University of Alabama Museums

Welcome to the website for University of Alabama Museums, a division of the College of Arts and Sciences that encompasses five museums, two research departments, and the Discovering Alabama television program.

Who We Are

Our organization includes

• the oldest museum in Alabama
• a 326-acre park on the former site of the political and ceremonial center of a vast Native American chiefdom
• an Emmy Award–winning public television series
• the oldest structure on the University of Alabama campus, one of only a handful of UA buildings that survived the Civil War
• the only museum tracing Tuscaloosa’s history through the development of its transportation systems
• a sports museum that collects, preserves and exhibits items, and disseminates information relating to the sports history of the University of Alabama

Through our two “behind the scenes” divisions, we also develop interdisciplinary research programs focusing on museum-based research and provide archaeological and historic research and cultural resources management services to federal, Native American tribal, state, and local governmental agencies.

For general information about our museums, departments, and programs, visit the Overview page.

You’ll find detailed information about our museums, departments, and programs, on their websites or by contacting them directly.

How We Came to Be

UA Museums as we currently know it — a collection of multiple museums under a single administrative umbrella — stems from a reorganization in 1990. Prior to that all the museums were under the Alabama Museum of Natural History at UA. Until 1961 the museum(s) were part of the Geological Survey of Alabama, reflecting the museums’ roots in the work of pioneering geologist E.A. Smith.

In 2017 UA Museums joined the College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Alabama’s largest division and the academic core of the University. 

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