John Butler Talcott (September 14, 1824 - February 21, 1905) was a

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol ...

industrialist and philanthropist who founded the

New Britain Museum of American Art The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art. A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 20 ...

, the oldest museum dedicated solely to American art.

Education and early career

Born in

Enfield, Connecticut Enfield is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, first settled by John and Robert Pease of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. ...

, John Butler Talcott was a descendant of

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational church, Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was know ...

one of the founders of the state of Connecticut. He attended Hartford Public High School with

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...

and was afterwards educated at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

where he graduated in 1846. He received a law degree but never practiced due to illness. Instead, he became a tutor at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

and then Yale. By 1851, Talcott had moved to New Britain, a center for manufacturing. There he was introduced to the business of mass-producing clothing hardware such as hooks and eyes used in undergarments and knit goods through Seth J. North. North was the founder of North & Judd, one of New Britain's oldest hardware companies as well as the New Britain Knitting Company, and the father of one of Talcott's classmates at Yale. The large textile concern had been created in 1848. The two became partners. Talcott eventually became the treasurer, manager and finally president of NBK Co. Talcott formed a business with Yale classmate Frederick H. North and Seth North's grandson, Oliver Stanley; their venture called North & Stanley would grow and produce military uniforms during the Civil War. North & Stanley shared premises with another hardware company called P. & F. Corbin and Talcott became a charter director of that entity as well. John's brother James Talcott, and several other New Britain figures helped make the New Britain Knitting Company flourish. The two Talcotts subsequently formed the American Hosiery Company in 1868 with locations in New Britain and New York City. Both companies became well known for making shirts, fine hosiery and underwear. Having also served as the secretary and treasurer of American Hosiery, Talcott became president of the company in 1885. In 1904, Talcott led American Hosiery to win a Silver Medal at the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 mill ...

for its fine products. Wool for these items was imported from Australia, a first for any US knit goods manufacturer.

Politics

Talcott had several civic roles including his service on New Britain's city council, a term as alderman, and finally as the 5th mayor of

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

serving for two terms.

Philanthropy

Talcott was one of the original individuals who incorporated the New Britain Institute in 1858. The institute was a library and civic venture intended to benefit the public including many of the workmen of the industrial city that might not otherwise have access to books and reading opportunities. In addition to serving on its building and finance committees, he served as its president without interruption from 1882 until his death. While president, he made a pivotal gift for the acquisition of art. He created the Talcott Art Fund in 1903 with a donation of $20,000 in gold bonds to the New Britain Art Institute, followed by another gift of $5000. The donations were made for the specific purchase of "original modern oil paintings either by native or foreign artists ... in the departments of art known as figure, landscape and genre subjects". Three years after his death, income from the fund had become sufficiently large to make a first purchase. By 1938, 24 oil paintings had been bought including works by

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. Early on, the paintings typically depicted the Hudson River Valley and the sur ...

landscape painter

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River Schoo ...

. The Institute later became the

which still exists today.

Personal life

Talcott's first wife was Jane Crosswell Goodwin and they had 4 children. His second wife was Fannie Hall Hazen and they had 2 daughters; one them, Helen Hooker Talcott, married into the Stanley family of

Stanley Black & Decker Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a ''Fortune'' 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware, and a provider of security products. Headquartered in the Greater Hartford city of Ne ...

tool production fame, and she also became a benefactor of the New Britain Museum. Talcott's nephew was tonalist artist Allen Butler Talcott, a founding member of the Old Lyme art colony. Following his death and the settlement of his estate, his shares of New Britain Knitting had no value.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talcott, John Butler 1824 births 1905 deaths People from Enfield, Connecticut American industrialists Museum founders Mayors of New Britain, Connecticut Yale University alumni People from New Britain, Connecticut 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century mayors of places in Connecticut