Welcome to the Collections of the University of Richmond Museums

The University of Richmond Museums comprises the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center, and the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature.

Inaugurated on September 22, 2001, the Harnett Print Study Center opened with generous funding from Joel (RC'45) and Lila Harnett, Phoenix, Arizona. The Center is a facility dedicated to the education, research, and exhibition of works on paper, and it extends the Museums' mission to provide a forum for the study and appreciation of the visual arts.

The 1,200-square-foot facility houses the permanent collection of prints, drawings, and photographs of the University of Richmond Museums and includes an exhibition space, a secure print storage area, a seminar room for the University's art history and studio art courses, and a viewing area for prints being researched by students, faculty, and visiting scholars.

The Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art is a forum for the visual arts and a catalyst for widely varied issues of visual expression, art research, and scholarship within the University and throughout the greater Richmond community and region. To further this mission, the museum regularly presents exhibitions, lectures, gallery talks, workshops, concerts, symposia, and other programs. The museum currently utilizes its 4,000 square feet of public galleries to feature approximately 12 rotating exhibitions each year.

Formerly known as the Marsh Art Gallery, the museum moved into new spaces at the George M. Modlin Center for the Arts in 1996, and acquired the I. Webb Surratt Jr. Print Collection, which began the museum's active acquisition of works for the permanent collection. In 2005, the Marsh Art Gallery was renamed the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art in honor of their long-time support of the visual arts on campus.

As the University's natural sciences and decorative arts museum, the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, houses a broad collection of natural objects, cultural art and artifacts, and decorative and fine arts, holds over 100,000 pieces ranging from Jurassic dinosaur fossils to contemporary glass art by Dale Chihuly. Pre-Columbian vessels, ancient coins, Hindu art, and Oceanic art contrast with rare gems and minerals, prehistoric shells, coral, and fluorescent rocks. The collection of Asian art and artifacts includes more than 300 Chinese ceramics, spanning twenty centuries.

The museum began with the donations of longtime benefactor, Mrs. Lora Robins, in 1977. The original museum, which housed minerals, decorative arts, and shell specimens, was expanded and relocated in 1989 to its present location in a separate wing of the Boatwright Memorial Library.

This site is under construction, please check back regularly as more objects are being added. Use the menu buttons at the left to browse the collection.

Last updated: 12/4/2007