Donna Hill photograph collection, circa 1850-1980

Donna Hill was born in 1921 in Salt Lake City, Utah and moved to Washington, D.C. where she attended high school and studied at the Phillips Gallery Art School from 1940 through 1943. Graduating with Phi Beta Kappa honors from George Washington University in 1948, Donna continued her art studies in Paris where the U.S. Embassy employed her as a code clerk during 1949-1951. Recognition of her artistic talents was manifest when her paintings appeared in several venues in Washington, D.C., France, Germany, Finland, North Africa and Japan. She was the sole recipient of a prestigious scholarship which enabled her to study art at the Museum of Art in Segovia, Spain during the summer of 1953. Subsequent to earning a master's degree in Library Science from Columbia University, Ms. Hill commenced her professional career as a librarian in 1952 where she worked at the New York Public Library for several years. The bulk of her library career occurred at Hunter College (CUNY) where she was employed for twenty years retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1984. In addition to her painting and library activities, Donna was quite active in the publishing world from 1957 to 1992 writing, editing and illustrating twelve books, including a biography of Joseph Smith.