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.

The Museum is the repository for all archeological digs on the island and 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.

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

Getty Foundation

For the past eighteen years the Museum has received a grant from the Getty Foundation to fund an internship in the Collections Department. The Getty's Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program funds full-time summer work opportunities for students at Los Angeles-area museums and visual arts organizations, exposing the students to career possibilities in the arts. 

We have worked with many wonderful students over the years. They have completed a variety of important projects for the museum including the documentation of artifacts, research for exhibitions and publications, transcribing oral history interviews, and assisting with education programs. We look forward each summer to introducing a college student to the joys of museum work. 

Grindstone Foundation

Thanks to a grant from the Grindstone Foundation, the Museum has been able to hire an intern whose main focus is to help organize our collections. This intern has spent the past year 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, we have been able to organize backlogged donations from 2006 - present, including large collections from the Windle Family, Doug Bombard and a major photograph donation from the Santa Catalina Island Company which included over 5,000 images.

Research Center

In February 2005 we opened the Catalina Island Museum Research Center in the center of town. The Center centralizes our extensive archives and makes them accessible to researchers. The Center also houses offices for our Executive Director, Director of Operations and Curator. The archives 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.

The Research Center is located at the top floor of 220 Metropole, Avalon, CA 90704. Offices are open Monday - Friday. Appointments are required and dependent upon staff availability. Please fill in the form below to request an appointment. 

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Historical Articles

Our curator and others have authored several articles and developed online exhibitions for ecatalina.com . Click here to view these sources of information on topics such as Catalina during World War II, the Chicago Cubs, the Bird Park, the Fire of 1915, Catalina Pottery and Tile, Catalina's Hollywood History and much more.