[1] The museum is located at 144 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States.

Since opening in a rented loft at Fifth Avenue and 125th Street, the Studio Museum has earned recognition for its role in promoting the works of artists of African descent.

[4] It opened in 1968 in a rented loft, the Studio Museum in Harlem moved to its present location in 1982,[5] where it focuses on exhibiting works by both emerging and established artists of African descent.

[6] From 1970 to 1978, Gylbert Coker, the first chief curator of the museum set up the registration system for the SMH art collection which was later housed in The State Office Building.

She arranged for the saving and cleaning of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project murals in Harlem Hospital that were done by Charles Alston.

Originally, the museum focused on workshops and exhibition programs that were designed to give artists a space to practice their craft, create works and show them.

Williams and sculptor Melvin Edwards physically cleaned up and prepared the former industrial loft space at the museum's original location at 2033 Fifth Avenue (at 125th Street) for conversion into artists studios.

Naima Keith, a former associate curator, created several exhibitions during her tenure, including: "Rodney McMillian: Views of Main Street" (2016), "Artists in Residence 2014–2015" (2015), "Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989" (2014), "Titus Kaphar" (2014), "Glenn Kaino" (2014), "Robert Pruitt" (2013), "The Shadows Took Shape," co-curated with Zoe Whitley (2013), and "Fore," co-curated with Lauren Haynes and Thomas J. Lax (2012).

Brown, Stephen Burks, Elizabeth Catlett, Robert Colescott, Gregory Coates,William Cordova, Melvin Edwards, Kira Lynn Harris, Richard Hunt, Hector Hyppolite, Serge Jolimeau, Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Wardell Milan, Philome Obin, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, Merton Simpson, Nari Ward, and Hale Woodruff, among others.