It was discovered by R. Luther on 25 August 1865, and named after Clio, the Muse of history in Greek mythology.

A. Gould, editor of the prestigious Astronomical Journal, adopted for that asteroid, because of the controversy over the name Victoria.

An occultation by Klio over a dim star was observed on 2 April 1997.

Photometric observations of this asteroid during 2007 at the Organ Mesa Observatory in Las Cruces, New Mexico were used to create a light curve plot.

This showed a synodic rotation period of 23.562 ± 0.001 hours and a brightness variation of 0.21 ± 0.02 magnitude during each cycle.