by the revivalist president of Yale, [Timothy Dwight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dwight_IV "Timothy Dwight IV") (grandson of [Jonathan Edwards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(theology) "Jonathan Edwards (theology)")). In the years after his graduation, Taylor studied [theology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology "Theology"), worked as Dwight’s secretary, and, after [ordination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination "Ordination"), became the minister of the First Church of [New Haven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven "New Haven") in 1812.

### **Chauncey Allen Goodrich (1790-1860)**

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Portrait: Nathaniel Jocelyn, 1830. Gift of the Class of 1827.\
Title: Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Charge. B.A. 1810, M.A. 1813\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Chauncey Allen Goodrich graduated from [Yale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University "Yale University") in 1810, served as tutor there in 1812-1814, and afterward studied theology. He settled in [Middletown, Connecticut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middletown,_Connecticut "Middletown, Connecticut"), in 1810 as pastor of the [Congregational church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregational_church "Congregational church") there, but feeble health obliged him to leave in 1817. In 1820 he was chosen president of [Williams College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_College "Williams College"), but declined the office. He was professor of rhetoric and oratory in Yale from 1817 until 1839 when he was transferred to the chair of pastoral theology in that institution, which chair he held till his death.

Dr. Goodrich exerted a wide influence, and co-operated with many learned societies. As a teacher he inspired his pupils to the highest effort. He was a liberal benefactor of the [Yale Divinity School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_Divinity_School "Yale Divinity School"). The degree of [D.D.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.D. "D.D.") was conferred on him by [Brown University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_University "Brown University") in 1835. Dr. Goodrich made numerous contributions to periodical literature, and in 1829 established the *Christian Quarterly Spectator*, with which he was connected nearly ten years, being its sole editor after 1830. While a tutor at Yale, Dr. Goodrich published a [Greek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greek_language "Classical Greek language") grammar (1814) based on the grammar by [C.F. Hachenberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Friedrich_Hachenberg "Caspar Friedrich Hachenberg"), and in 1830, at the request of President [Timothy Dwight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dwight_IV "Timothy Dwight IV"), he prepared a text book, *Greek and Latin Lessons* (1832), which was extensively used in [New England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England "New England").

### **Norman Sydney Buck (1892-1964)**

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Portrait: Deane Keller, 1956.  Gift of the Class of 1933\
Title: Second Master of BR College, Provost, Professor of Economics and Dean of Freshman Year. B.A. 1913, Ph.D. 1922, LL.D. 1962\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Norman S. Buck ’13, ’22PhD (1892–1964), was a professor of economics at Yale and a provost of the university, but he was best known to many undergraduates as the second master of Branford College from 1942 to 1959. His wife, Polly Stone Buck (1901–2003), served alongside him in Branford and later wrote a memoir about those years titled *The Master’s Wife.* “I know of no one more devoted to Yale,” writes Richard Hiers ’54 of Mrs. Buck.

### **Steven B. Smith (1951-present)**

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Portrait: Stephen DiGiovanni. Bequest of the subject.\
Title: Ninth Master of BR College, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science. B.A. 1973, Ph.D. 1981\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Steven B. Smith received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has taught at Yale since 1984 and is the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in Political Science, Director of the Special Program in the Humanities, and Acting Chair of Judaic Studies and from 1996-2011 served as the Master of Branford College. His research has focused on the history of political philosophy with special attention to the problem of the ancients and moderns, the relation of religion and politics, and theories of representative government. His best known publications include *Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism* (1989), *Spinoza, Liberalism, and Jewish Identity* (1997), *Spinoza’s Book of Life* (2003), *Reading Leo Strauss* (2006), and *The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss* (2009) and *Political Philosophy* (2012).  His new book *Modernity and its Discontents* will be published next year by Yale University Press. 

