Question: The Coos Art Museum describes itself as the third oldest art museum in Oregon. What are the first and second oldest museums?

Answer: The Portland Art Museum and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon are the two oldest art museums in the state.

According to M.J. Koreiva, an Oregon Museums Association board member and former director of the Coos Art Museum, there are only seven official art museums in Oregon. Although some other galleries may call themselves musuems, the label isn’t accurate unless they fit the criteria of the American Association of Museums and the Oregon Museums Association, she said.

“There is an international standard for what defines an art museum,” Koreiva said. “You have to preserve (art) correctly, collect it correctly.”

The seven museums Koreiva listed and when they were founded, according to each musuem’s Web site are:

* Portland Art Museum, 1892.

* Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 1932.

* Coos Art Museum, 1950.

* Grants Pass Museum of Art, 1979.

* Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University, 1986.

* Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, 1998.

* Museum of Contemporary Craft, 2007.

— Chip Dombrowski, entertainment editor

I Want to Know is a regular feature of The World, offering readers a chanceto anonymously ask questions and have reporters pursue answers. Those interested can send questions to The World newspaper, P.O. Box 1840, Coos Bay Ore. 97420; or by sending e-mail to news@theworld link.com.