Spencer Museum of Art

In 1917, Kansas City art collector Sallie Casey Thayer offered her collection of nearly 7,500 art objects to the University of Kansas to form a museum "to encourage the study of fine arts in the Middle West." Her eclectic collection included paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, furniture, rugs, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, glass, and other examples of decorative arts, primarily from Europe and Asia. The University of Kansas Museum of Art, housed in Spooner Hall, was established in 1928 based on this collection. In 1978 the Museum was renamed The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art. Today, the Museum’s collection exceeds 45,000 objects.