Josephine B. Crane
American socialite and patron of the arts (1873–1972)
Josephine Porter Boardman Crane (née Josephine Porter Boardman) (November 14, 1873 – July 8, 1972) was an American socialite and patron of the arts, co-founder and original trustee of the Museum of Modern Art and supporter of the Dalton School of New York City.
Personal life
Born Josephine Porter Boardman, in Cleveland, Ohio, she was from a well-to-do family. She was a daughter of Florence (née Sheffield) Boardman and William Jarvis Boardman, a lawyer and political activist. She had five siblings, including Mabel Thorp Boardman, William Henry Boardman, Florence Sheffield Keefe, and Elijah George Boardman. Her family moved from Ohio to Washington, D.C. around 1887, although they maintained connections to Ohio politics including a friendship with the Taft family. In fact, "when they came to Washington shortly before the Taft inauguration, Mr. and Mrs. Taft were house guests of Mr. and Mrs. Boardman."
Her father was the grandson of United States Senator Elijah Boardman.
The public source identifies “Josephine B. Crane” as american socialite and patron of the arts (1873–1972). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Josephine, Crane and American.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6288426. VIAF identifies the subject as 31928822. The Library of Congress control number is nr2002000297. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1873, 1972 and 1887.
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This entry incorporates text from “Josephine B. Crane” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.