Museum of Ventura County (formerly Ventura County Museum of History and Art
The Museum of Ventura County (formerly the Ventura County Museum of History & Art) is a privately funded nonprofit founded in 1913. Today it exhibits, educates, collects and preserves county art and history from early Native America to the 21st Century. In October 2007, ground was broken for an expansion to double its space and increase opportunities to serve the communities of Ventura County.
Included in the collection of the Museum of Ventura Country are works by by Beatrice Wood, John Nava, Vivika and Otto Heino, Edward Borein, Jessie Arms and Cornelis Botke, Henry Chapman Ford, photographers Horace Bristol, John Lewis, Robert G. Smith, and Stephen Schafer, as well as other historic and contemporary artists. The 30,000 pieces in the Museum's care also include baskets and other local Chumash Indian objects, artifacts from the Mission and Rancho periods, clothing accessories and furniture from the 18th century to the present, and farm implements used in the extensive agricultural industry of the county.
The Museum is home to the George Stuart Historical Figures®, one-quarter life-size figures from world history, renowned for meticulously detailed costumes and expressive faces. These unique portraits are always on display in rotating exhibits from a figure collection of almost 200.
In addition to changing art and permanent history exhibits, the museum also holds community events and lectures, free Family Times activities every third Sunday of the month, school tours, and a variety of programs for children, including Chumash Youth and ArtStart programs during the summer months.
A Research Library containing 150,000 historical documents and images related to Ventura County provides an invaluable source of information to researchers and the general public.
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