Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art

Four in one: The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art includes four museums in various locations. This museum was established to present and preserve American art. On April 2, 1975, a small group led by Sean M. Sullivan, T.O.R., then president of Saint Francis College, met to establish an independent art museum that served the greater community, a radical concept even today, when few art museums on college campuses retain complete autonomy. Sullivan, T.O.R, was elected the first president of the new board of trustees. Roger Ferri, a New York architect who received international acclaim, was hired to transform a former college gymnasium into an art museum as his first major commission. 

The facility he designed was lauded in Progressive Architecture (May 1978) and recognized as a model renovation project. On June 12, 1976, the Museum was formally dedicated to the memory of Robert Ward Duggan (1926-1974) and opened its inaugural exhibition of the permanent collection. Michael M. Strueber was employed as the Museum's first director. Strueber retired on January 1, 2000, after serving as the Museum's Director for 23 years. The Museum's Chief Curator, Dr. Michael Tomor, succeeded Strueber as the new Director.

In addition to exhibitions of the permanent collection, an ambitious calendar of special exhibitions is designed annually to provide opportunities to view important trends in American art. The permanent collection includes 19th—and 20th-century painting, sculpture, drawing, and prints, highlighted with works by Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, and John Sloan.

The Ligonier Valley facility is modeled on an authentic log cabin design that reflects the historic community, and is surrounded by gardens maintained by a volunteer auxiliary.

The Loretto facility at Saint Francis University serves as the headquarters to the complex of four Museum facilities and is a repository for the permanent collection of works of American art.