Henry Lee Higginson, 1834-1919
Nationality: American
Date of Birth: 18 November 1834
Place of Birth: New York City
Identity:
Henry Lee Higginson was a prominent Boston banker, philanthropist and print collector. The son of George and Mary (Cabot Lee) Higginson and the cousin of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, he married Ida Agassiz.
Life:
Higginson attended Harvard in 1851 but left the following year because of poor eyesight. In 1856 he travelled to Vienna to work as a musician, returning to Boston in 1860. He attained the rank of major in the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1868 he joined the family banking firm of Lee, Higginson and Co. His circle of friends included Charles Russell Lowell, James Savage, Stephen Perkins, Robert Gould Shaw, James Jackson Lowell and Dr Edward Dalton. He was the principal figure and chief benefactor behind the creation of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1881. In 1891 he established the Morristown School for young men in New Jersey. His gifts to Harvard include Soldiers Field and the Harvard Union. His private correspondence pertaining to his social, political, philanthropic and cultural activities is held at Harvard Business School.
Among the Whistler etchings in Higginson's collection were K0400328, K0470821, K1780413, K1840504.
Bibliography:
Bliss, Perry, Life and Letters of Henry Lee Higginson, Kessinger, Montana, 2005; http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01326 (accessed September 2009); http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6732/hlh.html (accessed September 2009).