Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS vii
3. Introduction. The Importance of Taste: Intellectual Roots 1
4. Chapter 1. Paintings in Public Life: The Rise of the American Art-Union 16
5. Chapter 2. The Limits of Cultural Stewardship: The Fall of the American Art-Union 64
6. Chapter 3. Art and Industry: Debates of the 1850s 95
7. Chapter 4. The Art of Decoration and the Transformation of Stewardship: The Making of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 128
8. Chapter 5. Metropolitan Museum on Trial: Antiquities, Expertise and the Problem of Race 161
9. Chapter 6. The Battle for Sundays at the Museum 208
10. Epilogue. Edith Wharton’s Museum 236
11. Notes 239
12. Index 277
13. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 285