Anne C. Odom (1935–2011)

Anne C. Odom was born Anne Weld Curtis in Mount Vernon, New York. She graudated from Middlebury College in Vermont and received a master’s degree in history from Columbia University, where she met her future husband, William E. Odom. In the early 1970s, she accompanied him to his posting as a military attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia, where her interest in Russian imperial art was sparked. In 1978, she became a guide at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, former home of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, which contained the largest private collection of Russian artwork outside of Russia. Mrs. Odom conducted research at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and wrote books about the Hillwood collection. She was named chief curator in 1991, a position she held until her retirement in 2001. She also contributed to academic studies at The Smithsonian Institutions and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.