To Hannah and Spence: Holiday Greeting Cards From Joseph Thompson Fraser, Jr.

Joseph Thompson Fraser, Jr. (1898-1989), B.Arch. 1922

Philadelphia-born Joseph Thompson Fraser graduated from Northeast High School and attended classes at the Drexel Institute before enrolling in Penn’s School of Fine Arts. After graduation, Fraser worked for ten years for the architectural firm of Robert Rodes McGoodwin, who was noted for his residential designs in the Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods of Philadelphia. He was then associated for two years with architect George Howe.

After beginning his association with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1934, Fraser no longer practiced architecture. In 1938 Fraser was named head of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, a position he held until his 1969 retirement. In 1955, he was awarded the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art’s Gold Medal of Honor.