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.HistoryThe museum has its origins in the Oxford Art Center, a WPA Federal Art Project community art center that opened in 1939 and evolved into the Mary Buie Museum. Mary Skipwith Buie was 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.