Art Properties was established in 1964 by the Committee on Artistic Properties and administered under the auspices of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. The Department oversees the art collections owned by Columbia University and is responsible for documenting and preserving the art holdings of the University and making them available to both the University community and the general public. The collections comprise over 15,000 works in all media -- painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography and decorative arts. Although Columbia has not intended to assemble a major collection of works of art, thousands of objects have been acquired by donation over the course of the University's two-hundred-fifty year history. During the 1960s, however, a museum collection was contemplated. It was at this time that hundreds of works from the Ancient Near East and from East Asia were acquired through the generosity of Dr. Arthur M. Sackler and members of his family. Other significant gifts of note over time include: a collection of southeast Asian and Korean ceramics gifted to the Department by Frank B. Michaelian between 1962 and 1976; sixty-nine paintings and drawings by the American artist Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944), bequeathed to Columbia by her sister Ettie Stettheimer in 1967; over one hundred Native American objects (including rugs, baskets, ceramics and ritual items) donated by Stanley B. and Caroline Stein in 1997; and a series of Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Polaroids and prints donated by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in 2008.

The works in Art Properties fall into four categories: museum-quality art objects; study collections; works relating to the history of the University; and works appropriate for display in public spaces and private offices. Objects are on view throughout the campus: some very publicly, like Daniel Chester French's Alma Mater and Auguste Rodin's The Thinker; others are less visibly installed in administrative and faculty offices. The majority of the art collections are in storage, but are available for research and study by the Columbia community and outside scholars by appointment. From the date of its endowment in 1986, The Wallach Art Gallery was connected to Art Properties. In 2011, the two were separated. Since 1965, Art Properties has also utilized the Rotunda and the Faculty Room of Low Library as exhibition spaces to display works from the permanent collection as well as temporary and traveling exhibitions. Most of these exhibitions were organized by faculty and staff from various Columbia schools and departments, librarians and staff from Columbia University Libraries, and external guest curators, in coordination with Art Properties curators and staff.