Mutual Belonging as a Collecting Criterion

Abstract

This article analyzes the development of a collection of African American art at the Muskegon Museum of Art in terms of a relationship of mutual belonging with the city's African American public. When the museum opened as the Hackley Art Gallery in 1912, the city's population was more than 99% European American. Lack of an African American public and lack of cultural discourse that encouraged representation of diversity meant that even the one significant African American artwork owned by the museum was not displayed as relevant to African Americans. Today, Muskegon's population is approximately 58% European American, or white, and 32% African American. The museum now collects and displays African American art as relevant not only to African Americans but also to all of its public. But this shift in collection management occurred only after an important member of the African American community held the museum accountable to that community.