Lindsay Hughes Cooper Papers

Ruth Lindsay Hughes was born in Bevier, Missouri, on September 8, 1908, and she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1931. She developed an interest in art from courses taken in college, and, two years later, she secured a position at the soon to be opened Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. She was initially hired to perform such tasks as sewing, dusting, and polishing; however, her industriousness and intelligence eventually convinced Paul Gardner to let her also write guide books to some of the rooms, give lectures, write plays for children’s classes, and develop a radio program to dramatize the collection. Later, when Laurence Sickman was hired as the Curator of Asian Art, Lindsay became his assistant. When Sickman was drafted into the Army during World War II, she took over as Acting Curator of Asian Art. Hughes resigned from her position at the museum in 1946, due to her impending marriage to Frank Cooper. They then moved to New York where she took a job with the Asian art dealer, C. T. Loo, whom she had become acquainted with through his connection with the museum. Due to Frank Cooper’s business interests, the couple later moved to Laguna Beach, California, where they lived (except for a short stint in Iran where Lindsay taught English as a second language), until they returned to Kansas City in 1970. Once back in Kansas City, Lindsay resumed her association with the museum as Sickman’s assistant. She remained in this position for five years, until Sickman retired in 1977. Lindsay Hughes Cooper died on November 16, 1997, at the age of 89.