Photo by Rebecca Arrington

University of Virginia Art Museum

Museum changes name

The Bayly Art Museum is beginning the academic year with a new name — University of Virginia Art Museum. “Actually, it’s our original name,” said Jill Hartz, the museum’s director.

The museum was built in 1935 to honor Thomas H. Bayly, a University alumnus, and the building on Rugby Road was funded with a major bequest by Bayly’s daughter, Evelyn May Bayly Tiffany with a grant from the federal government.

“The name of the museum has always been the University of Virginia Art Museum,” Hartz said. “At some point in our history, the stationery was changed from the ‘University of Virginia Art Museum, Thomas H. Bayly Building’ to the shortened version — Bayly Art Museum.” The name of the building remains the Thomas H. Bayly Building, in commemoration of his service as a delegate to the Virginia General Assembly, as a circuit court judge and as a U.S. Congressman.