Putnam Collection of Sculpture, Princeton University

[1] In March 1968, President Robert Goheen announced that an anonymous donor gave a $1 million fund for the collection in honor of Princeton alumni John B. Putnam, Jr., Lieutenant U.S.A, who was killed in action during World War II.

[2][3] The works were selected based on a committee of alumni who current or former directors of art museums,[3] and the first 20 were purchased in 1969 and 1970.

[4] The collection was first designed to have only 20 sculptures,[4] but after receiving George Segal's Abraham and Issac, in 1979, the total catalogue increased to 21.

[4] Once the initial collection was finished, the university received George Segal's Abraham and Issac as a gift in 1979.

[5] The Princeton University Art Museum classifies several other pieces of artwork as falling under either the collection, although no reference to them as official additions can be found.