### **Edward Stephen Harkness (1874-1940)**

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Portrait: Frank O. Salisbury, 1933.  Gift of a group of alumni\
Title: New York Philanthropist; one of Yale’s greatest benefactors. B.A. 1897, M.A.(hon.) 1925\
Yale Tie: No

Bio:\
Between 1926 and 1930, Edward Stephen Harkness made major donations to Yale and Harvard to establish the [residential college systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_college "Residential college") at each school. Harkness admired the [colleges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiate_university "Collegiate university") of Oxford and Cambridge in England and proposed to [Yale President](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_Yale_University "List of Presidents of Yale University") [James Rowland Angell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rowland_Angell "James Rowland Angell") that he would fund a similar system for Yale’s [undergraduate college](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_College "Yale College") to relieve overcrowding and improve social intimacy. When the [Yale Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_Corporation "Yale Corporation") failed to accept Harkness’ offer by 1928, Harkness went to Harvard with a similar offer. Harvard’s president, [Abbott Lawrence Lowell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_Lawrence_Lowell "Abbott Lawrence Lowell"), quickly acceded, and eight houses for [Harvard College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_College "Harvard College") were completed by 1931 with a $10 million gift from Harkness. Dismayed, Yale administrators appealed to Harkness to reconsider his offer, and in 1930 he agreed to give Yale $11 million for nine [residential colleges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_colleges_of_Yale_University "Residential colleges of Yale University") of its own. Harkness persuaded Yale to retain his friend [James Gamble Rogers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gamble_Rogers "James Gamble Rogers") as the colleges’ architect. He also made gifts that established the [Yale School of Drama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_School_of_Drama "Yale School of Drama"), the first independent drama faculty in the country, and erected its theatre.

### **Phyllis Curtin (1921-2016)**

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Portrait: Frank Bruckmann, 2017.  Gift of Branford Fellows and Branford College\
Title:  American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. Curtin also served as Master (now Head of College) of Branford College from 1979 to 1983. Curtin was the first female Master of Branford College. B.A. 1942\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Born Phyllis Smith in [Clarksburg, West Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarksburg,_West_Virginia "Clarksburg, West Virginia"), Curtin studied singing with [Olga Averino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Averino "Olga Averino") at [Wellesley College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley_College "Wellesley College") where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. She pursued graduate studies in vocal performance under [Boris Goldovsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Goldovsky "Boris Goldovsky") at the [New England Conservatory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Conservatory "New England Conservatory"). In 1946 she made her professional opera debut with Goldovsky’s opera company, the [New England Opera Theater](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Opera_Theater "New England Opera Theater"), as Tatyana in [Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky")’s [*Eugene Onegin*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Onegin_(opera) "Eugene Onegin (opera)")*.* She took the surname Curtin from her first husband, whom she divorced after nine years. 

Curtin taught voice at the Yale School of Music, overseeing the opera program and was Artistic Advisor at the Opera Institute at the [Boston University College of Fine Arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University_College_of_Fine_Arts "Boston University College of Fine Arts") School of Music, where she held a Deanship of the Schools for the Arts, as well as Artist-in-Residence at the [Tanglewood Music Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanglewood_Music_Center "Tanglewood Music Center"). As Professor Emerita at Boston University’s Opera Institute, Curtin taught a series of masterclasses at the school each semester.

### **Thomas Anthony Thacher (1815-1886)**

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Portrait: William Anderson Coffin, 1891.  Anonymous gift.\
Title:  Professor of Latin Language and literature. B.A. 1913, Ph. D. 1922, LLD. 1962\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Thomas Anthony Thacher took the position of tutor at Yale College on Dec. 1, 1838.  He was appointed assistant professor of Latin and Greek in 1842 and one year later the title was restricted to Latin and he was given a year’s leave of absence for study in Europe. This year was eventually extended to two years and from 1843 to 1845 he studied in Germany and Italy. Six years after his return to Yale he was made professor of Latin. He was on the committee for building the Yale Art School, serving with President [Noah Porter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Porter "Noah Porter") and Professor [Daniel Coit Gilman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Coit_Gilman "Daniel Coit Gilman") . Thacher was identified with Yale College more closely than any of his contemporaries. President [Timothy Dwight V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dwight_V "Timothy Dwight V") said of him, *“His influence with the Faculty and the Corporation equaled or even surpassed that of any other College officer.”* This extraordinary position was due not primarily to his scholarship, although he had the reputation of being a sound and thorough scholar, but to his keen interest and constant activity in the management of college affairs both faculty and undergraduate. Before the day of deans, Thacher did much of the work which a dean would perform today. He was known as one of the best disciplinarians that the college ever had and yet he retained the devotion and affection of undergraduates to an extraordinary degree. As an undergraduate he had been *“exuberant in spirit,”* and one who was a student under him in Yale writes of *“Tutor Thacher, the florid and fiery, of perpetual youth and enthusiasm.”*

