Dan Fellows Platt (June 10, 1873 – December 16, 1937) was an archeologist, author, art collector and the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, from 1904 to 1905.[1]
Platt entered politics in 1900 as leader of a citizen commission opposed to the installation of electric light poles. When the poles were installed, Platt took an ax and chopped down the ones in front of his property.[1] Platt became a city councilor in Englewood in 1901. In September 1903, Platt defeated Daniel A. Currie to be the Democratic Party candidate for Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. In the general election, he defeated Samuel J. Topping by 163 votes to become the mayor of Englewood from 1904 to 1905. Platt refused to be considered for reelection and went on a trip to Europe for the last month of his term.[3] Between 1909 and 1916 he was on the Democratic State Committee for New Jersey serving in various roles.[4] He was a delegate to the 1912 Democratic National Convention as a delegate for Woodrow Wilson.[1]
Dan Fellows Platt collected art for most of his adult life, beginning with Roman archaeological (coins, ancient glass, etc.) pieces in college. His early collection was focused mainly on Italian Renaissance paintings from Siena and Umbria, inspired by Princeton professor Allan Marquand. Later, particularly after World War I, Platt shifted his focus to drawings and collecting from outside of Italy. During this period, he collected work from Guercino, Luca Cambiasi, Théophile Steinlen, Alphonse Legros, John Flaxman, George Romney, and Amedeo Modigliani.[2] In 1938, when Platt died he left the collection to Ethel for the remainder of her life and then requested that the collection go to Princeton University upon her death. In 1943, Ethel supplied the collection of drawings and renaissance paintings to Princeton University.[2] The first public display of the collection selected 243 pieces as important for display.[5] Platt was a recognized expert on Italian Renaissance paintings, particularly from Siena, which led to multiple lectures at colleges around the country and being named chair of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University.[2] It was said that his collection of photographs of art pieces was the largest in America numbering over 400,000.[1]
