Philosopher and historian of ideas scholar; wrote early social histories of art. Boas was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the fifth of seven children of Herman Boas and Sarah Eisenberg (Boas). He attended Classical High School in Providence, RI, where his early interest in Greek and Latin grew. After graduation, Boas studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design under Henry Hunt Clark (b. 1875) and transferred to study English at Brown University, where he completed his B.A. and M.A. in 1913. He studied under the philosopher Josiah Royce (1855-1916) and received his second M.A.

Architectural historian and early scholar of female architects who produced the major study of Julia Morgan. Sara Boutelle graduated from Mount Holyoke College. Her education also included the Sorbonne Université and Universität Hamburg. She taught art and architecture at a private all-girls school in New York City, the Brearley School, until her retirement in 1973. During a pleasure visit to the castle-mansion of W. R.

Establisher of the first Art History program and Art Museology courses in the United States. Alice Van Vechten Brown was the daughter of Samuel Gilman Brown (1813-1885), a professor at Dartmouth College and former president of Hamilton College, and Sarah Van Vechten (Brown)(1819-1893). Her grandfather Francis Brown was the third president of Dartmouth College. From 1881 to 1885, Brown studied at Art Students League, New York, under William M. Chase, the founder of the Parsons School of Design.

Tufts University professor, medievalist scholar, and feminist theorist. Caviness, born Madeline Harrison, was born in London to Eric Vernon Harrison and Gwendoline Rigden (Harrison). Learning to read at a young age, Harrison spoke French at age five and studied Latin at age seven (Howard). She received her B.A. in 1959 from Newnham College, the University of Cambridge, where she studied Archaeology and Anthropology and English. Through Caviness’ background in Anthropology, she set her sight on a civil service career in Africa upon graduation.

Late-Victorian poet, journalist, and art critic. Meynell, then Thompson, was born into an affluent and well-educated family with a pianist- and amateur painter mother, Christiana Jane Weller (1825–1910), and an independently wealthy Jewish father, Thomas James Thompson (1809–1881). Thompson and her elder sister Elizabeth Thompson (1846-1933), later known as Lady Butler and one of the most acclaimed British painters in the 1870s, were homeschooled by their father.

Art historian and leading scholar of the Pre-Raphaelite art movement; produced the definitive reference book for Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Born Virginia Bell in London to Bertha Bell (1891–1974) and Edward Bell (1882–1924). Her father, a Harvard graduate and friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt, was appointed chargé d'affaires of the U.S. in Beijing in 1922. Therefore, Virginia and her older sister Evangeline (1914-1995) spent their early childhood in China.