For more than forty years, art association member Nellie May Vance was an advocate for the University of Nebraska as well as for the arts.

One day in 1935, on her way to a meeting in Morrill Hall—which then housed the university's art collection—Vance overheard a young girl ask her father if they could visit the second floor. His immediate "no" was followed by "pictures, there's nothing but pictures up there." That same afternoon, Vance met with Chancellor Edgar A. Burnett to initiate an outreach program that would circulate art exhibitions throughout the state.

Vance's work on behalf of our collection and the University of Nebraska received grant funding from the Carnegie Foundation and became a model for similar national and international art education programs. The outreach Vance set in motion continues today as Sheldon Statewide, an exhibition and outreach program through which original artworks from the museum’s collection travel to communities across the state.