1. W&L Sets Location for Institutional History Museum

By News Office
September 23, 2024

Plans for Washington and Lee University's Institutional History Museum are beginning to take shape. The university intends to build the new museum on an area of campus located near the intersection of Jefferson Ave. and Washington St., at the northern end of what is currently the Corral parking lot. The museum will complement existing historical exhibit spaces in the University Chapel Galleries and the Washington Hall Galleries, with modern exhibitions, comprehensive interpretation, and engaging programs that educate and inspire visitors to reflect on Washington and Lee University's history and its place in the history of the nation.

The museum was identified as a priority in the university's Strategic Plan, which was approved by W&L's Board of Trustees in 2018. A working group comprised of trustees, administrative staff, faculty and alumni was formed to imagine and develop the museum and to consider how it will relate to the university's other campus galleries. The working group, co-chaired by Trustee Bill Payne '88 and Vice President for Finance and Administration Steve McAllister, engaged the architectural firm Quinn Evans and the museum design firm Gallagher & Associates to support this effort.

"The Institutional History Museum is an exciting step forward for Washington and Lee and an opportunity to preserve and showcase the many fascinating threads of our 275-year history. Our hope is that visitors to the museum will find reflections of their own experiences with W&L and learn of the experiences and contributions of countless others in our community," said Payne. "Steve and I are grateful to the members of our working group and the experts at Quinn Evans and Gallagher & Associates for their efforts to bring the project to this point, and we're looking forward to creating a space that both tells W&L's unique story and furthers our educational mission."

The current plan calls for a facility of approximately 40,000 gross square feet that will have multiple galleries, with space for professional exhibits that span the university's history, including George Washington and Robert E. Lee's legacies and respective contributions to education and to W&L, as well as student exhibitions, a seminar room, a multipurpose community meeting room, collections storage and conservation, and administrative offices. Visitors will access the museum through the War Memorial Gates on Jefferson Street and through an entry point and plaza facing W&L's historic Front Lawn. Additional parking will be added adjacent to the site, expanding the university's existing parking inventory.

Later this fall, the working group will begin community outreach to gather input on the museum's programming and visitor experience. That effort, led by Director of the Institutional History Museum and Galleries Matthew Davis and consultants at Gallagher and Associates, will engage students, faculty, staff, alumni, local community members, external historians, and museum professionals.

"Building a museum is an incredible opportunity to create an interactive educational space that can benefit our whole community," said Davis. "I am excited to begin work on this project and to gain insights from our various stakeholders on their hopes and aspirations for the museum that will aid the planning team, museum staff, and designers in crafting the new facility."

When complete, the Institutional History Museum will present important exhibits and artifacts to help visitors understand the many people and events that shaped Washington and Lee's history and contributed to making W&L the distinctive university that it is today.