University of Mississippi Museum

The University of Mississippi Museum is a museum owned and operated by the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The museum is designed to appeal to both a popular and scholarly audience, with a collection that emphasizes objects of regional interest. In addition to collections of Southern folk art, Greek and Roman antiquities, 19th century scientific instruments, and American fine art, the museum owns and operates Rowan Oak, an historic house museum that once was the dwelling of William Faulkner. The Museum has also since 1995 provided tours of the Walton-Young Historic House, a restored Victorian household.

History

The museum has its origins in the Mary Buie Museum, opened in Oxford in 1939. The museum was named for Mary Skipwith Buie, an artist who left her estate to the city on her death in 1937. It also contained the collection of Mary's sister, Kate Skipwith, who possessed not only antiques, but such memorabilia as American Revolutionary War correspondence by notable Americans George Washington, John Hancock, and John Adams. From 1939 to 1974, the museum was run and expanded by the City of Oxford with funds from the Skipwith family and governmental programs.

The University of Mississippi took over the museum in 1974 and expanded it with the new Kate Skipwith Teaching Museum wing in 1975, funded in part by the Adair Skipwith Foundation. It combined its collections with those already displayed in the Mary Buie Museum. Collectively, the Walton-Young Historic House, the Buie Museum and the Skipwith Museum are called the University Museums. The University Museums are researching a potential expansion with the addition of a William Faulkner wing.

See also

• University of Mississippi
• Mississippi
• Oxford, Mississippi

External links

• University of Mississippi Museum official web site