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Wilhelmina Cole Holladay was not an art expert when she created the first museum dedicated to women in the arts. Nor was she a leader in the women's movement. Holladay was a collector who discovered that female artists had not been recognized in the history books or on museum walls – and decided to do something about it.
"Billie" Holladay and her husband, Wallace, had collected more than 500 works by women dating back to the Renaissance. Holladay realized that these were the seeds from which a museum could grow.
In 1982, she found a building on New York Avenue in downtown DC.
It was in terrible shape, and the neighborhood was so dangerous that police advised Holladay not to let her staff leave the building without an escort.
"I don't scare easily," Holladay says. She bought the building for the bargain price of $5 million. When she applied for a renovation loan, the bank assessed the building at $12 million.
From the beginning, Holladay approached building the institution with an entrepreneurial spirit. To keep the museum from going into the red, she says, "We knew we had to have a decent party facility, a good gift shop, and a large membership both nationally and internationally."
The museum, which opened in 1987, is one of the few in Washington with a full catering kitchen. Its marble balustrades and crystal chandeliers serve as backdrop for some of the city's most elegant social events. The museum has more than 35,000 members, making it one of the world's top 10 percent of museums in membership.
A tireless fundraiser, Holladay has forged alliances with states and embassies to produce shows featuring works from locales around the globe. Her latest coup: an exhibit of work by female artists from the Hermitage in Russia, scheduled for 2003.
The museum has expanded into the building next door and developed the world's most comprehensive archival library and research center on women in the arts and an extensive educational program.
Many of its more than 150 shows have gained worldwide attention, among the two recent exhibits featuring the work of Lion King designer/director Julie Taymor and painter Grandma Moses.
What's more, the museum has stayed on budget since the day it opened.
Where did she gain her management expertise? Through volunteering, Holladay says. She was president of the Langley School when her children were students there, and she chaired the board of Adams National Bank. She also credits her husband's counsel and support. "I could never have done it without him," she says.
Billie Holladay never considered putting her name on the museum she created. Her greatest reward is feeling a part of the creative process.
"When I see a work of art, it awes me. I want to share it. Art is one thing everybody can join together to applaud."
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