Abstract

How could one family have profoundly shaped art museums and art collections in a major American city? The Dayton family members have been the key donors of the art collections and endowments at the Minneapolis Institute of Art since the 1940s and have made a fundamental impact on the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden since the 1960s. This research experiments with humanistic and qualitative research methods by combining participatory observations and interviews, as primary sources, with literature reviews as secondary sources. The research question is centered on how one family has shaped the major museums in Minneapolis of the twentieth century, and their influences on the contemporary city cultures can still be felt today.