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Samuel Henry Kress

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Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian Renaissance and European artwork assembled in the 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, a foundation established by Kress would donate 776 works of art from the Kress collection to 18 regional art museums in the United States.

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21-531: Kress was born in Cherryville, Pennsylvania , near Allentown , the second of seven children born to John Franklin Kress and Margaret Dodson (née Conner) Kress. His father was a retail merchant. His siblings were Mary Conner Kress, Jennie Weston Kress, Palmer John Kress, Claude Washington Kress, and Rush Harrison Kress. Another sibling, Elmer Kress, died ten days after birth. Kress never married or had children. He

42-653: A collection of paintings and sculpture, primarily of the Italian Renaissance school. In 1929 he gave the Italian government a large sum for the restoration of a number of architectural treasures in Italy. Beginning in the 1930s Kress decided to give much of his art collection to museums across the country while he was still alive. Many paintings were donated to the same smaller cities that had brought him his fortune with their stores. In several cases, his gifts became

63-527: A dozen other brewing scions and their families. The Woodlawn Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) associated with Woodlawn Cemetery. It began as the Friends of Woodlawn in 1999. It enhances the mission of Woodlawn through fundraising, educational opportunities and outreach with other non-profits. In 2021, over 40 stones were conserved in a joint effort between the Woodlawn Conservancy, the Friends of

84-532: A familiar sight in many cities and towns of the United States. The Kress chain was known for the fine architecture of the stores, with a number of locations being hailed by architects for their design. A number of former Kress stores, now put to other uses, are ranked as landmarks. Some of the most well-known Kress locations included New York City 's Fifth Avenue; Canal Street, New Orleans ; and Hollywood 's Hollywood Boulevard . In 1964 ownership of Kress

105-571: A family mausoleum. Woodlawn was the destination for many human remains disinterred from cemeteries in more densely populated parts of New York City: The fictional cemetery of the Synagogue in Brooklyn in the film Once Upon a Time in America is actually located here, renamed "Riverdale Cemetery". Numerous notable persons have been interred at Woodlawn Cemetery including: Chief Justice of

126-562: A stationery and notions store in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania . As the business prospered, he used his profits to open additional stores, naming his chain S. H. Kress & Co. These eventually became popularly known as the Kress Five and Dime stores. Unlike many businessmen of his day who only opened their stores in large urban areas, Kress wisely located his stores in smaller cities in 29 states he felt had growth potential. These stores became

147-533: Is a census-designated place in Lehigh Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania , United States. Its population was 1,618 as of the 2020 U.S. census . The village is located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Walnutport , 12.5 miles (20.1 km) north of Allentown and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) northwest of Northampton . It is situated along Pennsylvania Route 248 , between

168-572: The Rolfing body therapy and noted female biochemist Ida Rolf ; and, businessmen such as shipping magnate Archibald Gracie , cosmetics manufacturer Richard Hudnut , America's first self-made millionaire woman Madam C. J. Walker , department store founder Rowland Hussey Macy , and variety store mogul F. W. Woolworth . A large number of New York brewers (e.g., the Haffens of Haffen Brewing Company ) are interred there on "Brewer's Row", along with

189-495: The Royal Canadian Air Force of World War II . In 2011, Woodlawn Cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark , since it shows the transition from the rural cemetery popular at the time of its establishment to the more orderly 20th-century cemetery style. As of 2007, plot prices at Woodlawn were reported as $ 200 per square foot, $ 4,800 for a gravesite for two, and up to $ 1.5 million for land to build

210-596: The Kress Foundation has dispensed millions of dollars to worthy organizations and institutions in the years since. The Kress Collection of Historic Images at the National Gallery of Art—more than 18,300 scans of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and decorative arts purchased or once considered for purchase by Samuel H. Kress and the foundation he established in 1929—has been digitized, making these significant holdings more accessible to researchers around

