Charles H. Sawyer
Charles (Charlie) H. Sawyer, former director of the U-M Museum of Art (UMMA), died Feb. 25 after a brief illness.
He was born Oct. 20, 1906, in Andover, Mass., to James Cowan Sawyer and Mary Pepperrell Frost Sawyer.
Sawyer attended Phillips Academy, Andover, and then Yale University, where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1929. He went on to Harvard University, intending to become a lawyer, but a museum class with legendary teacher and museum director Paul Sachs took Sawyer in a new direction. During that year, he was invited to become the first curator of the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, where he began a life-long career as an art museum administrator and art historian.
Sawyer was hired by the Worcester (Mass.) Museum of Art in 1940 and took a leave during the war years to join the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. He worked with the Roberts Commission to document works of art confiscated by the Nazis and see that they were returned to their rightful owners.
Sawyer went back to Yale in 1947, where he was granted an honorary master of arts degree and took on a new position as director of the Division of the Arts. His duties included overseeing the schools of Architecture, Art, and Drama, the Art Gallery and the Department of the History of Art. During his tenure at Yale, he oversaw the construction of a major addition to the Yale University Art Gallery, working with legendary American architect Louis Kahn.
In 1957, he moved from New England to the Midwest, accepting a position as the second director of UMMA and a member of the University faculty, where he remained until his retirement in 1972.
During his years at U-M, Sawyer created a landmark program in museum practice to train museum administrators—one of the first of its kind in the United States. Graduates of the program have filled leadership positions in major museums throughout the country, including the Toledo Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum. A section of the pending addition to UMMA that will house a Center for Museum Studies will be named in his honor.
Sawyer was a member of the Smithsonian Art Commission from 1973-82 and was a respected advisor to successive museum directors there and around the country. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Century Association and the American Antiquarian Society.
He was preceded in death by his wife Katharine (Kitty) Clay Sawyer, whom he married in 1934. She was his devoted partner in receiving students and other guests into their home over many years.
Sawyer is survived by his niece, Elizabeth (Lee) Klaeson Sawyer of Durham, N.H.; his nephew, George F. (Geoff) Sawyer, Jr., also of Durham; and Katharine’s three nieces, Phebe Leighton of Cambridge, Mass.; Susan Berard of Fripp Island, S.C.; and Paula Bungen of San Rafael, Calif.
A memorial is being planned by UMMA. For updated information, visit http://www.umma.umich.edu. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to UMMA, c/o Director James Steward, 525 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, with optional designation for the Charles H. Sawyer Center for Museum Studies.
Phelix Hanible
Phelix Hanible, a long-time librarian in the University Library system, died March 5 after a lengthy illness. She was 56.
Hanible worked in a number of high-profile, dynamic organizations with a rich variety of experiences, including technical services, public services and administration.
Her contributions to the University include an extensive list of articles, presentations and consulting activities. She was active in many American Library Association divisions and represented the U-M Library on several state-level committees.
“Phelix brought a rich combination of ability, creativity, energy and experience to Michigan that reflected her strong commitment to research and learning,” University Librarian William Gosling says. “Her contributions to both the advancement of the library and, more broadly, to the profession will be greatly missed.”
Hanible received her bachelor of arts degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1972 and her master of arts in library science from U-M’s School of Library Science in 1984.
She came to the University as head of the Original Cataloging Unit, later serving as assistant to the dean for strategic planning and total quality management. She left U-M to take positions at the University of Southern California and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Library, but returned to her alma mater in 2003 as associate librarian for technical and access services, where she launched many new initiatives.
Hanible began her career at University Microfilms International, where she was a catalog librarian for the research collection, a manager of cataloging operations, and later an editor for student reference projects.
Plans are being made for a memorial service.—Information compiled by Joanne Nesbit, News Service, and Record staff
