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COLLECTIONS

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.
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