Hampton University Museum

Founded in 1868 as part of Hampton University’s educational mission articulated by Gen. Samuel Chapman Armstrong to influence “the head, the hand and the heart,” the Hampton University Museum is the oldest African-American museum in the United States and one of the oldest museums in Virginia. Its collections include more than 9,000 objects, featuring African-American fine arts, traditional African, Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Asian art, along with materials related to the university’s history. From its beginning, its purpose has been to foster knowledge, understanding, and respect for diverse cultures and traditions while instilling pride in ethnic identity and knowledge of world cultures. Housed in the Collis P. Huntington Building, originally the campus library and a memorial gift from Mrs. C.P. Huntington to her husband, a trustee of Hampton Institute, it also shares the building with the Hampton University Archives, a major repository on the history and culture of African Americans and American Indians in the United States. In 1894, with the acquisition of two paintings by Henry O. Tanner, including Banjo Lesson, it established the world’s first collection of African-American art, and its fine arts holdings now include the largest existing museum collections of works by John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Samuel Lewis.

Hampton, Virginia · United States