1917
Sallie Casey Thayer provides the University of Kansas with a gift of nearly 7,500 art objects to found a museum “to encourage the study of fine arts in the Middle West.”

1928
The University of Kansas Museum of Art is established in Spooner Hall.

1978
Having outgrown its quarters in Spooner Hall, the Museum moves to a new building funded by Kansas City art collector Helen Foresman Spencer. The Museum is renamed The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art in her honor.

2007
The Museum assumes stewardship of more than 9,000 objects from the former KU Museum of Anthropology, vastly expanding the scope of its collection. 

2016
The Museum completes Phase I renovation, transforming nearly 30,000 square feet of the facility and creating the Stephen H. Goddard Study Center and the Jack & Lavon Brosseau Center for Learning.