Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Jr. Museum opened in 1894, three years after the university was founded. Although best-known for its Rodin sculpture garden, the museum now known as the Cantor Arts Center offers a variety of galleries and exhibitions from ancient cultures to the works of 20th century masters. Collection highlights include 2500 works from African artists dating back to ancient Egypt and the sub-Saharan cultures of the 19th and 20th century, two galleries of European and American paintings and sculpture from the 16th to 19th centuries, and nearly four thousand works by ancient and modern Chinese and Japanese artists. There is also a dedicated gallery for works by Native artists of North and South America, including pieces that represent the Anasazi and Hopewell cultures of the American Southwest. Admission is free.

The museum was established as the Stanford Art Museum and was part of Stanford University in 1891. The museum opened to the public in 1894, featuring items from around the world that were collected by Leland Stanford Jr., the late son of university benefactor and former California Governor and railroad magnate Leland Stanford and his wife Jane. Though only fifteen years old when he died, Leland Jr. had traveled extensively with his parents throughout Europe and collected antiquities throughout his childhood; he assembled them into a museum as a teenager. He became ill and died on one of the European trips in 1884. His distraught parents sought to honor their child's memory by educating others' children, and the museum was part of his legacy. Leland Sr. and Jane also amassed a large collection of paintings and sculpture during their decades of travel. The museum is unique in that it was established by a single family and opened with a collection of world art that matched those of the Met in NYC and other great public museums. 

Tragedy struck the museum in 1906, when the San Francisco earthquake destroyed two-thirds of the museum and many of the items in its collection. The museum faced periods of decline and stagnation, until 1945 when it temporarily closed its doors; it didn't reopen until 1954. An effort to restore the former great museum began in the 1960s and in 1985, funds were donated that permitted the creation of the now-famous Rodin sculpture garden. The Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989 again caused serious damage to the museum. The museum was rebuilt from 1995 to 1999 and included a seismic retrofit of the building and a new wing. In its most recent incarnation, the Stanford University Museum of Art was renamed the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. The museum's one millionth visitor arrived in July 2005.

Museum History and Interactive Timeline, Cantor Arts Center (accessed 7/26/16) http://museum.stanford.edu/explore/timeline.html

Nash, Herbert Charles. In Memorium. Leland Stanford, Jr.. 1884.

Stanford University. History, Cantor Arts Center: About. January 1st, 2024. Accessed August 6th, 2024. https://museum.stanford.edu/about/history.