As Moab prospered in the late 1950s, civic leaders decided to establish a museum where locals and visitors could learn about the landscape, earliest life forms, indigenous peoples, pioneers, and prospectors. The Women’s Literary Club established the Southeastern Utah Society of Arts and Science as a nonprofit corporation in 1957 under which the Museum opened. A county facility became the Museum’s first home and featured the archeological collections of Dr. J.W. “Doc” Williams and Ross Musselman. By the mid-1980s, businessman and philanthropist Dan O’Laurie helped fund and construct the Museum’s current home that is named in his honor. Today’s Moab Museum remains a small museum with big stories.