This is a list of college and university museums in the United States.
Overview
University art museums and galleries are collections of art that are developed, owned, and maintained by schools, colleges, and universities. There are approximately 680 university art museums and galleries in the United States. While historically the origins of these kinds of institutions can be traced back to learning collections in art academies in Western Europe, they are now most often housed in centers of higher education. The primary aim of many university art museums and galleries is to create a sphere removed from the pressures of the commercial art world where students, artists, curators, and faculty can experiment freely; in terms of both making and exhibiting art, and also curating.
Distinctions between art museums, galleries, and academic museums
An art museum houses a permanent collection, whereas a gallery usually hosts a changing program of art exhibitions. However, some university and college art galleries also feature permanent collections or showcase collections owned by the larger institution. Some institutions have a museum or an art gallery, and some have both. Others, such as the City College of New York, have important collections but neither a museum nor a dedicated gallery.
Art schools in the United States often have many gallery spaces on campus. Maryland Institute College of Art has 21 galleries.
Many university and college libraries also feature galleries to showcase items from their collections, which can include art, music, poetry, literary works and ephemera.
Another important distinction is the difference between art museums and academic museums. All university art museums and galleries are types of academic museums, but not all academic museums are university art museums and galleries.
Vulnerability in times of crisis
University art museums function in a number of different ways. Some exist as affiliates of a university, operated by a separate board of trustees and administration, while others are nested within the institution. Art museum collections can become vulnerable to deaccession due to fiscal issues. One such example of a controversial deaccession was the Randolph College scandal; when the administration sold paintings from the museum's collection without the permission of the museum.
Academic freedoms and artistic freedoms of expression
University art museums and galleries differ from traditional art museums and commercial galleries due to their relationship with institutions of higher education where academic freedoms are ideally upheld. With the protection of academic freedoms, topics that would otherwise be avoided, ignored, or censored can be openly explored. The two main academic freedoms are: the freedom of the student to study whatever they want, and the freedom of the teacher to teach whatever they want. When these two freedoms are observed, in the context of a university art museum and/or gallery, a unique setting for academic discovery is opened up. University art museums and exhibits are sometimes sources of controversies regarding issues of propriety, politics, gender, and sexuality.
Alabama
Alabama Museum of Health Sciences
Alabama Museum of Natural History (UA Museums)
Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College
Gorgas House Museum (UA Museums)
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art
Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum
Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum (UA Museums)
Moundville Archaeological Park (UA Museums)
Paul W. Bryant Museum (UA Museums)
Southern Environmental Center
Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
University of Alabama Museums (UA Museums)
William R. Harvey Museum of Art at Talladega College
Alaska
University of Alaska Museum of the North
Arizona
Arizona State Museum
Arizona State University Art Museum
Center for Creative Photography
Center for Meteorite Studies
Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery
University of Arizona Mineral Museum
University of Arizona Museum of Art
Arkansas
Japanese American Internment Museum
Lakeport Plantation
Pfeiffer House and Carriage House
Physical Education Building (Arkansas Tech University)
California
Academy of Art University Automobile Museum
Art, Design & Architecture Museum
Benton Museum of Art
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Bohart Museum of Entomology
University of California Museum of Paleontology
California Social Work Hall of Distinction
De Saisset Museum
Entomology Research Museum
Essig Museum of Entomology
Euphrat Museum of Art
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (California)
Fullerton Arboretum
Hammer Museum
Humboldt State University Natural History Museum
Cantor Arts Center
Jesse Peter Museum
Lawrence Hall of Science
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Natural History Museum at Sierra College
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art
UC Santa Cruz Coastal Science Campus
UCLA Meteorite Collection
UCR/California Museum of Photography
USC Fisher Museum of Art
USC Pacific Asia Museum
Colorado
Koshare Indian Museum and Dancers
Louden-Henritze Archaeology Museum
Mines Museum of Earth Science
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Connecticut
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
Connecticut State Museum of Natural History
Davison Art Center
Fairfield University Art Museum
Housatonic Museum of Art
Ireland's Great Hunger Museum
J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum
Peabody Museum of Natural History
William Benton Museum of Art
Yale Center for British Art
Yale University Art Gallery
Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments
Delaware
University Museums at the University of Delaware
District of Columbia
American University Museum
George Washington University Art Galleries
National Deaf Life Museum at Gallaudet University
Textile Museum (George Washington University)
Florida
Alexander Brest Museum and Gallery
Carnegie Library at FAMU
Family Heritage House Museum
Florida International Museum
Florida Museum of Natural History
