SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM ASSOCIATION. In 1990 the San Antonio Museum Association, chartered in 1925 to help found the Witte Museum, also operated the San Antonio Museum of Art. From 1968 to 1986 the organization ran a third museum, the San Antonio Museum of Transportation, which was located in HemisFair Plaza. The collections of the Witte and the Museum of Art were owned by the parent organization, which acquired a permanent collection of more than 200,000 artifacts. The association, a private, nonprofit organization, was governed by a board of trustees with no more than thirty members. In 1991 it had an annual budget of $4,700,000 and a staff of sixty-one full-time employees. The San Antonio Museum Association oversaw a comprehensive education program designed to increase public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the cultural and artistic resources at both museums. The association organized tours for schoolchildren in the San Antonio area, offered workshops and curriculum guides to teachers, and sponsored a museum school that provides a variety of educational opportunities for children, families, and adults. In 1989 the museum association opened a Humanities and Science Center at the Witte Museum that provided in-depth, noncredit educational programs for adults. The San Antonio Museum Association also fostered education through the publication of books related to the crafts, culture, and folklore of the Southwest. In 1994 the association ceased to exist, following the formal separation of the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Witte Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: San Antonio Express, December 12, 1976.
