Santa Barbara Historical Museum - Journal Begins

Journal Begins

In April 1955 the first issue of the Society’s journal, Noticias, was published and this quarterly devoted to the study of the Santa Barbara region has been in publication ever since. In 1959 the Society acquired the Judge Charles Fernald Mansion. The fourteen-room home, built by one of Santa Barbara’s most prominent citizens of the late 19th century, was threatened with destruction in 1958 upon the death of the judge’s last surviving child. The Society’s Executive Director, W. Edwin Gledhill, spearheaded a fundraising drive to purchase the house and have it moved adjacent to the Trussell-Winchester Adobe on West Montecito Street. After a massive restoration project, Fernald House opened to the public as an historic home museum in 1962.

The dream of a permanent home for the Society was fulfilled with the dedication of the museum building at 136 East De la Guerra Street on February 28, 1965. In 1961 Santa Barbara County granted a 99-year lease to the Society for a parcel in downtown Santa Barbara and a building fund campaign was launched. In 1963 ground was broken for the adobe museum building – 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of exhibition, office, and collections storage space. In 1964, the Society also acquired two adobes adjacent to the museum grounds from the Rancheros Visitadores, the 1817 Covarrubias Adobe and the Historic Adobe, c. 1836. The Covarrubias is utilized as a lecture space and houses the office of the Docent Council; the Historic Adobe headquarters the Rancheros Visitadores.

Two additional events of note in the decade of the 1960s was the dedication of the Gledhill Library in 1967, named in honor of W. Edwin Gledhill and his wife Andriette, who served for many years as Executive Director and Curator, respectively. One year later the Docent Council was formed, the Society’s primary educational arm, which conducts museum tours and outreach programs to schools and community groups.