⚫ In memoriam — Joshua Baer, founder of Capital Factory (1975–2026). Read the tribute →

Research To-Do List

The Life and Times of Barney Ebsworth • Biography Project
Check items off as you complete them — progress saves automatically

🔥 Do This Week

Send Roger Mueller the book message Now
You've already messaged him about the website. Follow up about the biography. He's family — Muriel's son. The first domino.
Platform: Facebook Messenger • Status: Waiting for messenger call
Order "A World of Possibility" from AbeBooks Now
Barney's autobiography. 191 pages. Get the signed first edition ($150-200).
Search AbeBooks ↗ • Status: ORDERED ✅
Search Ancestry.com for Cleveland High School yearbooks Now
Search "Bernard Ebsworth" and "Muriel Ebsworth" in Cleveland High School yearbooks, class of ~1952. Senior portraits, track team photos. 58 yearbooks available.
Ancestry: Cleveland HS ↗
Browse Mizzou Savitar yearbooks (1953-1954) Now
Free online. Look for Barney in the track team photos. He was a scholarship sprinter.
Mizzou Savitar Archive ↗
Call Ebsworth Park Now
(314) 822-8359. Say: "My aunt and uncle are the Ebsworth the park is named for." Ask about photos, history, the 1995 donation. Zero risk — they'll love hearing from family.
info@ebsworthpark.org • ebsworthpark.org ↗
Call Robert Joiner — Cleveland HS Class of 1952 organizer Tomorrow
He organized the 70th reunion in 2022. Knows who’s still alive from Barney and Muriel’s class. In Burien, WA (near Seattle). Tell him you’re Barney’s cousin writing the biography.
Phone: 425-772-7756 • Email: joinerr37@gmail.com
Follow up with Roger Mueller on Messenger Tomorrow
You’ve mentioned the book. If no response by tomorrow evening, send a gentle follow-up.
Platform: Facebook Messenger
Check Mizzou track rosters in your browser Tomorrow
Search for “Ebsworth” on each page:
1953 roster ↗ • 1954 roster ↗
Site loads dynamically — you must check in a browser
Search Ancestry.com for Ebsworth twins in Cleveland HS yearbooks Tomorrow
Search “Bernard Ebsworth” and “Muriel Ebsworth” — class of ~1952. Senior portraits, track team photos.
Ancestry: Cleveland HS yearbooks ↗ • 58 yearbooks available
Watch the 3 Barney videos This Week
1. National Gallery: Conversations with Collectors ↗
2. Christie’s Facebook video ↗
3. YouTube: Ebsworth Park / FLW House tour ↗
Take notes — quotes, visual details, things not in the transcript
Call Ebsworth Park This Week
(314) 822-8359. “My aunt and uncle are the Ebsworth the park is named for.” Ask for Kay Dusenbery (board chair).
info@ebsworthpark.org • ebsworthpark.org ↗
Contact O’Keeffe Museum — wedding photos + Ebsworth Papers This Week
They have TWO photos of O’Keeffe from the 1981 wedding day. Also 6 feet of Barney’s donated papers.
Ebsworth Papers ↗ • okeeffemuseum.org ↗
Contact Pita Lopez This Week
Witness at Barney’s wedding. Recently profiled in Santa Fe New Mexican (2025) ↗. She’s talking publicly. Reach through O’Keeffe Museum.
Scan autobiography when it arrives Waiting
“A World of Possibility” — 191 pages. Chapters: Head of the Family, 12000 a Year, Army Days, Falling for France, The Travel Business, INTRAV, Making History, Cruising, Bringing the Museum Home, Georgia O’Keeffe, The Experience, Retirement, Afterword.
Photograph every page — Claude will extract every detail
Write down ALL your personal memories This Week
Christmas Eves on Gannon. Aunt Bern’s bird. Alec’s accent. Famous-Barr. The Rolls & Mercedes. Martine. Grandpa Ed. Track mentoring. Even bullet points — every scrap becomes a paragraph.
Gather ALL family photographs This Week
Dig through old albums. Barney, Muriel, Aunt Bern, Uncle Alec, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Lil, Gannon Ave house, Christmas gatherings. Even blurry photos are gold.
Email Wash U Archives Next Week
archives@wustl.edu — Bernard Ebsworth student records ~1954-56. Business school. Distinguished Alumni Award.
Email Guards Museum, London Next Week
Verify Ebsworth/Grenadier Guards connection. Ask about a commander named Ebsworth and his family in the casements.
theguardsmuseum.com ↗
Search OpenSecrets.org for political donations Next Week
Search “Barney Ebsworth” or “Bernard Ebsworth” in the donor lookup ↗. FEC records show all contributions over $200.
Contact Clark Art Institute about Ebsworth materials Next Week
Newly discovered archive. Unknown contents. Could be correspondence, dealer records, collection docs.
Clark Archive: Ebsworth ↗
Call St. Louis County Library for yearbook scans Next Week
(314) 994-3300 — Ask for Cleveland HS Beacon yearbook, class of ~1952. Pages for Bernard and Muriel Ebsworth.
Yearbook collection ↗