231-864: The United States Charles Evans Hughes ; influential New York urban planner and builder Robert Moses ; actress Cicely Tyson , aviation pioneer Harriet Quimby , performer, playwright and producer George M. Cohan ; gangster Bumpy Johnson ; authors Nellie Bly , Countee Cullen , Clarence Day , Damon Runyon , E.L. Doctorow , Herman Melville , and Dorothy Parker ; musicians Irving Berlin , Miles Davis , Felix Pappalardi , Duke Ellington , W. C. Handy , Fritz Kreisler , Pigmeat Markham , King Oliver , and Max Roach ; singers Celia Cruz and Florence Mills ; Film director Otto Preminger ; husband and wife magicians Alexander Herrmann and Adelaide Herrmann ; sportswriter Grantland Rice ; gunfighter and US marshal Bat Masterson ; developer of

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252-690: The backs of the photographs. Photographs of Samuel Kress’s apartment in New York show 282 magnificent objects as they were arranged before their dispersal. Art historians, conservators, and students have used these images to enhance their understanding of these objects. The photographs can illuminate aspects of the works of art that we can no longer see. For instance, conservators routinely study these images in order to anticipate remnants of earlier damage or restorations. Art historians may compare high resolution details to other known works by an artist to assist in attribution questions. Students may better understand

273-902: The character of a rural cemetery . Woodlawn Cemetery opened during the Civil War in 1863, in what was then Yonkers , in an area that was annexed to New York City in 1874. It is notable in part as the final resting place of some well-known figures. The Cemetery covers more than 400 acres (160 ha) and is the resting place for more than 300,000 people. Built on rolling hills, its tree-lined roads lead to some unique memorials, some designed by famous American architects: McKim, Mead & White , John Russell Pope , James Gamble Rogers , Cass Gilbert , Carrère and Hastings , Sir Edwin Lutyens , Beatrix Jones Farrand , and John La Farge . The cemetery contains seven Commonwealth war graves – six British and Canadian servicemen of World War I and an airman of

294-483: The founding basis for museums in those areas which otherwise could never have afforded artworks of such importance and quality. On March 17, 1941, Kress and Paul Mellon gave large gifts of art to the people of the United States, thereby establishing the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the gift personally. Today, the masterpieces Kress donated are considered priceless and

315-646: The jewel of many of these cities, which only had a dry goods or general store until then. By the mid-1920s, he was living in a penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue in New York City , across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art , which he visited and contributed to regularly. S. H. Kress & Co., a chain of " five and dime " retail department stores , was started in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania , by Samuel H. Kress in 1896. Eventually expanding to over 200 locations nationwide, Kress stores were long

336-491: The villages of Indianland and Pennsville. The ZIP Code is 18035. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census. The village was founded around 1804, making it one of the township's earliest settlements. The name Cherryville is believed to have been taken from a road called Cherry Row Lane which

357-509: The world through the Gallery’s department of image collections. Kress donated most of these objects to 90 museums, colleges, and other institutions in 33 states, with the greater number of these gifts coming to the National Gallery of Art. Images from this collection document works of art in various states of conservation, as well as some x-ray, infrared, and ultraviolet images. In a few cases, the files include scans of comments by scholars written on

378-579: The “life” of a work of art by seeing changes over time, illustrated through a variety of reproductive processes. The Kress Collection of Historic Images project was made possible by two generous grants by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Kress died on September 22, 1955, and is interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx , New York City. Cherryville, Pennsylvania Cherryville

399-511: Was a Mason . Young Kress attended schools in Slatington, Pennsylvania . Kress worked for a while in the stone quarries . He earned his teaching credentials by age 17 and began work as a schoolteacher in Emerald, Pennsylvania . His first position was instructor for a class of 80 students, and he was paid $ 25 per month. He walked 3 miles each way to the schoolhouse. In 1887, Kress opened

420-423: Was acquired by Genesco , Inc. The company abandoned its center-city stores and moved to the shopping malls. Genesco began liquidating Kress and closing down the Kress stores in 1980. Kress was founder and president of the eponymous Samuel H. Kress Foundation. An avid art lover, he acquired, through art dealers Alesandro Contini-Bonacossi and Joseph Duveen , often with the advice of art historian William Suida ,

441-443: Was bordered by 100 cherry trees. A post office was established here in 1816. By the 1870s, the village included 25 houses, two carriage shops, two blacksmith shops, a wheel shop, a tailor, and four stores. Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and a designated National Historic Landmark . Located south of Woodlawn Heights, Bronx , New York City, it has

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