Ackland Art Museum.

Variant names

Dates:

Active 1958

Active 1993

Nationality: Americans,

Language: English,

Biographical notes:

The University of North Carolina's first art museum, established in 1937, was located in Person Hall and known as the Person Hall Art Gallery. In 1958 a new building was completed with funds from the bequest of William Hayes Ackland. The museum then moved and was renamed the William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center; in 1979 its name changed again, to the Ackland Art Museum. The museum was part of the Dept. of Art, and the department chairman served as its Director, until 1974, when the museum became a separate administrative unit. (The bulk of the museum's pre-1974 records are among the Records of the Department of Art).

From the description of Records of the Ackland Art Museum, 1958-1993 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 26707487

The University of North Carolina's first art museum, established in 1937, was located in Person Hall and known as the Person Hall Art Gallery. In 1958, a new building was completed with funds from the bequest of William Hayes Ackland. The museum then moved and was renamed the William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center; in 1979 its name changed again, to the Ackland Art Museum. The museum was part of the Department of Art and the department chairman served as its director until 1974, when it became a separate administrative unit.

William Hayes Ackland (1855-1940) was a wealthy, self-styled art collector, who bequeathed funds for a museum to be built at Duke University under the stipulation that his tomb, along with a recumbent effigy of himself, be prominently placed in the foyer. Duke refused the bequest, and the University of North Carolina, citing an earlier will naming the University of North Carolina as Ackland's second choice to receive the museum and Rollins College as his third, successfully argued at inquest that the University at Chapel Hill should receive the funds to build the museum.

1958 1978 Joseph C. Sloane 1978 1983 Evan Turner 1983 1986 Innis Shoemaker 1986 1993 Charles Millard 1994 2006 Gerald D. Bolus 2006 Emily Kass

Thanks to the Ackland bequest and to subsequent endowments, the museum has amassed an extensive permanent collection that spans the history of European and American painting, sculpture, photography, and the graphic arts from antiquity to the present day. The collection also includes important examples of Asian and North Carolina folk art and is particularly rich in European drawings and prints. In addition, the museum regularly hosts major traveling exhibitions from the United States and abroad.

From the guide to the Ackland Art Museum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1958-1993, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives.)