Mildred Baker Collection

Born into a musical family in Brooklyn and named Mildred Sophia Weiss, Mrs. Baker became deeply involved with museums and art galleries after marrying an artist, Emil Holzhauer, in 1925. In 1935 she went to work for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, later becoming its assistant director. She traveled the country selecting artists' works for more than 500 shows that circulated among more than 100 regional centers.

Soon after the W.P.A. closed its doors in 1943, Mrs. Baker joined the staff of the Newark Museum, where she organized a pioneering show called ''Black Artists'' in 1944.

She became the museum's assistant director in 1949 and its associate director in charge of exhibitions, membership and special events in 1953. Besides being responsible for many additions to the permanent collection, Mrs. Baker founded and was the first editor of ''News Notes,'' the museum's monthly bulletin. After her retirement in 1971, she was elected to the museum's board of trustees.

In the 1960's, she was vice chairman of the Commission to Study the Arts in New Jersey, which led to the creation of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, on which she served until 1975.

Mrs. Baker and Mr. Holzhauer were divorced in 1940, and seven years later she married Jacob Baker, a business executive, and they moved into the Chelsea Hotel.

Source: New York Times, 12/18/1998