How the motives of art patronage during the American Renaissance shaped the art museum; the American art museum - a symbol of democracy; America's first museums - the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the role of the federal government - the National Gallery, Washington, DC, the National Endowment for the Arts; the development of American modernism and its influence on the American art museum; art for the masses - a study of educational practices in American art museums; capitalism and the American art museum - an analysis of the corporate influence; the scholar and the capitalist - the common goals of Alfred H Barr and Nelson Rockefeller in building the Museum of Modern Art; transformations - a developmental examination of the Museum of Modern Art.
