In 1981, Director Franklin W. Robinson hired Charles Moore to redesign the building in order to raise facilities to professional standards and double exhibition space.

Central components include:[citation needed] During World War 2, a group of nearly 350 servicemen and women was established to recover and protect artwork from areas affected by the conflict.

Among the ranks of this enterprise were Williams graduates Charles Parkhurst '35 and Lane Faison '29, who both returned to WCMA to serve as museum directors after the war.

In February 2014, Sony Pictures released The Monuments Men, a feature film directed by George Clooney that has revived interest in these lesser-known heroes of the war.

[citation needed] This informal group studied under the trio of Lane Faison, Bill Pierson and Whitney Stoddard, and became collectively known as the Williams Art Mafia.