Phillips Flashback: October 20, 1924

Duncan and Laughlin Phillips, late 1920's, standing on Q Street NW, the Phillips Memorial Gallery behind them to the left. Photo from Phillips Collection Archives.

A son, Laughlin Phillips, is born to Duncan and Marjorie in Washington D.C. Laughlin, named after his paternal grandmother’s family, will go on to be a foreign service officer, a founder of Washingtonian magazine, and director of his family’s museum, taking over from his mother in 1972 and serving for 20 years. It is Laughlin who will formalize the business of the museum from a small family-run collection into an internationally positioned institution.

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