As the largest museum in New Jersey, the Newark Museum of Art has assembled important and highly regarded collections in the fine arts and decorative arts. It has collected specimens of rocks and minerals as well as plants and animals to illustrate the natural sciences. In all of these areas, it has developed innovative exhibitions. Finally, it has designed engaging educational programs that are both inspirational and transformative for people of all ages from the diverse communities that it serves. In many respects, it remains the model of the "new museum" that was imagined at its inception--a place dedicated to objects and the ideas embodied by them. In the words of founding director John Cotton Dana, "A good museum attracts, entertains, arouses curiosity, leads to questioning, and thus promotes learning."

William A. Peniston served as the librarian and archivist for the Newark Museum of Art for 25 years (from 1995 to 2021). With a doctorate in history from the University of Rochester, he has curated anniversary exhibitions, written blogs and newsletter articles, and edited The New Museum: Selected Writings by John Cotton Dana .