The first African art objects in the Ohio University Kennedy Museum of American Art were acquired by faculty members who taught in Nigeria from 1958-1960. Isabel Werk, a former Art Education faculty member, collected examples of Nigerian sculpture and, with Warren Rienige a former professor in the College of Business arranged for their shipment to Athens. A second collection was later formed in Nigeria between 1964 and 1966 by Mary Leonard, another member of the Art Education faculty. Edwin Kennedy a former trustee of Ohio University and the namesake of the museum, donated the funds for this second purchase. In 1979 and 1983 the African art collection expanded with the addition of objects from other areas of Africa, including Liberia, Mali, Cameroon, and Zaire. This expansion was made possible by gifts from the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1979 and from Frederick and Carol LaSor in 1983.
The following graduate students from African Studies and the School of Art (Art History, Ceramics, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture) redesigned the African art exhibit located on the thrid floor of Alden Libarary as a class project for a graduate seminar, "Exhibiting African Art," taught by Judith Perani in the spring quarter of 1997: Merinda Aubrey, Susan Barbehenn, Sarah Bodnar, Julie Clark, Nick Gampp, Gary Ginther, Dora Oduor, Du Hoang, Allen Keener, Katie Kempton, Ray Kleinlein, Greg Lendeck, Matt Long, Toshie Onoe, Wendy Koenig, and Julie Runnion. The text for the web gallery also came from this endeavor.