A factor in driving him to this conclusion was the apparently insoluble problem of how to achieve an understanding of early contacts

A factor in driving him to this conclusion was the apparently insoluble problem of how to achieve an understanding of early contacts between Europeans and Native Americans through reliance upon scanty survivals of literary evidence emanating entirely from European sources. He became a powerful advocate of collaboration between historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and ethnographers as aids to the discovery of truth.He also recognised that the study of early exploration is bedevilled by scarcity of evidence This did not cause him to despair. Rather he regarded it as a challenge which could be met by a renewed search for evidence and, if that failed, by “cautious extrapolation from fully authenticated data”. The use of the word “cautious” in this context is in line with Quinn’s belief that speculation, though sometimes obligatory, was risky in that there was inherent in it the temptation to confuse myth with reality.As head of department, Quinn favoured a relaxed, though watchful, style of government. The numbers of Liverpool graduates who proceeded to study for higher degrees and in some cases to careers as academics or archivists is a tribute to his powers of encouragement and motivation.David Quinn was predeceased by his wife, Alison, who shared his historical interests and who won international renown as an indexer of historical writing.A N Ryan.

Holly Dworken, art collector and dealer: born Bridgeport, Connecticut 12 February 1934; married 1953 Horace Solomon (two sons; marriage dissolved 1990); died New York 6 June 2002. Holly Solomon was a beloved figure in the Manhattan art world long after anyone ever went to her gallery, or indeed knew if she had one or not. There were many, too, who loathed the art she promoted, which tended to the very bright, colourful and often frankly kitsch, yet adored her own persona, a small, elegant pixie with regal bearing and veritable twinkle. Studying at Vassar, she saw her first collection of modern art, an assembly of works by Alexander Calder and Jean Arp at the apartment of one of her female professors, as a key revelation.After graduating from Sarah Lawrence the young Hollis was soon married to Horace Solomon, the Yale-educated son of a highly successful manufacturer of hairpins and nets. They were living together in Manhattan and the young wife was enrolled at Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio whilst actively auditioning.In 1961 she made her first purchase, a lamp by the minimalist sculptor Dan Flavin, followed by a Brillo box by Andy Warhol.

It was this purchase, installed at home as a coffee table, that first intrigued her husband. Horace Solomon’s fascination with this strange new object led him to go and visit some galleries himself: He went to the Roy Lichtenstein show at Castelli in 1962 and bought The Anxious Girl. That was when we began collecting together, not expensive things but beautiful things.The Solomons were soon well-known Pop Art collectors. As an actress however things were less dynamic for her, although (as Hollis Belmont) she did play a prostitute, in the 1969 underground film The Plot Against Harry.The high-point of their career as Pop collectors came with the ritual Warhol portrait, which before he started pumping them out for any socialite who could pay, was actually a significant aesthetic statement: In 1963 for our 10th wedding anniversary I told my husband, Horace, I wanted a portrait by Andy Warhol He agreed, and I met Andy at a photo booth on 42nd Street. I must have had $10-worth of quarters and he left me in the booth to do the photographs by myself When I was done I had hundreds of pictures. I gave them to Andy but didn’t hear from him for a long time.