Collection on the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts

To humble beginnings, the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts was founded in 1883 by 25 professional and business leaders at the time, fourteen men and eleven women. In the beginning they owned six works of art and were housed in one room in the newly built Minneapolis Public Library. The Society's primary duty was to develop an art culture in the city and present exhibitions, but they dreamed of a greater "temple for art and music" that would include galleries, a school, and an orchestra hall. The Society founded the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts in 1886, which was also initially housed in the library building. The school would later change its name to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

By 1911 the Society's members had raised enough funds to build their own building, which was planned to be built in stages. In 1915, the central part of the new Minneapolis Institute of Arts building was finished and the Society, both its art gallery and school, moved into their new home. In 1965, the Society added a third organization, the Children's Theatre Company, which was given its own theatre in the 1970s expansion of the Society of Fine Arts Park.

The Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts was the umbrella organization of the MIA, MCAD, and Children's Theater Company, all housed on the Society of Fine Arts Park. The Children's Theater Company separated itself from the Society in 1975. They continued to take charge of the MIA and MCAD until 1987, when they divided their money and staff amongst the two and gave them free reign to run the college and the museum as they saw fit, essentially dissolving the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts.