The Denison Museum at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, serves as a teaching museum built around the liberal arts.
Located on the lower level of Burke Hall, now part of the Eisner Center, since 1973, the museum supports classroom learning through a collection of more than 9,000 objects of cultural, historical, scientific and artistic significance. Rather than functioning only as a gallery space, it is closely tied to the university’s curriculum and emphasizes object-based learning across a wide range of disciplines.
Denison’s art collecting began in 1945, when trustee Edmund G. Burke helped establish a foundation for what would become the museum’s collection. Over time, the holdings expanded well beyond fine art and came to include important materials from East Asia, the Central American Guna culture, Africa and the ancient world. Particularly strong areas include Burmese textiles, Thai and Burmese Buddhas, Japanese netsuke, Chinese rubbings and Guna mola textiles.