Walter Melion and John Mackenzie Clum are investing in art research and history at Emory.
Walter Melion and his husband, John Mackenzie Clum, have built impressive collections of Native American ceramics and Dutch and Flemish works on paper from the 16th and 17th centuries. To ensure the preservation of these pieces and their use in an academic setting, Melion and Clum have made a bequest that will leave these collections in the care of Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum permanently. “As scholars and collectors,” Melion says, “we recognize the incredible value of Emory’s extensive academic and cultural resources.”
After teaching at Johns Hopkins University for many years, Melion joined the Emory faculty as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History in 2004. Known for its excellent art history department, which Melion now chairs, Emory also houses institutions like the Carlos Museum and Pitts Theology Library, whose distinguished collections provide faculty members the opportunity to conduct in-depth, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research.
Clum, professor emeritus of theater studies and English at Duke University, says, “We’ve always collected with a view to leaving our collections to an institution like the Carlos. We wanted to give to a university museum since this is the context in which works of art are most likely to be used for research and teaching. In fact, it’s not easy to find repositories as fine as the Carlos. We’re grateful to the museum’s director and curatorial staff for giving our old master prints and Native American pottery a future home.”
Melion and Clum also have designated a percentage of their estate to support the Emory Art History Department. “In doing so,” says Melion, “we hope to further research, collaboration, and education in the visual arts at Emory.”
To learn more about the many planned giving strategies available at Emory, contact the the Emory Office of Gift Planning at 404.727.8875 or giftplanning@emory.edu.