The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery houses one of the most highly regarded collections of twentieth-century American art anywhere, including paintings by Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Marsden Hartley, Robert Motherwell, Robert Henri, Grant Wood, Frank Stella, and many more internationally renowned artists. Calling the Sheldon collection "exemplary," the art historian and critic Barbara Rose notes: "Because the collection does not reflect fashion, the misguided inspiration of much art collecting today, but is rather an effort of connoisseurship, and informed by an art historical viewpoint, it is certain to remain as durable and exciting tomorrow as it is today." The American Painting Collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery offers for the first time a full description of the collection, now numbering more than one thousand works, that has been nearly a century in the making.

The first part of the book presents full-color reproductions of 101 of the most noteworthy paintings in the collection, each accompanied by a brief discussion of the artist and his or her work. The second part, or catalog, consists of a complete inventory of the collection, including for each painting its physical description, provenance, exhibition history, and publication history, as well as a black and white reproduction. Publication of the book coincides with a year-long celebration of the centennial of the Nebraska Art Association, the Sheldon Gallery's support group and one of the oldest continuous arts organizations in the country.