Papers of Frederick Randolph Grace, 1910-2012

Frederick Randolph Grace was born in New York City on September 21, 1909 to Virginia Fitz Grace (née Randolph) and Lee Ashley Grace, a cotton importer. One of his siblings, Virginia R. “Mart” Grace, was a professional archaeologist and worked for the Allies during WWII. In 1926, he graduated with high marks from Phillips Andover Academy. From 1927-1928, he attended the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. He received his A.B. in Fine Arts from Harvard College in 1930. From 1930-1933 he was employed at the National City Bank of New York.

As an undergraduate, Grace became close with Paul J. Sachs and his wife, Meta, and visited them often at their home Shady Hill. Grace stayed in touch with Sachs after graduating, and with Sachs’ encouragement, he returned to Harvard to pursue a graduate degree in art in 1934, during which time he was a student in Sachs’ “Museum Course.” The same year, he became an Assistant and Tutor in the Fine Arts Department, positions he held until 1936. Grace married Priscilla Bartol on December 21, 1935. They had four children: John Sebastian, Judith, Nicholas Adam, and Daniel Gregory.

Between study excursions to Greece in 1934 and 1937, Grace received his A.M. from Harvard in 1935, and in 1938, he earned a Ph.D. specializing in Ancient Art. His thesis, Archaic Sculpture of Boeotia, was published by Harvard University Press in 1939. From 1938 to 1941 he was an Instructor in Fine Arts and acted as Head Tutor; in that capacity, he assigned tutors to lead academic instruction sessions one on one or in small groups of students. He also delivered papers at meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America and gave lectures from 1939-1941 in various eastern colleges under the auspices of the Institute. His final publication was an article titled “Notes on Seventh-Century Sculpture.”

Grace served as the Acting Assistant to the Directors of the Fogg Museum for one year from 1941 to 1942, during which time he oversaw museum programs and exhibition arrangements, and managed the galleries. In the fall of 1941, he was promoted to a Faculty Instructorship in the Department of the Fine Arts for a period of five years, which he was unable to fulfill; shortly thereafter, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve in April 1942. Grace died while on active duty on November 23, 1942. He was the first civilian Harvard faculty member to die in the war.