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Lot Essay
EUGENIA WOODWARD HITT (1905-1990)
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, one of five siblings, Eugenia Woodward Hitt was the granddaughter of Joseph Woodward, founder of the Woodward Iron Company. In 1940 she married William Hitt and moved to New York where she became a notable collector of 18th century European furniture and decorative arts. Upon her death she bequeathed the majority of her collection, valued at over $50 million, to the Birmingham Museum of Art, which at the time was one of the largest gifts received by an American museum from a single donor.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, one of five siblings, Eugenia Woodward Hitt was the granddaughter of Joseph Woodward, founder of the Woodward Iron Company. In 1940 she married William Hitt and moved to New York where she became a notable collector of 18th century European furniture and decorative arts. Upon her death she bequeathed the majority of her collection, valued at over $50 million, to the Birmingham Museum of Art, which at the time was one of the largest gifts received by an American museum from a single donor.