The Museum’s collections, comprised of historical and cultural items from and about Santa Catalina Island, support the Museum's mission by fostering awareness and appreciation of our island’s heritage through their use in research, exhibitions and educational programs.  Over the years the Museum has built collections, primarily through donations, which can be divided into the areas of history, archaeology and research archives.  The collections, totaling approximately 150,000 items, fall into the following categories: archaeology, photographs, ephemera, newspapers, archives, postcards, three-dimensional historical collections, natural history, library, oral history, audio/visual and art.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS
The Museum has one of the largest collections of Island Gabrielino artifacts in the world.  Items are from both archaeological site excavations as well as found pieces brought in as individual donations.  The collection is of great scientific and cultural value and can be accessed for research by appointment with our Curator.  A minimum two-week notice is requested as storage is offsite.

The Museum also features a large and comprehensive collection of Catalina pottery and tile which was manufactured on the island from 1927-1937.  We have over 10,000 photographs and negatives documenting island life from the early 1880s until present day.  We have boat models, sportfishing items, artifacts from the Island's steamships and much more.

Collection Intern - Update

Thanks to a grant from the Grindstone Foundation, the Museum has been able to hire an intern, Christina Butler, whose main focus is to help organize our collections. She has been spending the past six months inputting data into our collection software from donations received over the last few years. Though the workload is literally endless thanks to the generous number of artifact donations we receive on a regular basis, Christina says she finds it exciting to be able to put her hands on Catalina's history everyday. In her time here she has been able to organize the backlogged donations from 2006 - present, including large collections from former island photographer Gene Smith, the Windle Family and Doug Bombard. Christina has also sorted through a major photograph donation from the Santa Catalina Island Company which included over 5,000 images, integrating them into our current archive and making them accessible to researchers. If you would like to see some of the interesting photos she has found while working with the collections blog click here!

Exciting Additions!

Pocket watch presented to William Banning, August 1904 in Middle Ranch, Catalina Island. Received Spring 2009.

Photo of Robert Carter while stationed on Catalina during WWII. The Carter family donation consists of many pieces and is treasured as it documents some of the activities of the OSS on the island, about which relatively little is known.  Received Fall 2008.

Research Center: In February 2005 we proudly opened the Catalina Island Museum Research Center in the center of town. The new Center centralizes our extensive archives and makes them accessible to researchers. The Center also houses offices for our Executive Director, Executive Assistant/Membership Coordinator, Curator and Office Manager.
Collections that can by accessed there include a nearly complete run of the local papers (The Catalina Islander began in 1914), approximately 10,000 photographs and negatives, hundreds of brochures and other ephemera, telephone directories, postcards and more.

Offices are open Monday - Saturday, but appointments are required for access to the research collections. Either email or call our Curator for an appointment: 310.510.4650. The Research Center is located at the top floor of 220 Metropole, Avalon, CA 90704.
 

HISTORICAL ARTICLES
Curator Jeannine Pedersen and others have authored several articles for ecatalina.com. Click here to view these sources of information on topics such as Catalina during World War II, the Chicago Cubs, Bird Park, plein air painting, the Fire of 1915 and more.