### **David W. Wallace (1924-present)**

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Portrait: Gerald P. York, 2000.  B.A. 1981\
Title:  Donor, Alum of BR College – 1948 graduate of Yale Faculty of Engineers.  B.S. 1948\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
David W. Wallace has been an important donor to his alma mater. Just prior to his 50th reunion, he and Jean gave a $9 million gift for the renovation of Branford College, whose Gothic-style York Street wing is now called Wallace Hall. In all, the Wallaces have donated over $30 million to Yale. According to David Wallace, a 1948 graduate of Yale’s Faculty of Engineering, the couple’s gifts to the medical school are driven by gratitude for the medical progress they have witnessed in their lifetimes coupled with a recognition that continuing such advances will require substantial funding. “To have medical progress, you have to feed it money. It’s the nature of the beast. Running labs, doing surveys, it’s all expensive,” Wallace says. “But I think we’re at a point in medicine where we’re making leaps and bounds. In 1900 the life expectancy was about 50 years, but I had a friend die recently at 115! The quality of life has been improved by progress in medicine, and the length of life has been extended.” Wallace resided in Branford College during his undergraduate career at Yale, which was interrupted by World War II. He served as an officer in the 1st Infantry Division and was awarded the Purple Heart.

### **Lewis B. Cullman (1919 -present)**

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Portrait: Gerald P. York, 2000.  B.A. 1981\
Title:  Philanthropist, Owner of Orkin Exterminator Corp.  B.A. 1941\
Yale Tie: No

Bio:\
Lewis B. Cullman — to quote former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite — “is one of this nation’s major and most generous philanthropists” — one who helped usher in a new era in U.S. financial history. It was in 1964 when Cullman and a colleague engineered the very first leveraged buyout (LBO) — with $1,000 cash, they bought Orkin Exterminating Company for $62.4 million. And a subsequent succession of deals resulted in his purchase of Keith Clark, a desk calendar company, that evolved into At-A-Glance®, the largest manufacturer of calendars and appointment books in the US. Once Lewis Cullman sold the company, he embarked on the next, and most rewarding, journey of his life — philanthropy. To date, he has given away over nearly $500 million to the arts, sciences and education. And, almost without exception, he supported organizations with which he and his wife Dorothy wanted to get involved.

### **George Lincoln Hendrickson (1865-1963)**

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Portrait: Deane Keller, 1960.  Gift of Norman Donaldson, Storer Lunt, Stephen Philbin and other friends in celebration of subject’s 95th birthday.\
Title:  Lampson Professor of Latin and Greek Literature, Chairman of the Department of Classics, and a Resident Fellow of BR College for nearly 30 years.  M.A. (hon.) 1908, litt.D. 1953\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
George Lincoln Hendrickson was born on May 15, 1865, in Winchester, Illinois. He was a classicist, philologist, and educator. He died on December 18, 1963, at the age of ninety-eight. Hendrickson attended Johns Hopkins University (B.A. 1887) and studied at Bonn and Berlin. He was a professor of classics, specializing in Latin, at several institutions. His longest service was at Yale University, as professor (1908-1933), chairman of the Department of Classics (1912-1919, 1925-1933), lecturer (1933-1938), and professor emeritus (1933-1963). Hendrickson married Marion Vaux in 1897.

### **William Lyon Phelps (1865-1943)**

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Portrait: Jere Raymond Wickwire, 1926. Bequest of the subject.\
Title:  Lampson Professor of English Literature, author and lecturer. B.A. 1887, Ph.D. 1891, LL.D. 1934\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
William Lyon Phelps was an American author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American University course on the modern novel. He was a well-known speaker who drew large crowds. He had a radio show, wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, lectured frequently, and published numerous popular books and articles. Phelps earned a B.A. in 1887, writing an honors thesis on the *Idealism of* [*George Berkeley*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley "George Berkeley"). He earned his Ph.D.in 1891 from [Yale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale "Yale") and in the same year his A.M. from [Harvard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University "Harvard University"). He taught at Harvard for a year, and then returned to Yale where he was offered a position in the English department. He taught at Yale until his retirement in 1933. During his first year at Yale he offered a course in modern novels. This brought the university considerable attention nationally and internationally which upset his [tenured](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenure "Tenure") peers at Yale. He agreed to give up the course for a while to avoid the media attention. Responding to popular demand by his students, and to avoid scrutiny, he taught the same course outside the official curriculum. Once the unfavorable attention died down, he was appointed Lampson Professor of English Literature in 1901. Phelps’ courses became the most popular and well attended on campus. He had an engaging speaking style and was personally involved with what he taught. He wrote about English and European literature. During trips to Europe he met many of the leading writers of the turn of the 19th century.