📚 Order These Books

A World of Possibility: An Autobiography by Barney A. Ebsworth Ordered
191 pages. Barney's own words. Hunts Point Publishing, 2012.
AbeBooks ↗
The Ebsworth Collection: Twentieth-Century American Art by Bruce Robertson
Exhibition catalog, National Gallery/SAM shows. 135+ illustrations. Scholarly essays.
Amazon ↗
Art + Architecture: The Ebsworth Collection + Residence by Franklin Kelly
Walk-through of the Hunts Point house WITH the art installed. Photos by Paul Warchol.
AbeBooks ↗
An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection — Christie's auction catalog
The definitive record of every lot. Scholarly essays, full provenance, photographs.
Argosy Books ↗

📞 Interviews — Safe Calls (No Risk)

Pita Lopez — O'Keeffe's secretary, witness at Barney's wedding Soon
Recently profiled in the Santa Fe New Mexican (2025). She's talking publicly. Retired from O'Keeffe Museum. Mention the Abiquiu wedding — she was there.
2025 profile ↗ • Reach through O'Keeffe Museum
Joan Washburn — Barney's closest art dealer friend ("best buddy") Soon
40+ year friendship. Washburn Gallery, New York. She has her own Smithsonian oral history.
washburngallery.com ↗
Maxine Clark — Build-A-Bear founder, Barney invested $4.5M Soon
Public figure, active on LinkedIn. St. Louis. Wash U board. She loves telling the founding story.
LinkedIn ↗ • Clark-Fox Foundation ↗
Cleveland HS Alumni Association — Barney's high school Soon
Tell them you're writing a biography of their most famous alumnus. Ask about yearbooks, classmates who remember the Ebsworth twins, track records.
clevelandhs-alumni.org ↗ • Newsletter: The Clevelandite
Eric Widing — Christie's Deputy Chairman, ran the $323M auction Soon
Can describe auction night minute by minute. Mention you're Barney's cousin.
LinkedIn ↗ • Through Christie's press office
Jim Olson / Olson Kundig — Designed the Hunts Point house Soon
The Ebsworth residence is one of their most famous projects. They titled it "An American Place."
Project page ↗ • olsonkundig.com ↗

📜 Archives & Records Requests

Smithsonian Archives of American Art — Request unreleased Ebsworth material Soon
Barney donated ~6 feet of papers. The oral history transcript is available, but there may be unreleased audio, correspondence, or documents.
Ask the Archives ↗ • askus@si.edu
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum — Barney's donated papers + wedding photos Priority
The museum received two photographs of O'Keeffe taken by Patricia Ebsworth on the wedding day (1981). Also holds Barney's correspondence, mediation documents, personal records. THE archive for the O'Keeffe chapters.
Barney Ebsworth Papers ↗ • okeeffemuseum.org ↗
St. Louis County Library — Cleveland High School yearbooks Soon
Physical collection of Beacon yearbooks. Ask them to scan the 1952 yearbook pages for Bernard and Muriel Ebsworth.
(314) 994-3300 • Yearbook collection ↗
Washington University Archives — Student records, Distinguished Alumni Award Later
Barney attended ~1954-56. Business school. Nine hours short of a degree (granted retroactively). Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.
archives@wustl.edu • DAA list ↗
The Guards Museum, London — Verify Ebsworth/Grenadier Guards connection Later
Barney said his grandfather was "commander of the Grenadier Guards" and the family lived in "the casements" at Buckingham Palace. The Guards Museum can verify.
theguardsmuseum.com ↗
Art Institute of Chicago — Tadao Ando chapel models and drawings Later
Donated by Christiane and Mark Ladd in 2019. Perspective drawing and physical model of the unbuilt chapel.
Chapel drawing ↗ • Chapel model ↗

📷 Photo Permissions to Request

O'Keeffe Museum — Wedding day photos (1981) Priority
Two photographs of O'Keeffe taken by Patricia Ebsworth on the wedding day at Abiquiu. THE photo for the book.
Archive page ↗
Olson Kundig — Hunts Point house photos Soon
Professional architectural photos of the Ebsworth residence. They'd likely cooperate for a biography.
Project page ↗
Library of Congress — Echo sculpture photo Soon
Carol M. Highsmith photo (2018). Highsmith donates her work to LOC — likely free to use.
LOC page ↗
Flickr photographers — Golden Odyssey, Opera Ball photos Later
Julian Hodgson (Golden Odyssey at Piraeus), Seattle Opera (Barney & Rebecca 2015).
Golden Odyssey ↗ • Opera Ball ↗
Diane Anderson Photography — Ebsworth Park tribute photos (2016) Later
42 photos from the June 9, 2016 tribute event. Includes St. Louis society attendees.
Contact dianeandersonphotography.com
Seattle Times — Interior photos from $37.5M sale Later
Interior and exterior photos of the Hunts Point house when it sold to Bezos.
Seattle Times article ↗

