The history of The Hyde Collection begins in 1888, when Charlotte Pruyn (1867-1963), daughter of Finch, Pruyn paper mill owner Samuel Pruyn, met Louis Fiske Hyde (1866-1934), a Harvard Law student in Boston. Six years after their marriage in 1901, Louis gave up his law practice in Boston to take an administrative position at the family paper mill, and the couple returned to Charlotte's hometown of Glens Falls, New York.

When she returned to Glens Falls, Charlotte was reunited with her two younger sisters, Mary Eliza Hoopes and Nell Cunningham. The three Pruyn sisters built adjoining homes on land adjacent to their father's company. Boston architect Henry Forbes Bigelow of Bigelow and Wadsworth was contracted and construction began on the three homes. The Hydes built an Italian Renaissance style home, completed in 1912, which was situated between the equally impressive, newly constructed homes of Mary and Nell.

The Hydes traveled to Paris and began to acquire art in earnest. Charlotte and Louis spent the next years enjoying family, community, and the pleasures of an art-collecting avocation. Extensive world travel, exposure to the cultural climates of both Boston and New York City, and sound advice from noted art connoisseurs influenced many of their purchases. By 1930, William R. Valentiner had become their chief advisor and the collection took on the hallmarks of The Hyde Collection,  a combination of quality and elegance without excess.