The first full-length study of the life of Sara Tyson Hallowell, an American agent, advisor to collectors and artists, curator, and advocate for modern art. In the nineteenth century, women became leaders in a myriad fields but only Sara Tyson Hallowell was able to create a lasting career as a curator of exhibitions. Throughout her life Sara Tyson Hallowell continually challenged nineteenth-century expectations about the proper place of well-born women as she worked to make a name for herself in the Chicago art world of the 1880s and 1890s.

Although her name may not be well known a century later Hallowell continues to command the attention of contemporary curators because the model she established and the skills she employed in her own work are those that are fundamental to success in the field today.

Presenting the first comprehensive story of Sara Tyson Hallowell's life, Sara Tyson Hallowell: Pioneer Curator and Art Advisor in the Gilded Age, highlights the lasting influence and compelling story of Sara Tyson Hallowell.