Museums & Collections

Discover treasures from Harvard’s museums and special collections, from ancient artifacts to modern art.

A vibrant composition of flowers, a bird, and butterflies with a distant manor under a moody sky.

Rachel Ruysch’s Lush (Still) Life

Now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, a Dutch painter’s art proved a treasure trove for scientists.

by Lydialyle Gibson

A collage featuring, from left: a young Ogden Codman Jr. in a sepia-toned portrait; items from the Codman Estate displayed in a museum; a close-up of a chair reflecting the English Arts and Crafts movement style; and a sample of the “Brother Rabbit” textile pattern, popular between 1882-90.

Men and Their Castles

Historic New England explores the “bachelor decorators”

by Nell Porter-Brown

A boy in period military dress

Boston’s USS Constitution and its Museum

USS Constitution—for all ages

by Max J. Krupnick

Beau McCall, at left, wearing Button Jacket: Born in Philly, Made in Harlem, circa 1988, and his partner, Souleo, wearing Button Jacket: Stacked Sleeves, circa early 1990s-2021

Art Made Out of Buttons

Works by Harlem-based artist Beau McCall at Brockton's Fuller Craft Museum

by Nell Porter-Brown

Fairfield Porter's “Self-Portrait in the Studio,” painted in 1948

An Underknown Twentieth Century Realist Artist

Brief life of an American realist artist and critic: 1907-1975

by Jane Borthwick

Botanical works from Houghton’s collections displayed in the renovated lobby’s display cases for a summer exhibition

Botanical illustrations on display at Harvard

Botanical illustrations on display at Harvard’s rare book library

by Jack R. Trapanick

Painting of bold purple tones reflecting experience of music

MASS MoCA Exhibition on the Experience of Jazz

Works by Jason Moran at MASS MoCA

by Nell Porter-Brown

Two MAD Magazine covers

MAD Magazine at the Norman Rockwell Museum

An illustrative retrospective at the Norman Rockwell Museum 

by Nell Porter-Brown

Tunic pattern

The Mystery Behind an Incan Tunic

Unraveling an Inca masterpiece’s secrets

by Max J. Krupnick

Corita Kent’s a man you can lean on (1966) plays with its medium: screenprints are not reversed in the making, but her image is.

Harvard Professor on Printmaking

An art historian analyzes an overlooked medium.

by Murray Whyte

Photograph of participants in a symposium on AI at Harvard

AI @ Harvard

Harvard symposium assesses the new technology.

by Jonathan Shaw