Two major gifts to Princeton University's Venture Forward campaign will name the Wilmerding Pavilion and the Anschutz Galleries in the new Princeton University Art Museum, opening October 31, 2025. The Wilmerding Pavilion, named by donor Louisa Stude Sarofim in honor of the late John Wilmerding, will house the museum's American art collections, while The Anschutz Foundation has named the five individual galleries within the pavilion. Wilmerding was a pioneering American art historian, curator, and collector who taught at Princeton and helped define the field.
This naming gift matters because it significantly expands the museum's capacity to display American art, including Spanish Colonial and Native American works, with a nearly five-fold increase in the number of works on view. It also underscores Princeton's commitment to American art scholarship, building on Wilmerding's legacy and the university's endowed professorship in the field. The gifts reflect a broader trend of major philanthropic support for university art museums, enhancing both public access and academic teaching.