Susan shared stories and images of various pieces of art in the museum.
From the internet (primarily https://archives-spec.unl.edu/student-projects/art-enthusiasts)
The Sheldon Museum of Art, founded in 1888 as the Haydon Art Club, later becoming the Nebraska Art Association (NAA). They began collecting work, including items previously displayed in Morrill Hall, in the early 1900s.
The current building at 12th & R streets was built in 1963 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. According to the museum building plans, the gallery would be considered one of the best in the Midwest because of its advancements in art education and appreciation after it was completed. It would even rival other museums around the nation except for the large metropolitan museums in New York.
In 1972, the Sheldon Museum of Art was one of the first museums to receive an accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. This is the highest award given to museums in the United States
Mary Frances Sheldon (Frances Sheldon) and her brother Adam Bromely Sheldon (Bromely Sheldon) made large contributions to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus after their deaths by leaving their combined estates to create the permanent home for art collections found at the university.
They regularly viewed art exhibits and talked frequently, discussing the need for a permanent home for artwork attained by the NAA.
Mary Frances Sheldon and Adams Bromely Sheldon greatly impacted the University after their deaths by donating large amounts of their estates to create a permanent home for university and Nebraska Art Association owned art. The Sheldon Museum of Art has become an icon on campus and continues to culturally impact the people that visit it.
Besides the inside gallary, there are a number of outdoor sculpture pieces displayed around the UNL Campuses. One noted piece is the Torn Notebook by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen at 12th and Q streets. (Image at left is from the slides that Susan shared with us.)
Tours at the Sheldon Museum of Art are given to Lincoln Public Schools students, hosting over 11,000 students. Annually, 80,000 people visit the Sheldon Museum of Art.
The Sheldon Museum of Art was one of the first museums to receive an accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in In 1972 - the highest award given to museums in the United States.
The Sheldon Museum of Art’s collections total over 12,500 works in categories from 19th century landscapes and stills to abstract expressionism.
BIO
Susan Longhenry has served as Director of Sheldon Museum of Art at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska since 2023. Prior to that she served as Director and Chief Curator at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; as Director of the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico; as Alfond Director of Museum Learning and Public Programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; as Director of Education and Public Programs at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and as Curator of Education at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia. Currently chair of the College and University Museum Directors Affinity Group for the Association of Art Museum Directors, Longhenry has also served in national leadership positions with the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, the Mountain Plains Museum Association, and the American Alliance of Museums. She has served as a Peer Review Panelist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Alliance of Museums. Longhenry holds a M.A. in Modern Art History, Theory and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University.