Allen S. Weller Program Collection, 1919-1989 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Allen Stuart Weller was born in 1907 and grew up in Chicago, where his father was a professor of geology at the University of Chicago. He developed an interest in art as a child, eventually going on to earn his Ph.D. in Art History. Weller served in the Air Force in Italy during World War II, cataloging and overseeing the repatriation of stolen artwork. He joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1947, served as the chair of the Art Department from 1948 to 1954, the dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts from 1954 to 1971, and the director of the Krannert Art Museum from its founding in 1961 through 1964. Weller authored several books on art history, including one on Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft.

At UIUC, Weller was instrumental to the founding and design of the Krannert Art Museum. He also played an important role in the School of Art and Design's Festival of Contemporary Arts. Beginning in 1948 and held biennially until 1974, the Festival formed the basis of the Krannert Art Museum's collections and established the University as an art collecting institution. Under Weller's leadership, the Festival helped generate serious attention for contemporary art, lending institutional legitimacy to a wide variety of American artforms.

Sources:

College of Fine and Applied Arts biography of Allen S. Weller

"Celebrating Art: From Plaster Casts to Contemporary American Art Festivals," by Muriel Scheinman in No Boundaries: University of Illinois Vignettes ed. by Lillian Hoddeson

Oral history interview with Allen S. Weller by Stephen Polcari for the Archives of American Art