William Andrews Clark, Jr. was an American businessman, lawyer, philanthropist and author. He was the founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Background
William Andrews Clark, Jr. was born on March 29, 1877 in Deer Lodge, Montana, United States. He was a son of the William Andrews and Katherine Louise Clark. He had six siblings and two halfsisters. His father, a successful prospector with interests in mining, smelting and banking, relocated the family to Europe for Clark’s early years.
Because of his father’s many business ventures, the Clark family relocated often. Mainly, though, William Andrews Clark Jr. spent his childhood going back and forth between his parents’ home in New York City, and his grandmother’s home in Los Angeles.
Education
William Andrews Clark, Jr.'s precollegiate education involved public and private schools in New York, and public school in Los Angeles. Clark was admitted to the University of Virginia's law school, without having earned an undergraduate degree, in 1896. In 1899 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law.
In 1899 William Andrews Clark, Jr. became an assistant in a Los Angeles corporate law. Clark, however, soon found himself back in Montana, with his father. There, he became a partner in a law firm, Clark & Roote. Because his in-laws were wealthy, possessing extensive interests in copper, Clark was not hard-pressed to make a living as a lawyer. Even after his first wife’s death in 1902, Clark was allowed to travel, pursue his avocation and generally avoid hard work. With the luxury of pursuing activities that interested him, Clark explored literature, art and music, traveling annually to Europe in search of fine literature and musical tutelage.
As a result, he collected books, played the violin, and embraced the French culture that consumed him as a child. The activities proved more than frivolous distractions in the long run. He studied violin, and became part of a string group. In 1919, Clark became even more active in the Los Angeles musical community, organizing the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Clark also bought books. Starting in 1909, he began a collection of varying subject matter that one day only major educational institutions would rival. In 1907, with his second wife, Clark relocated to Los Angeles, where they bought a modest home on a modest street. Eventually, however, Clark would purchase the entire block on West Adams, creating a sunken garden, observatory and library, which he would later donate to the University of California, Los Angeles.
During the 1920s, Clark focused primarily on building his book collection. Already, he had amassed a collection requiring eighteen volumes of catalogs, in addition to two indexes. A total of 1,100 books were reported as early as 1920. Due to the sheer volume, Clark hired an assistant, a distinguished bookseller and collector in his own right, Ernest Cowan.
With Cowan’s assistance, Clark continued acquiring major literary works throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. In pursuit of more books written by, and about Oscar Wilde, Clark befriended Christopher Millard, who was secretary to Robert Ross, Wilde’s literary executor. Millard also was a friend of Wilde’s son, VyVyan Holland, and thus, aided in the acquisition of Wilde materials. But Clark always put his love of collecting literature above materialism. He rejected an of-fer of the bulk of a collection of Wilde’s personal letters, drafts of essays, and other papers.
Clark, eccentric because he answered to no one, embraced the ideals his philanthropic parents passed down to him. In 1926, upon retiring from business, Clark bequeathed his book collection to University of California. Clark continued collecting books, although less enthusi-astically, after 1926. He spent much of his retirement years traveling, dividing most of his time between Europe and Montana.
He was the author of The Library of William Andrews Clark, Jr. (twenty volumes, 1920-1931), author of introduction of Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village: A Poem (1922), Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard (1925), Author of notes of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1927).
Achievements
William Andrews Clark, Jr. was best known for his philanthropic activities. He donated parts of his collection to various institutions for student research. Clark built a library for his collection, and in 1926, he donated both the library and his books to the University of California, Southern Branch (now University of California, Los Angeles).
William Andrews Clark, Jr. founded the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which debuted in the Trinity Auditorium in 1919, and bequeathed his library of rare books and manuscripts, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, to the University of California, Los Angeles. He also helped to fund the construction of the Hollywood Bowl.
Membership
William Andrews Clark, Jr. was an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa.
Personality
William Andrews Clark, Jr. was a devotee of classical music.
Interests
literature, art, collecting
Connections
On June 19, 1901 William Andrews Clark, Jr. married Mabel Duflield Foster. In January, 1903 she died. They had a son, William Andrews Clark III ("Tertius"). In 1932 he died in a plane crash in Arizona. On May 7, 1907 he married Alice McManus. His second wife died in 1918.
