The Santa Barbara Museum of Art Wright S. Ludington Collection documents the personal papers of Wright S. Ludington from 1900 – 1992. Many of the records overlap Ludington’s involvement with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art from 1940 until his death in 1992 as donor, president and art collector. The collection includes scrapbooks, photograph prints, 35 mm slides, exhibition and auction catalogues, correspondence, art collection inventory, invoices and receipts, news clippings and ephemera.

Wright Saltus Ludington (1900 – 1992) was an avid art collector, aspiring artist and one of the founding members of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Born in New York City on June 10, 1900 to Charles and Ethel Ludington. He had two brothers Charles Townsend Ludington who was born in New York City in 1896 and Nicholas Saltus Ludington born in Philadelphia in 1904. Ludington attended the preparatory boarding Groton School in northern Massachusetts before moving to Santa Barbara with his family where he attended the Thacher School in Ojai, California. After his time at Thacher, Ludington went to Yale to study architecture; however, after one year he dropped out to pursue the study of art. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later the Art Student League in New York. In 1927 Ludington officially settled in Santa Barbara. He became involved with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art since its founding having been part of the building committee, later its president in 1951 and a long time trustee and donor for over 50 years until his death in 1992.

3 boxes (1.5 linear feet)

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