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Portraits, including that of Elias Ashmole (middle), hang above donated artifacts in the permanent "Ashmolean Story" Gallery, established in 2017. 

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Elias Ashmole established the first public Natural History Museum at Oxford University in 1683. As a scholar, antiquarian, and royalist, Ashmole created a catalog for the Tradescant family’s extensive collection of artifacts in 1656 while they were still on private display and providing monetary gain from visitors. Due to his efforts and involvement in curating and recording the collection, Elias Ashmole was gifted the entirety of John Tradescant’s catalog. However, these artifacts seemed to have fallen into appreciative hands, and Ashmole liberated the Tradescant collection from the exclusive position it once held by adding his contributions and presenting them to Oxford University to encourage accessible education and science. While this museum and its affiliated University receive monetary donations from various sources, this initial funding through the deprivitization of an entire exhibit is extremely significant to the development and creation of these institutions today.

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Founded by those unified through a passion for literature, the Charleston Library Society proudly allows public access to its digital and physical archives. 

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America’s first Natural History Museum was established as the Charleston Library Society by nineteen Englishmen. Initially formed in 1748 as a semi-migratory collection of influential, educational pamphlets, books, and news from Great Britain, membership and support grew over time. Despite hardships such as a massive fire in 1778, these scholars successfully pooled their collective efforts into the survival of the society as it moved around. Eventually, the contents of the library were able to be kept in the Library Society’s permanent location of 164 King Street in Charleston, South Carolina.

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The oldest museum building in the United States, the Peale Museum, stood as a long hallway in Baltimore, MD. 

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As an artist, collector, and soldier in the American Revolution, Charles Wilson Peale began curating his collection from his own artwork: paintings of major generals and George Washington from the American Revolution. He kept these, along with artifacts and objects that were donated to and sourced by him in a long room that would eventually be considered one of the United States' first museums. Most of his funds came from his $1 tickets and his remarkably effective fundraising tactics, where he used his institution's place in the community to create profit. Once Peale died in 1827, it was clear that the majority of his museum's success came from his marketing, and his sons closed the Peale Museum doors in 1840.

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The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (The Berlin Museum of Natural History), as it stood prior to WWII.  

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Established in 1810 through the merging of three smaller collections, The Berlin Museum of Natural History initially served the Humboldt University of Berlin's campus. After being devastated by World War II, a shocking 75% of the museum's collections were able to be saved, and it reopened in 1945 as soon as the war ended. In an effort to support the steady flow of visitors without major disruptions to the museum's operations, a ten-year-long renovation and extension project was announced in 2018. Germany's Parliament and the city of Berlin will pay €330m each to repair WWII damages, build a new research center, and digitize all collections, using government funding to revamp and modernize this historical institution.

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A drawing of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., which is one of the most well-known American museums. 

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John Smithson, an Englishman man first made relevant by his notable contributions to advancing the field of chemistry and mineralogy, dedicated his life towards his desire for notability in pioneering public education. With money he inherited from his mother, a descendant of Henry VII, Smithson used his will as a vehicle for a generous donation to fund an American institution with the intent to widely spread knowledge and expand the European model of museums West. This early display of overseas philanthropy was accepted by the United States Congress in 1836, and the Smithsonian Institution was established in 1846 from a gift of approximately $508,318.46. Displays of reverence for educational institutions and direct efforts to create accessible spaces of information through funding new institutions not only show the power of creating public spaces, but also hold the ability to expose private investors’ use of wealth to establish control over museum operations.

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A painting of the Palace of Fine Arts as it appeared in San Francisco's Marina District, 1915. 

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Designed by architect Bernard Maybeck for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, the Palace of Fine Arts was intended to be a stunning viewpoint and peaceful sanctuary for visitors passing through the fair. The sole reason that this structure was left standing after the expo and could now be considered a museum is because of a donor's notice of public appreciation for it and its beautiful, Roman architecture. Phoebe Apperson Hearst founded the Palace Preservation League during the fair to ensure that the Palace of Fine Arts would remain standing, demonstrating the power of community adoration for art.

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The San Francisco Exploratorium's museum floor and exhibits, 1975, full of visitors in its early years.

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Frank Oppenheimer, a physicist that helped develop atomic bombs, was barred from teaching or practicing science due to his involvement with communism in the 1950s, during the Mccarthy era. He left the education scene until eventually teaching high school students and putting on impressive, interactive science demonstrations. With the assistance of funds not specified on the Exploratorium's history page, Oppenheimer gained control of the empty space that once housed San Francisco's aforementioned Palace of Fine Arts and developed his science museum. The reach of this institution and its funding has grown exponentially over the years, and the popularity of Oppenheimer's unique museum does not seem to be at risk.

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The 2019 grand opening of The Newberry County Museum in Newberry, South Carolina.

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Any struggles that small, public museums face in receiving adequate funding are typically tied up within city council meetings and official budget discussions. The passionate townspeople of Newberry voted for $2.2 million to be allocated towards restoring this historical building after it was declared as the site of a future museum in 2013. When the government attempted to delete $70,000 in funding for this project, it became a special case of community involvement. Those that supported the creation of this educational institution showed up at Newberry County Council meetings and demanded the use of the money, which proved successful. Locals also raised $180,000 to extend the construction budget, which allowed the Newberry County Museum to exist as a source of future revenue and a beacon of county togetherness.

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Rest in peace: an example of what happens to a nonprofit museum without enough government funding during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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2020- The California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks

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2020- The California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks

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In 2020, museum visitor count and revenue generated plummeted due to COVID-19 outbreaks and pandemic-related operational restrictions, leaving over 30% of U.S. museums under threat of closure. Although the government was primarily concerned with treating the worldwide healthcare crisis in March, $200 million of federal funds were distributed to museums and cultural institutions via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The epidemic’s monumental blow to museum profits and attendance was often fatal to small or publicly funded museums such as The California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks, which was initially kept afloat by emergency government funding. Once their financial aid ran dry and crowdfunding efforts were exhausted due to the pandemic, however, CMATO was forced to close its doors and abandon its mission, solemnly surrendering the name of community art to the mercy of capitalism in 2022.

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Michelangelo's "Doni Tondo" in Florence, Italy's Uffizi Gallery changed the game of art auctions by being the first NFT sale to fund a museum. 

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In recent years, museums such as The Uffizi Gallery have turned towards selling pieces of art as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) as a form of fundraising. This institution has been in partnership with the Cinello Gallery in Florence, Italy since 2016 to create digital encrypted works of art, but waited until 2021 to be the first museum using NFTs to generate revenue with the sale of Michelangelo's Doni Tondo for $170,000. Although funds from the purchase of this artwork were originally employed to stabilize the monetary chaos inflicted upon The Uffizi Gallery from the Covid-19 pandemic, many other museums have also sold NFT art for significant financial gain. Revolutionary technological methods such as these sales allow institutions to save themselves from bankruptcy if the government assistance and funding they need never arrive.