Telfair Museum, Savannah GA
Owens-Thompson House and Slave Quarters Savannah, Georgia, is a city that is filled with history and art. There is one institution that brings both of these facets of Savannah together, and that is the Telfair Museum. Mary Telfair The Telfair Museum is the oldest public art museum in the Southern United States. It was founded in 1883 in the bequest of Mary Telfair (1791-1875), a local philanthropist. Mary Telfair was the eldest daughter of a rich and political family, Her father, Edward Telfair (1735-1807) ran a “commission house,” an early form of a brokerage firm, and also served two terms as governor of the state of Georgia. Her mother Sarah, nee Gibbons (1758-1827) was the daughter of one of Georgia’s wealthiest families. Mary was sent to New York City for school at the age of 10, and she grew into a woman with a strong independent streak. She never married, and spent much of her life involved in local causes and traveling Europe. As the last surviving Telfair child,...