The Kent State Museum contains important collections of fashion and decorative arts. Its eight galleries feature changing exhibitions of work by many of the world's great artists and designers. Closely linked to the Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising at Kent State University, the Museum provides students with first-hand experience with historic and contemporary fashions, as well as costumes representing many of the world's cultures. An extensive collection of American glass, fine furniture, textiles, paintings and other decorative arts combine to give context to the study of design.

The Museum serves both the University and the community through exhibitions, public programs, and research appointments in the collections.

Opened to the public in October 1985, the Kent State University Museum was founded with an initial contribution from New York dress manufacturers Jerry Silverman and Shannon Rodgers. Their gift included 4,000 costumes and accessories, nearly 1,000 pieces of decorative art and a 5,000-volume reference library. In the 1960s, Shannon Rodgers began collecting what is now considered one of the finest period costume collections in the United States, today totaling more than 40,000 pieces. The Tarter/Miller collection of some 10,000 pieces of glass formed the second major gift to the Museum. Together with the other decorative arts collected by Rodgers and Silverman, the Museum holds one of the most comprehensive teaching collections of fashionable design from the 18th century to the present.

The Kent State University Museum is dedicated to providing the university and the community with access to fine, original works of art. The museum collects, exhibits, interprets and preserves the artifacts entrusted to it. The museum is an invaluable teaching tool as well as a superb means of informing the general public of the artistry and diversity of the world's peoples. Through exhibition and interpretation the museum provides an essential point of view for study of the arts and cultures represented by the collections. The museum serves students, the entire university community, the residents of Ohio and the nation. Through loans to international exhibitions, it represents the university and the State of Ohio to the world. The programming is intended to reach the widest possible audience in order to share the pleasure and enrichment that studying the collections engenders. As one of the most public faces of the university, the museum is a cultural resource and gateway through which the academic pursuits and intellectual life represented by the museum and the university can be disseminated globally.