While only a small percentage of the full collection can be on view at any time, you can make a request to see a specific artwork during our public viewing hours.

Requests must be made at least one month in advance to allow time for the registrarial team to assess the object to determine whether it can safely be removed from storage for study and prepare it for viewing.

Contact Sarah Luko, Manager of Exhibitions and Collections (sarah-luko@uiowa.edu), with questions.

Tours typically last one hour and occur during normal museum hours. Docents or museum staff lead all scheduled tours. 

Minimum tour size is 7 people. Tours must be requested at least one month in advance.

Contact Josh Siefken, Associate Curator of Education (joshua-siefken@uiowa.edu), with questions. 

In the midst of the Great Depression, the University of Iowa embarked on a visionary expansion. Seeking to integrate and professionalize arts teaching as part of its core identity, the Fine Arts and Performing Arts buildings were constructed on West campus. The UI was one of the first public universities to understand the power of art to encourage independent, creative, and responsive thought while fostering a robust civil society. In a period marked by economic and political crises, the UI established the first MFA program in the world and committed itself to collecting the best contemporary art from which students and faculty could learn and generate research.

The Iowa Digital Library features a trove of digital objects created from the holdings of the University of Iowa Libraries and its campus partners. Included are illuminated manuscripts, historic maps, fine art, historic newspapers, scholarly works, and more.

Before the Stanley Museum of Art reopened in 2022, we collaborated with the UI Main Libraries and the Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio to publish some of our collection online. The Iowa Digital Library allows you to explore a sample of the range, depth, and breadth of our extraordinary collection.