Established in 1970 by Ruth Zigler with 20 works of art and nine dioramas, the ZAM collection has grown to include over 600 objects.

Highlights from the collection include work by John James Audubon, Charles Sprague Pearce, Helen Turner, Angela Gregory, Clementine Hunter, Ellsworth Woodward, Alexander Calder, Helen Gerardia, Alexander Drysdale, and a large collection of work by William Tolliver.

An avid collector, she also donated her personal art collection and the Clara Street house that she and her late husband, Fred B. Zigler, had owned since 1908.

In anticipation of an expanding art collection and to house nine large wildlife dioramas, Ruth added two wings onto the home in 1969.

The collection consists of two- and three-dimensional works from the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries, ranging from folk to Impressionist paintings, from native crafts to bronze sculptures, and from carved wood to photography.