The Tweed’s historical collection of American art traces its beginnings to works originally acquired by banker and mining financier George P. Tweed (1871 – 1946) and donated by his widow Alice Tweed Tuohy to the University of Minnesota Duluth between 1950 and 1973. Nineteenth-century works, including excellent examples in landscape and portraiture, dominated the collection until a visiting artist’s program, initiated in 1949 with artist Charles Burchfield, provided the museum with an opportunity to add 20th-century art. Generous endowments have also allowed the museum to grow and diversify its collection.