Fleming Museum of Art
| Established | 1931 |
|---|---|
| Location | 61 Colchester Avenue Burlington, Vermont |
| Coordinates | 44°28′50″N 73°11′56″W / 44.48059°N 73.19900°WCoordinates: 44°28′50″N 73°11′56″W / 44.48059°N 73.19900°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Owner | University of Vermont |
| Website | www |
The Fleming Museum of Art is a museum of art and anthropology located at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. The museum's collection includes some 25,000 objects from a wide variety of eras and places. Until 2014, the museum was known as the Robert Hull Fleming Museum.
According to the Vermont Encyclopedia, the museum is a cultural center for the community and "attracts a diverse audience from UVM, area colleges, and the general public." The current director of the museum is Janie Cohen.
The University of Vermont began to acquire a collection of art, artifacts, and other objects in 1826, when a society of faculty and others formed the College of Natural History, a society separate from the University but housing its collections at the Old Mill building on the University Green, in order to begin "the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge in every department of natural history, and the accumulation of books, instruments and all materials which can advance these ends." Among the museum's initial collections were "fossils, stuffed birds, a sperm whale tooth, and a cannon ball that a local resident found while gardening."
When the collection outgrew its Old Mill space, it was relocated to Torrey Hall in 1862. Less than ten years later a third story was built at Torrey Hall for the university's fine arts collection, and the space became known as the Park Gallery of Fine Arts. The collection remained at Torrey Hall in the late 1920s, although it was outgrowing its space.
The formation of the modern Fleming Museum of Art came in 1929, when Katherine Wolcott, the niece and only heir of Robert Hull Fleming and an artist herself, traveled from Chicago to Burlington, intending to establish a scholarship in honor of her late uncle, who had graduated from the University of Vermont in 1862 before becoming a wealthy Chicago grain merchant. Wolcott met with university president Guy Bailey, who proposed a new museum building in memory of Fleming. Wolcott accepted Bailey's proposal and donated $150,000 for the construction of the Fleming Museum. Soon afterward, the museum received another large contribution from James B. Wilbur of Manchester, Vermont, who donated $100,000 and his large collection of books and papers - including the papers of Ethan Allen - related to the history of Vermont to the museum. These two gifts funded the $300,000 cost of construction the museum, and Wolcott donated an additional $150,000 for an endowment soon after. The museum opened in 1931.
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