Iowa City, IA – The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to continue a multiyear initiative devoted to provenance research and ethical stewardship of its African and Indigenous North American collections. The three-year grant, covering the period from July 2026 through June 2029, builds on an earlier $400,000 Mellon Foundation grant that established a dedicated research team and resulted in the July 2024 restitution of historical belongings from the Benin Kingdom directly to the Oba of Benin—the first such return by a North American museum.
During the upcoming grant period, the museum’s Mellon-funded team—led by Curator of African Art Dr. Cory Gundlach—will continue rigorous object-oriented provenance research on the African art collection while expanding the project’s scope to include the museum’s Indigenous North American collection. Building on a comprehensive external review by Dr. Jill Yohe, the team will establish consultation with Native Nations and, where appropriate, pursue repatriation. This important work will ensure that the Stanley complies with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and follows its mission to foreground the ethical treatment of people and collections.
“The Mellon Foundation’s renewed investment affirms what we have learned over the past two years: that ethical stewardship of collections is not a one-time act but an ongoing commitment,” said Lauren Lessing, Director of the Stanley Museum of Art. “This grant will allow us to deepen relationships with partners here and abroad, extend our work to Indigenous North American collections, and share what we have learned with peer institutions across the country. We are profoundly grateful to the Mellon Foundation for making this work possible.”
The renewal period will also strengthen long-term partnerships with source communities, scholars, peer museums, and government authorities. Each year, the Stanley will host a symposium or workshop bringing together museum professionals and scholars working on provenance research, ethical collections stewardship, decolonization, restitution and repatriation; proceedings will be recorded and shared publicly. The museum will also launch and continuously expand StoryMaps as a public-facing platform for provenance case studies and methodological reflection.
“Over the past two years, we’ve created a stable workflow for research and a trusted network of relationships that have already produced meaningful results,” said Gundlach. “This renewal period gives us the resources to act on what we’ve learned—and we invite others to continue to learn with us as we move ahead.”
As a culminating project of the 2024-2026 grant cycle, Gundlach and Mellon Curatorial Fellow Dr. Peju Layiwola worked closely with Iowa residents from Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Mali, and Niger to curate Weaving Narratives: African Textiles in Iowa, an exhibition that centered local African perspectives and connected the Stanley’s collection to the experiences of new Iowans.
"Conducting research on such a significant African art collection has been a profound learning experience,” said Layiwola, “Equally meaningful has been the opportunity to facilitate dialogue between community members from where these objects originate. These exchanges have proven deeply enriching for all involved.”
The renewed Mellon grant will also support new curricular integration at the University of Iowa. During the grant period, the Mellon-funded team will launch a cross-listed course on provenance research, restitution, and repatriation, co-taught by curatorial staff and available to students in Art History, Museum Studies, and Criminology, Justice, and Law.
The University of Iowa established the first PhD program in African art history in the United States. The Stanley Museum of Art’s internationally recognized African art collection was developed to support the teaching and study of African art history and has served for over forty years as an important educational resource and a catalyst for scholarly research. The Mellon Foundation’s support has been a crucial catalyst in the re-articulation of the Stanley Museum of Art’s mission, centering ethical stewardship and public accountability as foundational to the museum's future.
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About the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art
Founded in 1969 and reopened in a new 63,000-square-foot building in 2022, the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a leading university art museum that serves as a vital cultural resource for the public and a multidisciplinary creative hub for students across campus. The Stanley holds a collection of nearly 19,000 works from around the world, with strengths in African art and modern and contemporary American and European art. The museum is nationally recognized for its leadership in ethical stewardship, provenance research, and public accountability, exemplified by its 2024 restitution of Benin works directly to the Oba of Benin—the first such return by a North American museum. Admission to the Stanley Museum is always free for everyone, and the museum welcomes nearly 50,000 visitors each year.
About the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the largest supporter of the arts and humanities in the United States. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through its grants, the Foundation seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.