Phelps taught at Yale for 41 years before retiring in 1933. From 1941 to 1943 he was the director of the [Hall of Fame for Great Americans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Fame_for_Great_Americans "Hall of Fame for Great Americans").

### **Charles William Harkness (1860-1916)**

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Portrait: Albert Herter. Gift of his brother, Edward S. Harkness.\
Title:  Lawyer and Industrialist in New York, generous benefactor of Yale. B.A. 1883\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Charles William Harkness was born in [Monroeville, Ohio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroeville,_Ohio "Monroeville, Ohio"), and his early education was in [Cleveland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland,_Ohio "Cleveland, Ohio") at The Brooks Military Academy. He earned a [B.A.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts "Bachelor of Arts") from [Yale College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University "Yale University") with the Class of 1883. Harkness, his cousin [William L. Harkness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Harkness "William L. Harkness") (Yale Class of 1881), and others help found [Wolf’s Head Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf%27s_Head_(secret_society) "Wolf's Head (secret society)"), known originally as *The Third Society*, at Yale in 1883. Harkness married Miss Mary Warden on May 27, 1896 in Philadelphia, PA. Mary was the daughter of William G. Warden who was an early [Standard Oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil "Standard Oil") partner and thus kept the [Standard Oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil "Standard Oil") fortune “in the family”. While at Yale, he was described as “care-free, happy, irresponsible as the rest of us.”

 On his father’s death in 1888, Charles inherited stock in [Standard Oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil "Standard Oil") amounting to the second largest holding in the company, surpassed only by that of the [Rockefeller family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_family "Rockefeller family") Harkness became a director at [Standard Oil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil "Standard Oil") and was a director of the Southern Pacific Railway Company, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Tilden Iron Mining Company, and managed his father’s immense holdings. [Harkness Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harkness_Tower "Harkness Tower") at Yale is named after Charles W. Harkness because his mother, Anna Harkness, provided a $3,000,000 donation to build the [Memorial Quadrangle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Quadrangle "Memorial Quadrangle") of dormitories in his memory. Harkness tower contains the [Yale Memorial Carillon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_Memorial_Carillon "Yale Memorial Carillon"), a [carillon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillon "Carillon") of 54 bells, the largest of which is inscribed “In Memory of Charles W. Harkness, Class of 1883, Yale College.

### **Elizabeth H. Bradley (1962-present)**

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Portrait: Frank Bruckman, 2018. Gift of Branford Fellows\
Title:  Tenth Head of Branford College. B.A. 1984, MBA 2986, Ph.D. 1996\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Elizabeth H. Bradley graduated from Harvard, earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in health economics from Yale University. She was named the 11th President of Vassar College in July 2017. Prior to this position, she was on the faculty at Yale for twenty years, and was most recently the Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. She served as the Head of Branford College from 2011-2017.  She is known internationally for her work on quality of hospice care and large-scale health system strengthening efforts within the US and abroad including in China, India, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom. Bradley has published nearly 320 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including *The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less*. She is the 2018 recipient of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, the highest distinction that researchers in the health services field can achieve. Bradley was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.

### **Abel McEwen (1780-1860)**

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Portrait: Unknown\
Title:  Pastor of the First Church in New London, CT and Fellow of Yale Corporation. B.A. 1804. M.A. 1807\
Yale Tie: Yes

Bio:\
Reverend Abel McEwen was voted by the society to the Pastoral Office on July, 14th 1806.  He accepted the invitation, and was ordained on October 22, 1806 – sermon by Rev. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College.  Dwight’s psalms and hymns were introduced, and a new form of church covenant was adopted, expressing the doctrines regarded as orthodox, with distinctness and perspicuity.

Reverend Abel McEwen, D.D., is a native of Winchester, CT.  He graduated from Yale College in 1804, and had been Socii of that institution since 1826.  At the close of this history in 1852, he had nearly completed the forty-sixth year of his ministry. Number of members in his church were about two hundred and fifty.