Santa Barbara Historical Museum in Santa Barbara, CA


Santa Barbara Historical Museum 136 E. De la Guerra Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 \| Website \| Email

Year Founded:
1932
Description:
The Museum represents ALL of Santa Barbara's history and should serve as a "first stop" for visitors interested in a beautiful introduction to the city's rich cultural heritage.
The Museum is headquartered in its 25,000 square-foot adobe building in downtown Santa Barbara. Here are housed the museum galleries featuring the signature exhibition, The Story of Santa Barbara, which traces the evolution of the region from the days of the Chumash into the 21st century. In addition, the Sala Gallery offers changing exhibitions four to five times annually.
The Museum holds in public trust over 80,000 irreplaceable historic artifacts including paintings, drawings, furniture, saddles, decorative arts, and one of the largest costume collections west of the Mississippi. The Gledhill Library counts over 5,000 books, over 70,000 photographs as well as maps, newspaper volumes, government documents, private papers, and oral histories among its collections.
The Historical Museum operates two historic house museums: The Hon. Charles Fernald Mansion (c.1865), the exquisite Queen Anne Victorian home of one of the city’s most prominent historical figures and the neighboring Trussell-Winchester Adobe (1854) with its period furnishings. The Museum also owns and has seen to the preservation of the Covarrubias Adobe (1817), one of the oldest buildings in Santa Barbara, and the Historic Adobe (1854), both adjacent to the downtown museum building. The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is almost eighty years old, yet its mission remains much the same. It is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting the material culture of the Santa Barbara region in all its diversity; to educating through lectures, tours, and in the classroom; and to encouraging research, scholarship, and publication on the history of the Santa Barbara community. History can guide and inspire our actions, a tool with which we can build a better tomorrow. It is that belief which informs the Museum’s motto, “Upon the foundation of the past, we build a future worth remembering.”
Categories:
Historical Museum
Museums/Attractions/Historic
Museum Category:
Historical

Business Hours:
10 - 5PM (Tue-Sat); 12-5 (Sun); Closed Monday
Location Type:
Museum
Payment Accepted:
Cash, Check, MasterCard, Visa,
Languages Spoken:
English, Spanish,
Admission:
FREE
General Business Classification:
Museums, Historic Sites, Attractions
Legal Entity:
Non-Profit
Number of Employees:
11 - 25
Average Visit:
1 hour
Admittance:
During normal business hours.
Indoor/Outdoor:
Indoor/Outdoor Location
Parking On-Site?
Yes
Handicapped Accessible?
Yes
Cell Phones & Pagers?
Some restrictions
Cameras/Recording Equip.?
Some restrictions
Pets Allowed?
No
Guided Tours?
Yes
Gift Certificates?
Available for Sale
Classes Offered?
Yes.

www.santabarbaramuseum.com

Recent Buzzes!!

3/23 - The Flying A: Silent Film in Santa Barbara -- through March 31

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The Flying A: Silent Film In Santa Barbara From 1910 to 1912, the American Film Company’s western unit consisted of half-a-dozen actors and a handful of cowboys shooting one-reel westerns around southern California. Known as the Flying A, by 1915 they had built the nation's largest studio in Santa Barbara with some of the industry's top directors, actors, and writers. From historic adobes to magnificent mansions, sandy beaches to mountain peaks, the cameras of the Flying A cranked out hundreds of westerns, dramas, and comedies. The film pioneers of the Flying A left a legacy that continues to influence the movies and television shows of today.
The exhibition features original Flying A artifacts, documents, photographs and a selection of original Flying A silent films (which will play on our Sala Gallery Wall Theatre). This groundbreaking exhibit, on view from January 26 through August 19, 2012, will run through the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and mark the centennial anniversary of the Flying A’s arrival in Santa Barbara. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday from noon to 5:00 pm. Docent led tours are offered on Saturdays & Sundays at 2:00 pm.
Venue: Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Website

1/19 - New Exhibition: The Flying A: Silent Film in Santa Barbara -- Opens January 25th

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The Flying A will focus on the studio’s influential and prolific operation in Santa Barbara between 1911 and 1921, when nearly one thousand silent films were made by the company before it was disbanded.
The exhibition will feature original Flying A artifacts, documents, photographs and a selection of original Flying A silent films (which will play on our Sala Gallery Wall Theatre). This groundbreaking exhibit, on view from January 25 through August 19, 2012, will run through two very special occasions: the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and marking the centennial anniversary of the Flying A’s incorporation in Santa Barbara. Email Website

2/22 - Missions of Will Sparks -- February 25 – June 26 -- Santa Barbara Historical Society

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A selection of works by internationally renowned “painter of the missions” Will Sparks (1862-1937) will be on full view during a special exhibition at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum beginning February 25. Missions of Will Sparks will include the complete Alma de Bretteville Spreckels collection of Sparks’ final mission suite with paintings of California, the Southwest and Mexico. Painter, etcher, and muralist, Sparks was known for his mission and nocturnal adobe scenes. Email Website