Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum – formerly The Smith Institute – has played a very special part in the history of Stirling since its foundation in 1874. Established by the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith (1815–1869) on land supplied by the Burgh of Stirling, it is an historic public-private partnership which has continued to the present day. It was founded as a gallery of mainly contemporary art, with museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’.
Fralin Museum of Art
The museum was inaugurated in 1935 in a building designed by Edmund S. Campbell, dean of the School of Art and Architecture, who also served as the museum's first director. A modest collection of art was initially housed in the building, with the university's Special Collections Library holding the majority of the university's collections, including significant pieces of decorative art and documents from Thomas Jefferson. The museum closed during World War II and again during the 1960s, when the School of Architecture requisitioned it for additional classrooms. Subsequently, the museum was reconstituted in 1974 and placed under the Art Department with its Chair, Frederick Hartt, serving as director. David B. Lawall was appointed as curator.