As a young illustrator, Norman Rockwell had a secret ambition-- to have his work appear on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. "In those days the cover of the Post was the greatest show window in America," he later remarked. Indeed, at the start of Rockwell's career, the magazine (first published in 1729) was then reaching an audience of 2 million readers who were entertained and informed with articles by the leading names in literature and artwork from the brightest stars in illustration.

Rockwell was following in the footsteps of his heroes, such as illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, when he landed his first Post cover in 1916 at age 22. Thus began a relationship that would last for 47 years, during which time Rockwell produced an astounding 322 cover illustrations for the Post. Many Americans who experienced the rapid growth and change of the 20th century view the Rockwell covers as familiar representations of their lives.

Norman Rockwell's 323 Saturday Evening Post Covers exhibition displays Rockwell's career-defining covers, from his whimsical Boy with Baby Carriage to his haunting portrait of President John F. Kennedy, which appeared on the magazine's cover a second time, in 1963, following Kennedy’s assassination. Featuring such classics as No Swimming, Rosie the Riveter, and The Runaway, this collection of original tear sheets is a remarkable visual history of an artist's development and a compelling chronology of life in 20th-century-America.