On two lower middle income government paychecks, and living in a rent-controlled small one bedroom apartment in Manhattan, along with her husband, Herbert Vogel, a 30+ year US Postal Service Worker, Dorothy Vogel, a public librarian collected almost 5,000 pieces of art, most by major artists, and donated about half of it to the National Gallery of Art, and the other half (in 50 piece increments) to museums in all 50 states.