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S.B. Historical Society: an overlooked treasure
Why is it that one of the great cultural treasures of Santa Barbara, the Historical Museum, is often overlooked?
Ask executive director George Anderjack that question, and be prepared for a series of impassioned and compelling answers.
"A lot of people still do not know about us," Anderjack said recently. He believes there are a number of reasons that history museums are at a cultural disadvantage: among them — a lack of commitment to teaching history in American society and the rootlessness of the people.
"The emphasis is on doing and technology," he said. "Young people are looking forward, not looking back."
While the early California-style Historical Museum, which is operated by the Santa Barbara Historical Society, may not be as well known as other museums, it does attract visitors young and old. More than 68,000 people came to the Historical Museum, located in the heart of town at De la Guerra and Santa Barbara streets, and its other historic buildings in 1999.
Visitors are attracted to the more than 750,000 artifacts, including pieces of fine art, objects of art and the rare collection of archives in the Gledhill Library. The society also maintains the Trussell-Winchester Adobe, which was built in 1854 by sea captain Horatio Gates Trussell and combines adobe construction with Yankee East-coast design, and the Fernald Mansion, a Queen-Anne stule house built by Judge Charles Fernald in 1863. Those buildings are at the corner of Montecito and Castillo streets.
The Historical Society staff delight in having children discover an interest in local history on school tours. Thousands of youngsters tour the museum each year and also learn of Santa Barbara days gone-by when docents take programs to the schools.
Anderjack, who spends most of his time developing the program and running the society's administrative affairs, enjoys the occasional opportunity of leading a group of children on a tour. A former school teacher, he delights in winding up and playing a 140-year-old Victorian-era music box for them, even though curator David Bisol would rather he not.
While tourists often come to the museum while visiting friends who live in Santa Barbara, local residents make up the greater proportion of those attending the society's diverse and popular programs. A recent talk by PBS' Huell Howser drew a sellout crowd, and an exhibit by impressionist Fr. Jerome Tupa of his paintings of the California missions has been a big attraction.
Upcoming programs include the annual Fiesta party July 29; an earthquake exhibit Aug. 17; Henry Sandon, a royal Worchester English China expert, Oct. 28; and the 75th-annual Holiday Party in December. The Holiday Party always includes a visit by Fr. Christmas and his elves in full period attire.
The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Admission is free.
If you would like more information about the Historical Society, including programs and memberships, call 966-1601. |
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Interest in the events of the past, however, invariably emerges when people get older, he added, and a growing awareness of mortality leads them to begin asking where they came from.