Freedom Tower (Miami)
Frost Art Museum
Gillespie Museum
Jacksonville University Life Sciences Museum
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art
Lowe Art Museum
Mary McLeod Bethune Home
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
Museum of Florida Art and Culture
NSU ART MUSEUM
Rollins Museum of Art
Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum
Wolfsonian-FIU
Georgia
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Georgia Museum of Art
Georgia Museum of Natural History
Georgia Southern Museum
Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum
Old Governor's Mansion (Milledgeville, Georgia)
Robert C. Williams Paper Museum
SCAD Museum of Art
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
Hawaii
John Young Museum of Art
Idaho
Herrett Center for Arts and Science
Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History
Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Cuneo Museum
Hull House
Illinois Natural History Survey
Krannert Art Museum
Koehnline Museum of Art at Oakton Community College
Loyola University Museum of Art
Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
James Millikin House
Renaissance Society
Smart Museum of Art
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership
Spurlock Museum
University Museum (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Oriental Institute (Chicago)
William and Florence Schmidt Art Center
Indiana
Brauer Museum of Art
David Owsley Museum of Art
Eskenazi Museum of Art
Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology
National Art Museum of Sport
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Iowa
Brunnier Art Museum
Christian Petersen Art Museum
The Farm House (Knapp–Wilson House)
Figge Art Museum
Harlan–Lincoln House
Palmer Museum of Chiropractic History
B.J. Palmer House
University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art
Kansas
Gordon Parks Museum
Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
McPherson Museum
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art
Old Castle Hall
Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics
Spencer Museum of Art
Sternberg Museum of Natural History
University of Kansas Natural History Museum
Kentucky
Cumberland Inn & Museum
Kentucky Folk Art Center
Kentucky Museum
University of Kentucky Art Museum
Louisiana
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame
Louisiana Museum of Natural History
LSU Museum of Art
LSU Rural Life Museum
Meadows Museum of Art
Newcomb Art Museum
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Shaw Center for the Arts
Maine
Bates College Museum of Art
Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Hudson Museum
Northern Maine Museum of Science
Page Farm & Home Museum
Peary–MacMillan Arctic Museum
University of Maine Museum of Art
Maryland
Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture
Evergreen Museum & Library
Homewood Museum
St. Mary's College of Maryland
University of Maryland School of Nursing Living History Museum
The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland
Massachusetts
Amherst Center for Russian Culture
Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Beneski Museum of Natural History
Barnum Museum of Natural History
Busch-Reisinger Museum
Davis Museum at Wellesley College
Dumbarton Oaks
Emily Dickinson Museum
Fogg Art Museum
General Artemas Ward House
Harvard Art Museums
Harvard Mineralogical Museum
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East
Harvard University Herbaria
List Visual Arts Center
McMullen Museum of Art
Mead Art Museum
MIT Museum
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Pioneer Village (Salem, Massachusetts)
Rose Art Museum
Smith College Museum of Art
University Museum (Harvard University)
University Museum of Contemporary Art
Warren Anatomical Museum
Williams College Museum of Art
Michigan
Dennos Museum Center
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum
Finnish American Heritage Center
Great Lakes Quilt Center
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
Kalamazoo Valley Museum
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
Kruizenga Art Museum
Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum
Meadow Brook Hall
A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum
Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry
Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments
University of Michigan Museum of Art
University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
William L. Clements Library
Minnesota
American Museum of Asmat Art
Bell Museum of Natural History
Glensheen Historic Estate
Goldstein Museum of Design
SMSU Art Museum
SMSU Museum of Indigenous Americans
SMSU Museum of Natural History
Tweed Museum of Art
Weisman Art Museum
Mississippi
University of Mississippi Museum
Missouri
Arthur F. McClure II Archives and University Museum
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
Museum of Art and Archaeology
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art
National Churchill Museum
National Museum of Toys and Miniatures
Ralph Foster Museum
Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum
Saint Louis University Museum of Art
Samuel Cupples House
St. Louis Mercantile Library
State Historical Society of Missouri
Montana
Montana Museum of Art & Culture
Museum of the Rockies
Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum
SpectrUM Discovery Area
Nebraska
George W. Frank House
Great Plains Art Museum
International Quilt Museum
Lentz Center for Asian Culture
Lester F. Larsen Tractor Museum
Museum of Nebraska Art
Sheldon Museum of Art
University of Nebraska State Museum
Nevada
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
W. M. Keck Earth Science and Mineral Engineering Museum
New Hampshire
Hood Museum of Art
Museum of the White Mountains
New Jersey
Geology Hall, New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Jersey Museum of Agriculture
Princeton University Art Museum
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University
New Mexico
Blackwater Draw Museum
Fleming Hall
Meteorite Museum at the University of New Mexico