💻 Online Research

Watch: National Gallery "Conversations with Collectors" video Now
Barney speaking about his collection on video. Another primary source.
NGA video ↗
Watch: Christie's Facebook video on Barney Now
"Collecting American Modernist Art with Barney Ebsworth" — Christie's video profile.
Facebook video ↗
Watch: YouTube tour of Ebsworth Park / FLW House Now
Full video tour of the house and grounds.
YouTube ↗
Browse LittleSis.org — Barney's relationship map Soon
Database of power relationships. Board memberships, donations, connections.
LittleSis ↗
Read Joan Washburn's Smithsonian oral history Later
Barney's "best buddy" dealer has her own Smithsonian interview. Will contain references to Barney.
Smithsonian ↗
Check Ebsworth Foundation 990 tax filings Later
Shows charitable giving, assets, officers (Christiane and Mark Ladd). Chicago-based.
990 Report ↗

📝 Writing & Production

Scan "A World of Possibility" when it arrives Waiting
Photograph every page. Claude can read the images and extract every detail.
Book on order — arriving in a few days
Write your personal memories chapter Soon
Christmas Eve on Gannon Avenue. Visiting Aunt Bern's house. The bird. Alec's accent. Famous-Barr. The Rolls and Mercedes at Sumac Lane. Martine being "really sweet." Grandpa Ed loving Barney. You are the primary source — write it all down.
Even bullet points and fragments are valuable — Claude will help shape them into prose
Gather all family photographs Soon
Dig through old albums. Anything with Barney, Muriel, Aunt Bern, Uncle Alec, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Lil, the Christmas gatherings, the Gannon Avenue house. Even blurry photos are gold.
Scan or photograph them — Claude can work with phone camera images
Find a literary agent (when manuscript reaches 200+ pages) Later
Look for agents who handle narrative nonfiction / biography. Currently at 119 pages and growing.
Query letter should mention: Barney's cousin, Smithsonian transcript, $323M collection, NYT Bestseller potential

🎬 Future: Documentary / Film

Draft documentary treatment After Book
After the book is complete, write a treatment for a documentary film or narrative feature. Every element is cinematic: midnight dance, O'Keeffe's wedding, $91M auction, Air Force One, the boy from one and a half paychecks.

📋 Interviews — Sensitive Calls (After Momentum)

Christiane Ebsworth Ladd — Barney's daughter After 5+ interviews
The most important and most sensitive interview. Approach after you have momentum and can say "I've already interviewed 6 people." Through Eric Widing at Christie's or the Ebsworth Foundation.
Chicago • Ebsworth Foundation • Controls the estate
Pamela Larimer Ebsworth — Third wife After 5+ interviews
WWF board, Friends of Bhutan's Culture. Bellevue, WA. The woman whose departure led Barney to the Episcopal Church.
WWF page ↗
Rebecca Layman-Amato Ebsworth — Fourth wife After 5+ interviews
Instagram: @ebsworth.rebecca. Seattle Symphony director. At his side when he died.
Instagram ↗

Research To-Do List for The Life and Times of Barney Ebsworth

Back to Biography Hub • Read Version 3 • Contacts Directory

Last updated: April 2026 • Checkmarks save automatically in your browser

🔥 New Priority Items (Added April 5)

