History

The Trout Gallery was created in 1983 through the generosity of Ruth Trout ’36 and her sister Helen, who dedicated the museum in honor of their parents Brook and Mary. The museum was founded in conjunction with the transformation of the college’s old gymnasium into the Emil R. Weiss Center for the Arts. The original gymnasium was built in 1929, and occupies a central position on the college campus, directly opposite Old West—the architectural heart of the campus. The building’s exterior follows the designs of Benjamin Latrobe plans for Old West and the two mirror-like facades and adjoining quads form the major north-south axis of the campus. The Trout Gallery shares the main and lower levels of the Weiss Center with the Rubendall Recital Hall. The upper floors house offices and studios for the departments of Music and Art and Art History.  

 

Upon the creation of The Trout Gallery, the College’s collections of art and ethnographic artifacts that had been acquired over time since Dickinson College was chartered by Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1783, were  consolidated into the museum’s core holdings. Since 1983, the collections have grown to more than eleven thousand works, with particular strengths in European and American works on paper and ethnographic materials from sub-Saharan Africa.  

 

The Trout Gallery features a pair of exhibition spaces. In both the entrance-level gallery and the lower-level gallery, visitors will find thematic exhibitions with selections from the museum’s permanent collection, solo exhibitions by prominent contemporary artists, and temporary exhibitions borrowed from other institutions and collections. During the spring semester of each year, The Trout Gallery hosts an exhibition curated by Art History seniors and an exhibition that features thesis projects by seniors in the Studio Art program. In addition to these opportunities for students to curate and exhibit their artwork in The Trout Gallery, students and faculty actively engage in programs and exhibitions. Faculty are invited to have select works from the permanent collection installed in the Curriculum Gallery on the lower level for student research and reflection. Additionally, a team of 20 Dickinson College student interns lead classes, tours, and activities in the Gallery throughout the year.  

 

In 2007, The Trout Gallery opened the doors to the Mumper-Stuart Education Center, the home of the museum’s Education Program. Located next to the lower level exhibition gallery, the Center provides an ideal learning environment for the museum’s K-12 programming.