Harwood Museum of Art
Institute of American Indian Arts
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
Mesalands Community College's Dinosaur Museum
Museum of Southwestern Biology
Silver Family Geology Museum
University of New Mexico Art Museum
Western Heritage Museum & Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame
New York
Alfred Ceramic Art Museum
American Merchant Marine Museum
Anya and Andrew Shiva Art Gallery
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
Castellani Art Museum
Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College
Children's Museum of Science and Technology
Cooper Union
Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art
Fort Schuyler
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery
Godwin-Ternbach Museum
Graduate Center, CUNY
Grey Art Gallery
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
La Maison Française (New York University)
Longyear Museum of Anthropology
Mercer Gallery at Monroe Community College
Memorial Art Gallery
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute
The Museum at FIT
The New School
Parsons School of Design
Picker Art Gallery
Plattsburgh State Art Museum
Plaza Art Gallery
Pratt Institute
Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art
Science Discovery Center of Oneonta
University Art Museum at University at Albany
West Point Museum
Yager Museum of Art & Culture
Yeshiva University Museum
North Carolina
Ackland Art Museum
Duke Homestead and Tobacco Factory
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
Nasher Museum of Art
North Carolina State University Insect Museum
Weatherspoon Art Museum
North Dakota
North Dakota Museum of Art
Ohio
Allen Memorial Art Museum
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
Dittrick Museum of Medical History
Frank Museum of Art
Karl Limper Geology Museum
Kennedy Museum of Art
McDonough Museum of Art
Miami University Art Museum
Richard Ross Museum of Art
Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University
University of Findlay's Mazza Museum
William H. McGuffey House
Oklahoma
A. D. Buck Museum of Science and History
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
Oregon
The Art Gym
Hallie Ford Museum of Art
Horner Museum
Jensen Arctic Museum
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Kathrin Cawein Gallery of Art
Pacific University Museum
Prewitt–Allen Archaeological Museum
University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Pennsylvania
Elmer H. Grimm Sr. Pharmacy Museum
Frick Fine Arts Building
Frost Entomological Museum
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
Kelso Bible Lands Museum
La Salle University Art Museum
Miller ICA at Carnegie Mellon University
Nationality Rooms
Palmer Museum of Art
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Robot Hall of Fame
Salk Hall
Schisler Museum of Wildlife & Natural History and McMunn Planetarium
Stephen Foster Memorial
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Rhode Island
Annmary Brown Memorial
Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
Naval War College Museum
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
South Carolina
Fort Hill (Clemson, South Carolina)
Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art
Hanover House (Clemson)
Upcountry History Museum
South Dakota
Museum of Geology
National Music Museum
Tennessee
Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum
Art Museum of the University of Memphis
Belmont Mansion (Tennessee)
Chucalissa
Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum
McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture
President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library
Texas
Blaffer Art Museum
Blanton Museum of Art
Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens
Dishman Art Museum
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports
Harry Ransom Center
Institute of Texan Cultures
J. Wayne Stark Galleries
Lubbock Lake Landmark
Mayborn Museum Complex
Meadows Museum
Museum of Texas Tech University
National Ranching Heritage Center
Old Stone Fort Museum (Texas)
Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum
The Pearce Collections at Navarro College
Sanders Corps of Cadets Center
Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum
Texas Science and Natural History Museum
Woodland (Huntsville, Texas)
Utah
Brigham Young University Museum of Art
Brigham Young University Museum of Peoples and Cultures
BYU Museum of Paleontology
Education in Zion Gallery
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art
Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum
Natural History Museum of Utah
Southern Utah Museum of Art
USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum
USU Museum of Anthropology
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Vermont
Fleming Museum of Art
Middlebury College Museum of Art
Sullivan Museum and History Center
Virginia
Anderson Gallery
Eleanor D. Wilson Museum
Fralin Museum of Art
Highland (James Monroe house)
Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection
Lee Chapel
Longwood Center for the Visual Arts
Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College
McCormick Observatory
Gari Melchers Home & Studio
Muscarelle Museum of Art
Pantops Farm
Washington
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Henry Art Gallery
Slater Museum of Natural History
West Virginia
Art Museum of West Virginia University
Jackson's Mill
The Royce J. and Caroline B. Watts Museum
Wisconsin
Barlow Planetarium
Chazen Museum of Art
Thomas A. Greene Memorial Museum
Grohmann Museum
Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art
L. R. Ingersoll Physics Museum
Logan Museum of Anthropology
UW–Madison Geology Museum
Weis Earth Science Museum
Wright Museum of Art
Wyoming
Tate Geological Museum
University of Wyoming Anthropology Museum
University of Wyoming Art Museum
University of Wyoming Geological Museum
Werner Wildlife Museum
See also
American Alliance of Museums
Effects of the Great Recession on museums
Museum Accreditation in America
List of university art museums and galleries in New York State