The Albany Institute has  a history of collecting twentieth century regional art since it established the Mohawk-Hudson Regional Exhibition in 1936, the longest-running regional art exhibition in the country.

The museum's collection of contemporary art includes work by artists with national and international reputation such as Ellsworth Kelly and Antoni Milkowski, artists who are teaching at area universities and colleges, and other established artists living and working in the region. 

In 1988, in response to a special initiative called "New Audiences for the Year 2000," the Albany Institute of History & Art designated contemporary regional art as a collecting priority. Since then, the museum has established a Contemporary Collection Fund and has added over 150 new works by more than 40 new artists to the collection. The museum's goal is to document more fully the contemporary art activity of the region, with a special emphasis on artists who have had a significant impact on the cultural and artistic landscape of the region.