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Lucia von Borosini Batten was born in Chicago in 1911, the only child of Baron Victor von Borosini and Edith Dorr von Borosini. Her parents were connected with Hull House, the famous settlement house established in Chicago for social reform by philanthropist and social innovator Jane Addams. Ms. Addams was Lucia’s godmother. The von Borosinis traced their lineage back to Venetian nobility, while the Dorrs were descended from old New England stock and had prospered in the lumber and mining businesses. 

 

Throughout her life, Lucia traveled widely both in America and Europe, simultaneously engaging in a life-long passion of collecting notable books, paintings and drawings. She amassed an assortment of works by well-respected regional artists such as Dan Lutz, James Harill, Christopher Gerlach, Ou Mie Shu and George Dick. Her book collections featured private press books produced in limited editions mostly in the early 20th century by English firms. Ultimately settling in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lucia purchased an adobe hacienda built in 1875 with an interior courtyard. Later placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home remains one of very few territorial haciendas in New Mexico. Lucia's book collection was housed in its own private library, built in 1966, adjacent to her home.

After her passing in 2005 at the age of 93, Lucia left her old adobe and much of its contents, along with an endowment to support upkeep of the house and property, to the Albuquerque Museum Foundation, a private non-profit whose mission is to raise funds for exhibition support of permanent and traveling exhibits, acquisitions of artwork and historic objects and educational programs at the Albuquerque Museum. Restored and remodeled, the old adobe hacienda serves as the offices for the Albuquerque Museum Foundation. The bedrooms were made into offices, and the library, which continues to hold thousands of books as well as paintings and other collections, serves as a meeting space for the Foundation.