Santa Barbara Historical Museum

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum has a long legacy in our community, and an enduring commitment to its mission. 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 of the history of the community with the belief that history can guide and inspire our actions, a tool with which we can build a better tomorrow. The Museum’s signature exhibition, The Story of Santa Barbara, traces the evolution of the region from the days of the Chumash into the 21st century. The Museum holds in public trust over 90,000 irreplaceable historic artifacts including paintings, drawings, furniture, saddles, decorative arts, and one of the largest costume collections west of the Mississippi. The Museum’s research facility, The Gledhill Library, counts over 5,000 books, 70,000 photographs as well as maps, newspaper volumes, government documents, private papers, and oral histories among its collections.