Quinton, Cornelia B. Sage (1876–1936)

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Quinton, Cornelia B. Sage (1876–1936)

American museum director. Name variations: Cornelia Bentley Sage. Born Cornelia Bentley Sage in 1876 (some sources cite 1879 and 1880) in Buffalo, NY; died 1936 (some sources cite 1938) in Hollywood, CA; dau. of William Sparkes Sage and Josephine (Bentley) Sage; attended Art Students League; m. William Warren Quinton (retired major), Oct 31, 1917.

Served as assistant to director of Albright Art Museum/Gallery (later known as Albright-Knox Art Gallery), Buffalo, NY (1905–09); with appointment to position of director at Albright (1910), became the 1st woman to head an art museum; became 1st secretary-treasurer of Association of Art Museum Directors (1916); served as art director of Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (1905–1924); organized traveling exhibitions of French art during WWI and received Cross of the Legion of Honor from France (1920); left Albright (1924) and became director of California Palace of the Legion of Honor (merged with M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1972 to later become The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco).