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Hassam, Speicher, Betts, and Symons Purchase Fund

The American Impressionist painter, Childe Hassam (1859-1935), a founding member of the Institute, bequeathed over 400 paintings, watercolors, pastels, lithographs, and etchings, with the request that the accumulated income from their sale be used to purchase works by living American painters for donation to museums in the United States. Similar bequests were received from other members or their estates: Eugene Speicher (1883-1962), Louis Betts (1873-1961), and Gardner Symons (1861-1930). Through this program, the Academy has donated over 1,100 works of art to museums in all fifty states.

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