Susan’s long association with Greenwich Historical Society began in 1994 when she was appointed by Claire F. Vanderbilt to the Professional Advisory Board.
She joined the Board of Trustees in 2006 and served as Chairman from 2009 to 2012. As a new board member, Susan led a task force that updated the Historical Society’s mission statement with a focus on community impact and volunteers. Under her board leadership, she worked to develop a new strategic plan and the acquisition of 47 Strickland Road. This work made possible the extensive site enhancements that opened in 2018.
Her many other contributions include roles as chair of the Art Advisory, Exhibition, and Executive Committees and the founding of the Food and Garden task force. She curated three exhibitions: The Lost Landscape of Cos Cob (1997); Childe Hassam: Impressions of Cos Cob (2004); A Good Light: The Artist’s Studio in Cos Cob and Beyond (2012).
Susan was a prolific author, contributing essays to a variety of publications. She was the author of two books. The first, published in 2006, was Top Cats: The Life and Times of the New York Public Library Lions, exploring the work of sculptor (and Greenwich resident) Edward Clark Potter and the story of the iconic lions that have become a beloved symbol of the NYPL.
In 2001, Susan published her seminal work The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore, which was accompanied by an exhibition of the same name that was organized by the National Academy of Design and traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Denver Art Museum. The Cos Cob Art Colony highlighted the strong influence of the setting and interactions at the art colony on the artistic careers of Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Theodore Robinson, and others. It also called attention to the fact that the colony fostered the creativity of writers (like Willa Cather) in addition to visual artists.
Susan’s extensive research and interpretation of the Cos Cob art colony provided strong support for the designation of Bush-Holley House as a National Historic Landmark in 1991. Her scholarship brought focus to the vital role the Historical Society’s site played in American Impressionism and shaped how BHH is interpreted to convey this information to thousands of visitors. Susan drew on archival material at the Historical Society to show that Elmer MacRae played a much greater role in the important International Exhibition of Modern Art held in New York in 1913 (often referred to as the “Armory Show”) than was credited to him.
The Japan Society honored Larkin with the first Uezumi Award in 2010 for bringing new appreciation to the overlooked work of Genjiro Yeto, a valued member of the art colony.
She also taught a course at Manhattanville College on Japanism in America.
Larkin also curated two exhibitions at the Bruce Museum: The Ochtmans of Cos Cob (1989) and American Impressionism: The Beauty of Work (2005).
Susan and her husband, James, provided the Historical Society with generous financial support and made significant donations of artwork by Cos Cob colony artists. The Library and Archives was honored to accept her extensive research files for her scholarly publications.
Susan was married to James T. Larkin for 54 years (until his death in 2022). She is survived by her children, Kate Laverge (Albert) of Riverside, CT, and James Larkin, Jr. (Cecilia) of Santa Fe, NM, and grandchildren Allie and Charlie (Laverge) and Carmen, Raphael, Penelope, William, Madeline, and Lila (Larkin).
Donations to Greenwich Historical Society from Susan G. and James T. Larkin.