Who Founded the Paint By Number Museum?

If you've ever gone deep into the history of paint by numbers, there's a good chance you've heard the Paint By Number Museum mentioned at least once.

The Paint By Number museum is an online only museum that contains an extraordinary archive of vintage paint by number paintings, kits, advertisements, documents, photographs, and other artifacts from the hobby's history.

But there's a surprisingly difficult question at the center of it all:

Who actually created the Paint By Number Museum?

We tried to find out.

What started as a relatively simple question led us through old newspaper articles, collector newsletters, corporate filings, IRS records, and the history of some of America's most dedicated paint by number collectors.

And after all of that research, we still can't definitively tell you who founded it.

But we did find some interesting clues that narrow it down to a few likely candidates.

The Mysterious Massachusetts Collector

The most commonly repeated story dates the Paint By Number Museum to 2008.

According to accounts of the museum's history, an unnamed private collector in Massachusetts accumulated more than 6,000 paint by number works dating back to the 1950s, purchasing pieces through eBay and other collectors before creating an enormous online archive.

There's just one unusual detail.

The collector isn't named.

Even recent articles continue to describe this person simply as a "private collector."

That's particularly strange considering the size of the collection. Acquiring thousands of vintage paintings isn't a casual hobby. Whoever created the collection was presumably  the most prolific paint by number collectors in the country (possibly in history).

So we started looking at the people who were collecting paint by numbers before the museum appeared.

Candidate #1: Larry Rubin

If you're trying to identify a major American paint by number collector from this period, Larry Rubin immediately stands out.

Rubin began collecting paint by numbers in the mid-1990s after finding paintings at yard sales and thrift stores.

And he didn't remain a casual collector for long.

A 1999 Chicago Tribune article described Rubin as a Florida psychologist who had already accumulated approximately 300 paint by number paintings. His collection reportedly covered the walls of his Fort Lauderdale office "floor to ceiling."

Rubin told the newspaper that as vintage paintings became more difficult to find at garage sales and thrift stores, collectors were increasingly turning to the internet.

That's particularly interesting because the mysterious Massachusetts collection was later described as having been assembled in part through eBay and other collectors.

Rubin also became deeply involved in the small community of serious paint by number enthusiasts.

Beginning in the late 1990s, he published By the Numbers, a quarterly newsletter dedicated to paint by number collecting. Issues covered collecting trends, history, personal stories, and notable people within the hobby.

His involvement eventually went beyond collecting.

Pieces from Rubin's collection were loaned for exhibitions at the Detroit Historical Museum and Smithsonian, and he wrote about the psychological and cultural significance of paint by numbers. He also authored material accompanying a 2000s reproduction paint by number kit.

In other words, if you were looking for someone with the knowledge, connections, and collecting obsession necessary to build an enormous historical archive, Rubin certainly fits the profile.

But there's a problem.

We Can't Connect Larry Rubin to the Museum

Despite all of those connections, we couldn't find a reliable source stating that Larry Rubin created the Paint By Number Museum.

In fact, the museum itself has an extensive page devoted to Rubin and his contributions to paint by number collecting.

It discusses his collection, newsletter, writing, and involvement in museum exhibitions.

Yet it never identifies him as the museum's founder.

The Paint By Number Museum's library also treats Rubin's newsletters and writings as historical materials within its larger archive.

That's a strange omission if Rubin actually created the museum.

So while Larry Rubin is an intriguing possibility, we don't currently have enough evidence to identify him as the mysterious collector.

Following the Corporate Records

Next, we went looking for the organization behind the website.

That produced another surprise.

There is now a corporation called Paint By Number Museum, Inc.

But it wasn't formed in 2008.

According to corporate records we reviewed, Paint By Number Museum, Inc. was organized in Delaware on April 21, 2022, before registering to operate in Massachusetts several days later.

That's roughly 14 years after the online museum was reportedly created.

The Massachusetts filings identify three directors associated with the organization:

• Catherine Hayden

• Kathryn N. Parkinson

• Dorothy Thurston

Catherine Hayden is additionally listed as president and treasurer.

Could one of them be the mysterious collector?

Possibly, but we couldn't find evidence establishing that.

More importantly, the 2022 incorporation date suggests something else may have happened: an existing privately operated collection could have been transferred into a formal organization years after the museum was originally created.

Then We Found the IRS Records

Paint By Number Museum, Inc. also appears in IRS records.

The organization has EIN 88-2490097 and received federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt recognition effective April 21, 2022 — the same date as its Delaware incorporation.

But this isn't simply a typical public charity.

The IRS classified Paint By Number Museum, Inc. as a private foundation and, more specifically, a private operating foundation.

That distinction is interesting.

Private operating foundations generally use their resources to conduct their own charitable activities rather than primarily distributing grants to outside organizations.

For an organization maintaining and preserving a large historical collection, that structure makes sense.

Unfortunately, the IRS determination letter doesn't identify the person who originally assembled the collection.

So we had another piece of the puzzle, but still no name.

Could the Founder Be Someone Else Entirely?

Absolutely.

This is probably the most important caveat in our investigation.

It's tempting to start with known collectors like Larry Rubin and try to make the evidence fit.

But the original collector could just as easily be someone whose name rarely appeared publicly.

Paint by number collecting had a small but dedicated community by the late 1990s and early 2000s. Rubin was one prominent member, but he wasn't the only one.

The Paint By Number Museum itself preserves material connected to numerous important figures in the hobby, including collectors, designers, historians, and artists.

The person who built the museum could simply have preferred anonymity.

In fact, the continued absence of a founder's name after all these years raises the possibility that the anonymity was intentional.

We just don't know.

So Who Founded the Paint By Number Museum?

For now, the most accurate answer is:

We don't know.

A private collector in Massachusetts is widely credited with assembling more than 6,000 vintage paint by number works and establishing the online Paint By Number Museum around 2008.

Larry Rubin is one of the most interesting people to investigate because he was already a major collector years before the museum appeared. His collection, newsletter, online buying, writing, and connections within the paint by number community demonstrate that he was deeply involved in preserving the hobby's history.

But none of the evidence we've found establishes that Rubin founded the museum.

Meanwhile, corporate and IRS records connect Catherine Hayden, Kathryn N. Parkinson, and Dorothy Thurston to the organization that has operated as Paint By Number Museum, Inc. since 2022. Those records do not establish that any of them assembled the original collection either.

So we're leaving this mystery unresolved rather than turning circumstantial evidence into fact.

Help Us Solve the Mystery

This research is ongoing.

We're particularly interested in locating contemporary documentation from 2007–2009 identifying the person who established the Paint By Number Museum, or documentation explaining how the original private collection eventually became part of Paint By Number Museum, Inc.

If you were involved in the paint by number collecting community during this period, knew the collector, contributed paintings to the collection, or have old newsletters, emails, articles, exhibition materials, or other documentation that might identify the museum's founder, we'd love to hear from you.

Until then, the person behind one of the largest archives of paint by number history remains something of a mystery.

And perhaps that's fitting.

Thousands of paintings created by largely anonymous amateur artists have been preserved in a remarkable online collection, assembled by a collector who, at least for now, remains anonymous too.