Wells Fargo Gift Honors African American History and Culture
As founding donor, company gives $1 million, historical artifacts to
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
CHARLOTTE, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Wells Fargo announced the donation of $1 million and historical
artifacts from its corporate collection to the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The artifacts,
a collection of two mining stock certificates and one piece of
letterhead featuring the work of African American artist Grafton Tyler
Brown, will be displayed in the NMAAHC’s inaugural exhibition scheduled
to open in September 2016.
Grafton Tyler Brown was an American painter, lithographer and
cartographer who owned and operated his lithography company in San
Francisco from 1867 to 1879. Brown was the first African American artist
to create works depicting the Pacific Northwest and California. During
this time, he created lithographs for stock certificates and letterheads
for numerous companies in the area.
The mining stock certificates and letterhead come directly from the Wells
Fargo History Museum collection, which showcases the company’s
shared history with communities in a network of 11 museums across the
U.S., and will accompany a Grafton Tyler Brown oil painting already in
the NMAAHC collection. View of Lake Okanagan (British
Columbia), 1882, which was a gift of Curtis E. Ransom in memory of Julia
Turner Ransom. Together, these items will help tell the story of the
artist and the time that he spent in California. These items will be
part of the exhibition “Visual Art and the American Experience.”
“As one of the founding donors to our museum, Wells Fargo has provided
invaluable support to help us create a museum like no other in the
world,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the museum. “The documents
are coming into a collection of more than 40,000 objects which will help
us tell the African American story in a rich and compelling way,
reaching millions of visitors through exhibitions, interactive platforms
and the website.”
Currently under construction on a five-acre site adjacent to the
Washington Monument, the Smithsonian’s 19th museum will be a
place where Americans can explore and celebrate the richness and
diversity of the African American experience. Since its start in 2003,
the museum has built collections and designed 11 inaugural exhibitions
covering major periods of African American history from its origins in
Africa and continuing through slavery, the civil rights era, the Harlem
Renaissance, the great migrations north and west and into the 21st
century.
“African American history is American history,” says Lisa Frison, Vice
President, African American Segment manager, Wells Fargo. “Wells Fargo
is committed to celebrating the stories of African Americans in the hope
of bringing broader visibility to the experiences that best represent an
extraordinary community. We embrace the arts as a vehicle to highlight
history and culture, and feel deeply honored to support the Smithsonian
in bringing the African American story to life in such a significant
way.”
Support of the NMAAHC aligns with the company’s ongoing strategy to
cultivate a deeper appreciation of the African American experience.
Through its The Untold Stories Collection platform — which
includes a national celebratory tour featuring The Kinsey Collection:
Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey – Where Art and History
Intersect and #MyUntoldSM—
Wells Fargo is working to promote dialogue around the experiences and
contributions of African Americans to American history and culture.
The company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion dates back more than
160 years. In 1888, an instruction booklet distributed to Wells Fargo
agents noted, “Proper respect must be shown to all — let them be men,
women, or children, rich or poor, white or black.”
For more information about Wells Fargo’s commitment to the community,
visit www.wellsfargo.com/about/csr.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified,
community-based financial services company with $1.8 trillion in assets.
Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides
banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial
finance through 8,700 locations, 12,800 ATMs, the internet
(wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36 countries to
support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With
approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three
households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30
on Fortune’s 2015 rankings of America’s largest corporations. In 2014,
Wells Fargo donated $281.2 million in grants to 17,100 nonprofits, and
team members volunteered 1.74 million hours around the country. Wells
Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help
them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells
Fargo Blogs and Wells
Fargo Stories.
About the Museum
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was
established by an Act of Congress through legislation signed into law in
2003 by President George W. Bush. The nearly 400,000-square-foot museum
is under construction on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on a
five-acre tract adjacent to the Washington Monument. Upon completion in
September 2016, the museum will become the nation’s largest and most
comprehensive cultural institution devoted exclusively to exploring and
documenting the African American story and its impact on American
history. For more information, visit the museum’s website at nmaahc.si.edu.
Contacts
For Wells Fargo
Media
Melody Thuston
312-729-4221
MThuston@golin.com
or
Valerie
Williams
704-743-6544
valerie.williams@wellsfargo.com
@ValWilliamsWF
