Samuel Putnam Avery

Samuel Putnam Avery was an artist, collector, art dealer and philanthropist. Born in 1822 in New York City, he got his start working for the American Bank Note Company as a copper engraver. He turned to wood engraving and illustrated many books before abandoning engraving altogether in 1864, when he became an art dealer and collector. Avery established the Avery Architectural Library and the Teachers' College Library at Columbia University, and was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. He died in 1904 in New York.