Guy C. McElroy papers

1969-1990

Guy Clinton McElroy, art historian and curator, was born and raised in Fairmont, West Virginia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art education from Fairmont State College in West Virginia (1970), and was awarded the Master of Arts degree in art history specializing in nineteenth century American and French art from the University of Cincinnati (1972). His thesis topic was Robert S. Duncanson, nineteenth century African American landscapist. McElroy earned a second Master of Arts degree from Emerson College in Boston in mass communications (video production) in 1975. His thesis project was a videotape entitled, "Roxbury Pudding Stone" done for Boston's Museum of Afro-American History. Between 1976 and ca. 1980 he studied art history at the University of California, at Berkeley, initially enrolled in courses leading toward a doctoral degree and emphasizing seventeenth century Dutch painting. Later he changed his major, focusing on nineteenth century painting. Between 1983 and 1990, McElroy was enrolled at the University of Maryland as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Art. Here he also studied seventeenth century Dutch art as well as twentieth century American art, soon specializing in African-American art. A letter in the collection indicates that McElroy had been advised that the catalog he was writing for the major exhibition "Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940" of which he was the curator for The Corcoran Gallery of Art would serve as his Ph.D. dissertation. McElroy was informed that he was required to submit an essay about the process of formulating and planning the exhibition. His death in May 1990 prevented furthering the status of his doctoral studies beyond advanced candidacy.

McElroy held numerous art historian and curatorial positions in museums throughout the country during his twenty-year career. He served as an intern at the Cincinnati Art Museum researching and preparing a catalog essay for an exhibition of Robert S. Duncanson's paintings (1970-1971), followed by the position of Assistant Curator at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City (1972-1973). McElroy was then Assistant to the Media Director at Emerson College in Boston where he worked in the audiovisual medium (1973-1974). Also in 1974 he was Assistant Curator at the Museum of Afro-American History in Boston where among other responsibilities he conceived and executed exhibitions. At Walnut Creek Civic Art Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, McElroy assisted with the research and writing for a Navajo textile exhibit (1975). As a Rockefeller Fellow in Museum Studies at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, McElroy prepared two written visitor surveys and supplemental video interviews. He also assisted with several exhibitions (1974-1976). From 1978-1988 McElroy held two positions at the National Council of Negro Women's Bethune Museum and Archives in Washington, D.C.

This organization studies and preserves the history of African-American women. As curator from 1978-1982 he planned and coordinated the restoration and adaptive design of the Museum as an historic site, administered grant funded projects, was involved in financial development and supervised the preservation, arrangement and description of the photograph archives. From 1982-1988 McElroy served as the Assistant Director. In this capacity he was responsible for program and exhibit development, long range planning for the Museum, planning for development campaigns and was the liaison for efforts to stimulate legislation designating the Museum as a National Historic Site. At the time of his death McElroy had completed the first phase of an exhibition on Mary McLeod Bethune for the Bethune Museum and Archives.

McElroy made his most significant contribution to the art world in his capacity as Guest Curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1986-1990). He curated the exhibition "Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940", which opened in 1990. This show, which received national attention, examines the ways in which American artists, both African American and European American, "reinforced a number of largely restrictive stereotypes of black identity", as McElroy wrote in the accompanying catalog. He conceived the show in 1986 after studying the work of nineteenth century genre painter William Sidney Mount. In addition to his position as Guest Curator at The Corcoran Gallery, McElroy served in other capacities between 1988-1990. He co-curated an exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) pertaining to the works of African-American artists from the Evans-Tibbs Collection (1988). Between November 1989 and February 1990 he held the position of Manager of Technical Information Services for the American Association of Museums. Lastly, in 1990 he was an advisory panelist for the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

McElroy's stature as an art expert was further acknowledged by his appointment by the University of Maryland, Department of Art History as an Assistant Professor teaching American and African American art with responsibilities including the development of the curriculum in American and African-American art. This position was to have begun in September 1990, several months after McElroy's early death.

In addition to the catalog, Facing History..., McElroy published African-American Artists, 1880-1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection, 1989, as well as reviews of several exhibitions. Despite professional success in the late 1980s, McElroy suffered personal tragedy. In the summer of 1987 he became a paraplegic after an automobile accident in New Mexico, and was confined to a wheelchair. On May 31, 1990 McElroy died of pulmonary embolism, cutting short a promising career.