At the heart of the new Chrisman California Islands Center in Carpinteria are the collections of Carey Stanton, the last private owner of Santa Cruz Island.

A cattle rancher, preservationist and historian, he left a treasure trove of island-related collections that could fill several museums.

Marla Daily, Stanton’s former assistant and president of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, has spent more than 50 years curating and adding to Stanton’s legacy for exhibition and educational research.

The center’s scope embraces the other seven Channel Islands, the Farallon Islands outside San Francisco and islands off northern Baja California. The center is scheduled to open to the public on Friday.

“Not everyone who visits our region, or even lives here, can get out to the islands,” said Emily Duncan, the center’s executive director. “Our hope is to inspire visitors, especially children, to become the next stewards of the islands.”

Just inside the entrance of the center, at 4994 Carpinteria Ave., a 10-foot square map depicts the islands as if drawn on a blackboard, surrounded by sketches of historical and natural history highlights. It is actually concrete etched by a street artist named Elkpen.

Six large video monitors present live and taped feeds from various islands, selected daily from among 20 webcams. A recent visit featured views of a bald eagle on its Santa Cruz Island nest, foggy Farallon Islands, an underwater feed from Anacapa Island and scenes from Catalina Island.

Stanton called himself a “practicing Victorian” and had wide-ranging interests. His painting collection is impressive, with island scenes by acclaimed past and contemporary artists covering nearly every wall. Newly arrived is a rare 1872 painting of the Farallon Islands by Albert Bierstadt, with its Christie’s auction packing sheet still attached.

The Santa Cruz Island exhibit is rich with relics and recounts the island’s history from the Spanish California era, moving through several owners to the Stantons. Sheep and cattle ranching items are on view, including a seemingly incongruent French horn (it was used to call workers to meals).

Catalina and Santa Rosa islands, also once privately owned, have dedicated exhibits. The other five islands share a long case spanning the building’s width. Each island has historic timelines and donated items, many with fascinating backstories.

Daily once met a civilian who had worked on U.S. Navy-owned San Nicolas Island, which is off-limits to the public. “If you could have anything from the island, what would it be?” he asked. “A missile,” she replied. That is how the center received a sounding rocket used to carry scientific instruments into suborbital space.

Atop an exhibit case is one of the last wherries (rowboats) once rented to tourists on Catalina Island. It arrived from a donor in Hawaii, who also gives the center $5,000 annually for “dock rent.”

“Just last week, Japanese floats showed up at our door,” Duncan said. “People want to see these items protected and preserved, and we couldn’t be more grateful.”

A rarity is the black basalt “doughnut stone” — one of only four items known to be owned by the famed “lone woman of San Nicolas Island,” a Native Californian who survived there alone for 18 years. A mural by contemporary artist Holli Harmon depicts Juana Maria in an island scene. Outside, in the center’s courtyard gallery, is a life-size bronze statue of her by David Chapple, among other sculptural works and nautical artifacts.

A re-creation of Stanton’s bedroom is a look into his daily life (complete with his furniture, shoes and other personal items) and his long friendship with artist Richard Diebenkorn, whose paintings of Santa Cruz Island are hung above two cabinets.

“They still have Carey’s clothes in them,” Duncan said.

Stanton and Diebenkorn met at Stanford University, and Stanton was the best man at Diebenkorn’s wedding. The artist and his wife frequently visited the island — 37 times spanning 30 years — and he called it “the greatest, grandest of places.”

An archive, open by reservation only, is overseen by archivist David Reichert, who continues to catalogue the center’s holdings — with more to come, including Stanton’s library, which is still on Santa Cruz Island. Search through more than 2,000 records on people associated with the islands, plus photos, maps and other items, including ranch business records from Santa Cruz Island and from Santa Rosa Island’s Vail & Vickers. Even more paintings are there, too.

Daily said the acquisition in 2019 of the center’s building, a former Bank of America on the corner of Carpinteria and Linden avenues, as “the moment my lifelong dream came true.”

Her husband, Kirk Connelly, built all of the exhibit cases, and she credits Roger and Sarah Chrisman for the $1.5 million naming grant that secured the property. Education programs, lectures and public events are planned for the future.

Though filled with artifacts, art, books, maps, records and historically important items, the new center is also about people — notable figures in the past and present-day visionaries who persevered for decades to make it a reality.

The center’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. There is a suggested donation of $10 for adults age 18 or older; admission is free for children. For more information, call the center at 805.220.6414 or visit ccislandscenter.org.