Arthur S. Douglas

Who was Arthur S. Douglas?

Arthur S. Douglas was born in Phoenix, Rhode Island, United States on July 11, 1860, a son of James and Mary Douglas. At the age of eighteen, Arthur enrolled in the new art school being founded by a member of a prominent Rhode Island family, Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf.

Mrs. Metcalf belonged to the Centennial Women, a group formed to raise funds for Rhode Island's exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. The group had $1,675 remaining after the exposition. Inspired by foreign exhibits on design and interior decorating Metcalf persuaded the group to donate the money to found what would become the Rhode Island School of Design. Metcalf directed the school until her death in 1895. Her daughter, Eliza Greene Metcalf Radeke, then took over until her death in 1931. Even in its infancy RISD was a creative watershed for emerging artists, design students and art collectors. It has been consistently named among the premier Arts programs in the US, along with Yale School of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago by U.S. News & World Report.

At the age of 18, Arthur Douglas enrolled in the first school term and is listed on the school registry as a day student, number # 68.