Nina M.H. Cummer (1875-1958) was instrumental in developing and nurturing the arts in Jacksonville. She commissioned the Olmsted Brothers firm to design Memorial Park in Riverside and founded the Garden Club of Jacksonville.

Cummer is best known as the founder of the Cummer Museum where visitors can see one of the few remaining works of sculptor Augusta Fells Savage (1900-1962). Cummer bequeathed one of Savage's works, "The Diving Boy," a 34-inch bronze, to the museum. Savage was recognized in the New York art community both as an artist and a teacher, and was part of the Harlem Renaissance.

She is known for her portrait busts of famous men and women, and for her images of everyday people in the black community. The Cummer collection includes art and artifacts from the ancient world, as well as altarpieces, tapestries, porcelain, painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. It contains one of the world's largest collections of early Meissen Porcelain, featuring 700 pieces of tableware. The museum estate is surrounded by two and one-half acres of formal English and Italian gardens on the St. Johns River.

Information provided by the Florida Division of Historical Resources.