Foster W. Stearns was in Istanbul with his wife from 1921 to 1923 in connection with his work as third secretary at the American Embassy. An art connoisseur, he not only actively supported Russian-speaking émigré artists in Istanbul but also assembled a collection of their works which has survived to this day.
From the brief biography of Foster W. Stearns written for the College of the Holy Cross’s Stearns Family Papers collection, we learn that Foster W. Stearns was a native of Hull, Massachusetts, and graduated from Amherst College in 1903, Harvard University in 1906, and Boston College in 1915. Interestingly, most of his working life thereafter consisted of alternating between two rather different professions: librarian and diplomat (he later became a politician). Obviously, he was deeply engaged in both, but his heart was probably given to art and literature, for his professional path began with the position of librarian at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, a  position he returned to in 1925, this time at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. This despite three years in Istanbul as third secretary at the American Embassy (1921–1923) and almost two years at the American Embassy in Paris as second secretary (1923–1924). After five years at the College of the Holy Cross and studies in Rome (where he reorganised the Vatican Library), he would again change profession, this time from librarian to politician. His natural ability as a collector was noted by many. The fact that such an art connoisseur diplomat should come to Istanbul in the 1920s, at a time when Russian émigré artists were in dire need of help and support, cannot be called other than fateful.
Stearns's name is first mentioned in connection with Russian émigré artists in the Russian press in Istanbul on June 19, 1922. It was at this time and with his aid that a major exhibition of Russian-speaking émigré artists was first organised in Istanbul. It was held at the Taksim military barracks and featured about 500 works by almost 60 members of the Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople. According to a Russian journalist of the time, it was organised “despite extremely difficult economic conditions and a half-starved existence” of the Russian artists (Anonymous, “Vystavka Soyuza Russkih Hudojnikov”, 1922). As a result of this exhibition, he himself and his wife, Martha Stearns (maiden name, Genung), “who had taken a cordial part in the exhibition” (Anonymous, “V Soyuze Hudojnikov, 1922) were unanimously elected as new honorary members of the union, which indicates that Martha and Foster Stearns supported the Russian émigré artists of Istanbul together. In addition, at the end of November 1922, the Russian artists invited Foster W. Stearns to their studio (opened by dint of the Stearns family’s efforts) to express their gratitude for all the help he had given the union over the previous year and to present him with an album created by the union members especially for him and his wife (Anonymous, “Témoignage de sa gratitude de l'Association des Peintres russes à M. Stearns”, 1922). Judging by the fact that the College of the Holy Cross archives contain works by Russian émigré artists from exhibitions of the years 1921 to 1923, it would appear that Foster W. Stearns was deeply interested in and helped the union throughout its existence. In addition, it is clear that some artists in the union (such as Alexandre Pankoff and Nikolai Becker) created a number of works at his personal request. Foster Stearns was also in close contact with Dimitri Ismailovitch. The works created by Russian émigré artists in Istanbul (both those given to him as gifts and those purchased by him) were donated by him and his wife to the College of the Holy Cross in the mid-20th century.