Named for its founder, William Rutherford Mead (an 1867 graduate of Amherst College and a partner in the storied
architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White), the Mead holds the art collection of Amherst College, celebrated for its American and European paintings, Mexican ceramics, Tibetan scroll paintings, English paneled room, ancient Assyrian carvings, Russian avant - garde art, West African sculpture and
Japanese prints.