Named for its benefactor, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art was founded in 1982. The creation of this institution was made possible through an insightful and generous gift from the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation. The Museum's collections have eclipsed over 5,000 objects through generous support from the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, Janet Quinney Lawson, Frederick Q. Lawson, and the Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is the nucleus for exhibiting visual arts in northern Utah. Emphasizing modern, post-modern, and contemporary periods of art in the western United States, the Museum’s permanent collections include Twentieth and Twenty-first Century American sculpture, ceramics, paintings, graphic arts, photographs, and American Indian arts. Selections from the permanent collections are always on view and are rotated periodically to reflect the continuing growth of the Museum. The Museum also organizes temporary exhibitions and serves as a venue for art events and programs of national and international stature. Artist talks, films, docent tours, and educational activities are additional dimensions of the Museum’s programs. These programs are designed to interpret, present, and foster the development of the visual arts.

As a component of the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University, the Museum provides educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing professional careers in the museum field. Through on-the-job training, independent study, and internships, students participate in collections management, exhibition development, installation design, and educational programming. Research and publication are also part of the Museum's educational offerings, and students, along with faculty and other scholars, pursue relevant projects in those areas.