Considered a “classic American museum,” the Worcester Art Museum has built a 35,000-piece collection that spans over fifty centuries. The Museum was founded in 1896 by Stephen Salisbury III and 50 prominent citizens of Worcester and opened to the public in 1898. The original collection consisted mainly of works on loan, along with plaster casts of famous ancient and Renaissance sculpture.

In 1905, the wealthy Stephen Salisbury died, leaving his extensive collection of mostly American art to the Museum. He also bequeathed $3 million to the institution, allowing it to aggressively collect art in the subsequent decades. It was through a number of significant gifts and purchases that the collection of the Museum today was formed. From the time of the first director, Philip J. Gentner, to the current Director Matthias Waschek, the Worcester Art Museum has been committed to acquiring works from all time periods and places.

Worcester Art Museum Milestones
1904: One of the first museums to exhibit photography as a fine art
1910: The first museum in the nation to purchase works by Claude Monet
1919: One of the country's first museum/public school collaborations established
1927: The first museum to bring a medieval building to America
1932: A sponsor of the major excavation at Antioch, one of the four great cities of ancient Rome
1987: The first museum to create an Art All-State program for high-school artists
1993: The originator of the first exhibition of Dutch master Judith Leyster
1998: The first museum to focus its contemporary art program on art of the last 10 years

The Museum building has expanded several times over the years, in 1921, 1933, 1940, 1970 (Higgins Education Wing addition), and 1983 (Frances L. Hiatt Wing for special exhibitions; study and storage area for prints, drawings, and photographs; and an expanded conservation area).

Exhibitions
Since less than 5 percent of its permanent collection is on display, the Museum organizes temporary exhibitions in three major areas: Contemporary, Asian and Prints, Drawings and Photographs (PDP). These exhibits allow visitors to experience more of the permanent collection as well as to view important works on loan.

Education Programs
The Worcester Art Museum offers a number of educational programs for youth, teen and adults, enrolling 7,000 students annually. The Higgins Education Wing, opened in 1970, contains studios and classrooms, a professional printmaking studio, a computer studio, photography lab and an exhibition space for student works.

Educational programs include traditional studio courses, interdisciplinary instruction, art history lectures, internships, Travel Learning, and programs such as Art All-State, an opportunity for high-school students to explore art and art-related careers with their peers and professional artists. There are also programs and resources for teachers. Both general and topic-specific public tours are offered weekly.

The education program provides generous scholarships to students based on financial need. Through this funding, one out of three children and one out of five adults attend classes at no charge.

Library
The Worcester Art Museum Library, open to all, is a non-circulating bibliographic resource containing nearly 45,000 titles. Approximately 45,000 slides, primarily reflecting the collection of the Museum, are available for loan. The Library is operated in association with the College of the Holy Cross.

The Museum, in collaboration with the College of the Holy Cross, established an online resource called Bridges to Art. This web site, which includes images and research materials and provides access to the library catalogs of the two institutions, is an important resource for both students and teachers in many disciplines.

Conservation Department
Founded in the 1930s as one of the first of its kind in the country, this department is dedicated to the care and preservation of the collection and employs a number of highly trained conservators. The Worcester Art Museum was the first to share with the public information about paintings detected through radiography and infrared photography. The department recently received $1.8 million in grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for staff, training, and equipment.