Lawrason Riggs

Lawrason Riggs(1861-1940) was a Baltimore buisnessman, civic leader, and collector of prints.

Lawrason Riggs was born on October 17, 1861 in New York to Lawrason Riggs and his third wife Mary "Bright" Turpin Riggs as the eldest of ten children. When Riggs was six years old, the family relocated to Maryland where they had ties dating back to the seventeenth century. In 1883, Lawrason Riggs received his bachelor's of arts degree from Princeton University and in 1886 obtained a law degree from the University of Maryland. Riggs also completed post-graduate work in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University. Although Lawrason Riggs was trained as an attorney, he never practised law. He served as the director of the First National Bank, Mercantile Trust Company, National Mechanic's Bank, and American Bonding Company.[2] Riggs died on November 22, 1940, and was buried in Green Mount Cemetery.

Lawrason Riggs participated in civic affairs in a number of capacities. He joined the Fifth Regiment of the Maryland National Guard in which he was rapidly promoted to the position of Brigadier General due to his leadership in the Great Baltimore Fire in 1904.[4] Lawrason Riggs was a dedicated member of the Maryland Historical Society, served as president of the Board of Trustees of the Maryland Training School for Boys, was part of the School Board and Family Welfare Association, presided over a three-man Police Board, and chaired The Municipal Affairs Committee of the Baltimore Association of Commerce. Riggs, who had a close family connection to George Peabody, was a member of the inaugual Board of Trustees of the Peabody Institute on which he served for forty-three years.[5] He was a founding member of the Baltimore Museum of Art(BMA) for which he advocated for a municipal museum in the City-Wide Congress Commitee (1911-1914), acted as one of the eight incorporators in 1914, and served on the first Board of Trustees. Riggs was instrumenal in finding a permanent location for the BMA and bought the Carroll-Thomas mansion at 101 West Monument Street in 1925 that served as the museum until the present building designed by John Russell Pope was completed in 1929.[6] Throughout the 1930s, Riggs contributed to funds to pay the salary of the museum director and helped sponsor exhibitions. He often promoted the museum by lending pieces from his own collection to exhibits.

Lawrason Riggs was an avid collector of chinese porcelin and prints. His print colllection, which included prints from the late fifteenth through twentieth centuries, was given to the Baltimore Museum of Art as a permanent loan by two of Riggs's brothers in 1941 and was formally accession by the institution in 1943.[8] The two most-represented artists in the collection are Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrason_Riggs