Barnes Arboretum and Maguire Museum

Before Saint Joseph's University acquired this land in 2018, the Barnes Arboretum and Maguire Museum belonged to the late Albert Barnes and his world-renowned art collection that is now exhibited by the Barnes Foundation. Although this site now welcomes anyone from the Greater Philadelphia Community to explore the property and learn about Art History and Horticulture, it has not always been such a welcoming place. The opening of the Barnes Foundation and its development after Barnes' passing came with many complications and controversies. However as it stands today, this site provides a beautiful representation of the continuous development of Saint Joseph's University and its contributions to the greater Philadelphia area.

As mentioned in the introduction, the twelve acres of land that stand before you once belonged to the millionaire, chemist, and art collector, Dr. Albert C. Barnes and his wife and horticulture enthusiast, Laura Leggett Barnes. However, the beautiful sanctuary found within the assorted trees and flowers was first assembled way before the Barnes’ purchase of the property in 1922. In fact, Captain Joseph Lapsley Wilson began assembling a collection of specimen trees to be planted on this property in the 1880s and continued to develop the biodiversity of these grounds as the Barnes Foundation’s first Arboretum Director. Alongside Wilson and Laura Barnes's contributions to the natural beauty found on the grounds, Albert Barnes displayed his world-renowned art collection in the main house on the property. Now, this property belongs to Saint Joseph’s University and serves as a symbol of the well-rounded education students receive at the university and the University’s continuous development as an institution and community in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Albert Barnes was born in 1872 to a poor Kensington butcher and spent many hours of his childhood working odd jobs in South Philadelphia to support his struggling family. However, unlike his two older siblings who died young, this is not where his story ends. By the age of 20, Barnes graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after this accomplishment, he moved to Germany to study chemistry and pharmacology at the University of Berlin. With this already impressive resume, in 1902 Barnes discovered a silver compound and antiseptic, Argyrol, which has been used to treat eye infections, bronchitis, and the common cold for millions of infants and adults. With this discovery, Barnes quickly gained a fortune that gave him the title of Millionaire by the age of 35. With this money, he then hired the architect Paul Phillippe Cret to design a twelve-room fieldstone house that would serve as both his family's home and a gallery for the art he started collecting. This interest in art began “around 1910, [when] painter William Glackens, an old Central High School buddy, introduced Barnes to the work of such American artists as Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and Charles Demuth. Glackens also told him of the new European impressionists, and when the painter went to Europe around 1912, Barnes gave him $20,000 to buy works by Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and others” (Edmonds 9). Although modern individuals and art historians understand these impressionist artists to be incredibly popular and their respective pieces to be extremely valuable, at the time this was not the case.

After about ten years of collecting art from across the world, Barnes began inviting the public into his own home to view his collection through the newly established Barnes Foundation in 1922. Barnes’ initial hope for the gallery was to create a space where anyone could get exposed to art despite their lack of a “proper” education or understanding of art history. This perspective in addition to Barnes’ interest in ‘new modernist’ art was incredibly controversial in the fields of museum studies and art history and was heavily criticized throughout the world. By 1925, the narrative around Albert Barnes changed as art critics and museum directors sought Barnes out in order to view his valuable collection and understand his artistic theories. However, Barnes was known for holding grudges and had a deep disdain for traditional art critics. To the disappointment of individuals across the world, Barnes established an intense set of criteria for guests of the gallery.

After the death of Albert Barnes in 1951, the Foundation continued to operate according to his will, which brought many problems. Barnes specified many strict rules for his museum that limited its hours of operation and the number of visitors allowed and his will left many restrictions for the Foundation that preserved his stubbornly held ideas about art and intentions for the museum. These rules and restrictions made the operation of the Foundation difficult. The museum didn’t receive many visitors and the Foundation didn’t make much money. To attempt to remedy these issues, in 2002 the Foundation sought to move its collection to a proposed new building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. As this would require significant changes to the museum and would go against Barnes’ will, it was not an easy process. After a decade of tough legal battles, the Foundation was successful and its new museum opened on the Parkway in 2012. In the years since the move, the Barnes Foundation has flourished even beyond expectations; the financial threats they once faced are a thing of the past.

Though the art gallery moved, the Barnes Arboretum remained in Lower Merion. In 2018, after ninety years as neighbors, the Barnes Foundation and Saint Joseph’s University forged a new partnership in which SJU would lease the property for at least 30 years, taking up operations of the arboretum and investing in improvements. SJU now offers classes on horticulture at the arboretum, and in 2023 will reopen the old gallery as the Frances M. Maguire Art Museum. Named for one of Saint Joseph University’s most important benefactors, the museum will be a new home for the University’s own art collection, which can be traced back to before the University even existed and contains over three thousand pieces, including Colonial Mexican paintings, European stained glass, Greco-Roman and Renaissance casts, and Andy Warhol screen prints and photographs. 

The Barnes Foundation has been a staple of Philadelphia for almost a century. Starting with the unlikely story of a self-made millionaire, it now houses one of the most impressive art collections in the world. Though that collection has now moved into the city proper, SJU is now welcoming part of that legacy into its community. Albert Barnes himself had once considered partnering with SJU, and now, eighty years later, his desire to educate the masses on art will unite with SJU’s mission of providing a broad, multifaceted education to students from all walks of life. With the new classes at the arboretum available and the Maguire Art Museum’s opening on the horizon, Saint Joseph’s University is adding a new chapter to its story as an institution not only of business and science but art and culture as well.

Edmonds, Emma. "It’s a world-class museum crammed with impressionist art. But Philadelphians, bearing old grudges, ignore it.", December 25, 1983. Zoning Barnes Foundation, deeds, FBLD.0033 Facilities/Buildings 5L, Saint Joseph’s University Records, Saint Joseph’s University Archives and Special Collections

DiStefano, Joseph N. Saint Joseph's University Will Run Original Barnes Property in Lower Merion. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 31 Jan. 2018, https://www.inquirer.com/philly/blogs/ inq-phillydeals/barnes-saint-josephs-university-lower-merion-arboretum-classes-zoning-lease-affic-20180131.html. 

Horn, Patricia and Kerkstra, Patrick. “Barnes Wants to Move Art Collection to Phila.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 25, 2002 . Zoning Barnes Foundation, deeds, FBLD.0033 Facilities/Buildings 5L, Saint Joseph’s University Records, Saint Joseph’s University Archives and Special Collections

Maltz, Julia. “How Art Blossoms at Saint Joseph's University.” April 2021 Connections, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, 28 Apr. 2021, https://www.ajcunet.edu/april-2021-connections/2021/4/27/saint-josephs-thematic. 

Richard, Paul. “The Barnes at a Turning Point: Outside Philadelphia, the idiosyncratic Art Foundation.” Washington Post, August 19, 1990. Zoning Barnes Foundation, deeds, FBLD.0033 Facilities/Buildings 5L, Saint Joseph’s University Records, Saint Joseph’s University Archives and Special Collections

Salisbury, Stephan. Barnes Foundation tally after 5 years in town: 1.4 million visitors, 17,000 members, big bump in contributions, The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 24th 2017. Accessed May 1st 2022. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/arts/barnes-foundation-philadelphia-parkway-merion-20171024.html.

Martin, Jeffrey. Barnes Partnership Celebrated on a Landmark Day at SJU, Saint Joseph's University. September 27th 2018. Accessed May 2nd 2022. https://www.sju.edu/news/barnes-partnership-celebrated-landmark-day-sju.