Call King County Superior Court — Get Barney’s Will This Week
The will is public record. It shows how the estate was divided between Rebecca and Christiane, whether specific paintings were bequeathed, what happened to the Hawaii property, and the total estate value. This is the missing piece behind the Christie’s decision.
Phone: (206) 296-9300 • Ask for probate filing for Bernard Alec Ebsworth, died April 9, 2018, King County • Also searchable online via KC Script Portal
Buy the 1952 Cleveland HS yearbook on eBay Now
The “Beacon” yearbook for Barney and Muriel’s graduating class. Has senior portraits, track team photos, clubs. Item #276570122950.
eBay listing ↗ • Buy before someone else does
Call Robert Joiner — ask about Mary (Barney’s secretary) Tomorrow
When you call Joiner (425-772-7756), also ask: “Do you remember Barney’s assistant Mary at INTRAV?” Someone from the Class of ’52 may know her last name.
Also ask about Barney’s quarter-mile times and any track records he remembers
Download Mizzou Track Record Book PDF This Week
Search for “Ebsworth” in the PDF. May contain his 440 times from 1953-54.
Download PDF ↗
Search King County probate portal online This Week
The KC Script Portal has cases from 2004-present. Search “Ebsworth” or “Bernard Ebsworth.”
King County probate records ↗
Search INTRAV former employees on LinkedIn This Week
Search “INTRAV” or “International Travel St. Louis” on LinkedIn. 92% of employees stayed 20+ years — someone remembers Mary. Someone remembers Barney’s daily routine.
Indeed reviews confirm the culture: “From CEO to mail room, all were on a first name basis”
Contact Maxine Clark — ask about Mary and the INTRAV office This Week
Maxine visited Barney’s office for the Build-A-Bear meeting. She may remember Mary or other staff. Also ask about the “Is next Thursday soon enough?” story in her own words.
LinkedIn ↗ • Clark-Fox Foundation ↗
Order “The Ebsworth Collection and Residence” book This Week
By Franklin Kelly. Walk-through of the Hunts Point house WITH the art installed. Photos by Paul Warchol. Shows what 3 Sumac Lane and Hunts Point looked like with the paintings on the walls.
AbeBooks ↗
Order Christie’s auction catalog This Week
“An American Place: The Barney A. Ebsworth Collection” — every lot photographed, full provenance, scholarly essays. THE primary source for the art chapters.
Argosy Books ↗
Order “The Ebsworth Collection: Twentieth-Century American Art” This Week
By Bruce Robertson. The National Gallery exhibition catalog. 135+ illustrations. Scholarly essays.
Amazon ↗
Contact Audrey O’Leary — Barney’s Hunts Point assistant After Roger
She was in the room during the Smithsonian interview. She found the O’Keeffe papers. She knows the daily life at Hunts Point — what Barney’s mornings looked like, who called, how he operated without a cell phone.
Reach through the Ebsworth Foundation or through Rebecca
Contact Mija Riedel — the Smithsonian interviewer After Roger
Independent scholar, San Francisco. Spent two days with Barney. She knows things that aren’t in the transcript — the atmosphere, the house, what Barney was like off-record.
Find through Smithsonian Archives or LinkedIn
Check OpenSecrets for Barney’s political donations Next Week
FEC records show all contributions over $200. Search “Barney Ebsworth” or “Bernard Ebsworth.”
OpenSecrets donor lookup ↗
Read the Washington Post articles on O’Keeffe/Bry/Hamilton Next Week
Two major WaPo pieces: “Doris Bry: The Legend of O’Keeffe” (1990) and “The War Over O’Keeffe” (1987). Context for the mediation chapter.
Doris Bry profile ↗ • The War Over O’Keeffe ↗
Visit 4174 Shaw Blvd on Google Street View Quick
Barney W. Frauenthal’s last address — near Shaw’s Garden. Screenshot the house for the illustrated biography.
Zillow listing ↗
Read Joan Washburn’s Smithsonian oral history Next Week
Barney’s “best buddy” dealer has her own 2-day Smithsonian interview. Will contain references to Barney and their 40-year relationship.
Smithsonian: Joan Washburn oral history ↗
Search for INTRAV employees named Mary on LinkedIn/Facebook This Week
Mary was Barney’s gatekeeper at the St. Louis office for decades. Try: “Mary INTRAV St. Louis” or “Mary Windsor Inc St. Louis.” Also try “Mary 7711 Bonhomme.”
If 92% of employees stayed 20+ years, Mary is likely still connected to former colleagues
Contact the Ebsworth Chapel corporation Later
Registered in Washington state at the Hunts Point address. May have records about the chapel project, the Ando designs, the failed sites.
WA corporation record ↗
Download Barney W. Frauenthal’s guide book (free) Quick
“Barney’s Information Guide to St. Louis” (232 pages, 1902) is public domain on Google Books. Download for the book’s source material and illustrations.
Google Books (free download) ↗ • Library of Congress ↗
Find a literary agent (when manuscript hits 300+ pages) After interviews
Currently at 252 pages and growing. When interviews add another 50-100 pages, query agents who handle narrative nonfiction/biography. Use the pitch letter at barneyebsworth.com/bio/pitch.html.
Target agents: ICM, WME, Inkwell, The Gernert Company, Janklow & Nesbit
Theme

This website is an independent biographical research project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorized by, or connected to the estate of Barney A. Ebsworth, Christiane Ebsworth Ladd, the Ebsworth Foundation, Perkins Coie LLP, or any entity associated with the Ebsworth family. All information presented is derived from publicly available sources including published interviews, news articles, and family accounts. No representation is made that this site speaks for or on behalf of the Ebsworth estate or any family member. Photographs and images are used under fair use for biographical, educational, and commentary purposes. For corrections or concerns, contact wholetechtexas@gmail.com.