Dacia Harwood, executive director of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, and her team assembled the highlights of items donated during the past decade for an exhibition titled “The Gift: New Additions to Our Story.”
Dacia Harwood, executive director of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, and her team assembled the highlights of items donated during the past decade for an exhibition titled “The Gift: New Additions to Our Story.” Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

The collections of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum are ever-growing. As the present flows into the past, items take on new significance.

Take a piece of shrapnel from the Japanese submarine shelling of Goleta’s Ellwood Oil Field in 1942, less than three months after Pearl Harbor. Then, it was just trash from the attack’s minimal damage.

Now, more than 80 years later, it is infused with meaning — a remnant of the first shelling of the U.S. mainland by a foreign power. 

“It may be small, but it represents a moment in time,” Emily Alessio, the museum’s director of education, said as she viewed the metal shard.

It is among artworks and historical objects donated to the museum during the past decade that have been selected for an exhibition titled “The Gift: New Additions to Our Story,” on display through June. Admission is free. Visit sbhistorical.org for more information.

“We wanted to show pieces that tell stories about the people who created them or the time period,” Alessio said. “We also wanted a variety of times, people and mediums.”

“The Gift” exhibit includes a telescope owned by Carl Dittmann, one of the otter hunters who discovered the “Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island” — the real-life inspiration for “Island of the Blue Dolphin.”
“The Gift” exhibit includes a telescope owned by Carl Dittmann, one of the otter hunters who discovered the “Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island” — the real-life inspiration for “Island of the Blue Dolphin.” Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

Many works are being seen in the museum for the first time, having been in private hands.

“I was especially interested in the three-dimensional items,” she said. “We have trolley tokens to tapestry.”

She pointed to a telescope owned by Carl Dittmann, one of the otter hunters who discovered the “Lone Woman of San Nicholas Island,” who was left behind during her tribe’s evacuation and inspired the novel “Island of the Blue Dolphin.”

“I’m used to handling artifacts used by all kinds of people, but this is special,” she said. “That’s not an item you see every day, and it is meaningful to us here on the Central Coast.”

Ten Decades of Donations

The museum has seen an upswing in gifts during the past decade, though items must meet certain criteria.

“Occasionally we are offered pieces that just aren’t the right fit,” Executive Director Dacia Harwood said, noting that objects must be related to Santa Barbara or California history. “They may be too similar to something we already have or be too damaged to be conserved.”

She said she hopes the exhibit gives people a feel for “the depth of the collection,” a phrase with a double meaning, as the majority of collections is stored in a maze-like subterranean warren beneath the museum.

Like many public buildings constructed during the Cold War, the basement was built to also serve as a Civil Defense fallout shelter in case of a nuclear attack.

“Now, the old yellow and black Fallout Shelter signs are stored here,” Harwood said, laughing.

Preview of Promised Gifts

The exhibit previews promised gifts, including several paintings donated by Evelyn “Evie” Sullivan, a longtime museum donor.

Two connected antique student desks from McKinley School, complete with ink wells, sit below a painting of Santa Barbara’s first school, artist unknown, built in the Presidio by the Spanish in 1795. The painting was donated in memory of David Gilbert Bertrand.
Two connected antique student desks from McKinley School, complete with ink wells, sit below a painting of Santa Barbara’s first school, artist unknown, built in the Presidio by the Spanish in 1795. The painting was donated in memory of David Gilbert Bertrand. Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

“She and her late husband collected art throughout their marriage. They found young, emerging artists and collected them early,” she said. “They had great taste.”

On view are three of the promised paintings by John Marshall Gamble. Once known as “the dean of Santa Barbara artists,” he moved here after his studio burned following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and later served as president of the Santa Barbara School of the Arts. He was renowned for his depictions of wildflowers, as seen in “Spring in Desert, Indio.”

The gift also includes many other treasures, including the museum’s first paintings by Will Sparks, known for nocturnes and images of California’s deteriorating missions. “Cantina at Night” and two others are on view.

“About 15 years ago, we had an exhibition of Sparks’ work with pieces that were on loan. Thanks to Evie, we will have his work in our collection,” Harwood said.

Uniquely Santa Barbara

A display of images taken by Santa Barbara News-Press photographers offers a glimpse into more than 1,000 boxes of archival material recently acquired by the museum and includes photographs of the Coyote Fire (1964), the Santa Barbara oil spill (1969) and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, at the Old Mission (1974), among others.

Harwood pointed out the site of the Historical Museum on a huge, framed aerial photograph of Santa Barbara that hung in the News-Press offices for decades. She estimated that it predates 1965.

“Spring in Desert, Indio” is among several paintings by John Marshall Gamble that are a promised gift from a longtime museum supporter. Gamble was president of the School of the Arts and was called “the dean of Santa Barbara artists.” He was renowned for his depictions of wildflowers.
“Spring in Desert, Indio” is among several paintings by John Marshall Gamble that are a promised gift from a longtime museum supporter. Gamble was president of the School of the Arts and was called “the dean of Santa Barbara artists.” He was renowned for his depictions of wildflowers. Credit: Courtesy photo

“These are gifts from the community through their donations towards our acquisition of the News-Press archives,” she said. “They are a priceless historical resource for generations of researchers to come.”

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum will receive its first paintings by Will Sparks as part of a promised gift. The artist is known for his nocturnes and images of California’s deteriorating missions. “Cantina at Night” and two other works are now on view.
The Santa Barbara Historical Museum will receive its first paintings by Will Sparks as part of a promised gift. The artist is known for his nocturnes and images of California’s deteriorating missions. “Cantina at Night” and two other works are now on view. Credit: Courtesy photo

Another commanding piece is the 6-foot-tall framed architectural blueprints for El Paseo, built in the 1920s and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They were donated by former Santa Barbara Mayor Hal Conklin.

Two connected antique student desks from McKinley Elementary School, complete with ink wells, sit in a corner. Above them is a painting of Santa Barbara’s first school, artist unknown, built in the Presidio by the Spanish in 1795.  

“The first tour I gave of this exhibit was for McKinley School fourth-graders,” Alessio said. “I asked them whether they wanted to sit at these desks or their own desks. They all wanted these.”

Relations and Relationships

A solid-silver statue was owned by the family of José de la Guerra and donated by the family of John (“Jack”) Rickard. Rickard’s father, James, married de la Guerra’s granddaughter, Teresa Acacia Oreña. The museum holds hundreds of items from the de la Guerra family, including furniture, clothing and their wedding silver (on view in the permanent exhibit).

A solid-silver statue owned by the family of Jose De la Guerra was donated by the family of his great-grandson, John (“Jack”) Rickard, a former Santa Barbara mayor, adding to the museum’s collection of hundreds of items from the De la Guerra family.
A solid-silver statue owned by the family of Jose De la Guerra was donated by the family of his great-grandson, John (“Jack”) Rickard, a former Santa Barbara mayor, adding to the museum’s collection of hundreds of items from the De la Guerra family. Credit: Courtesy photo

Another of de la Guerra’s granddaughters (and Acacia Oreña’s first cousin), María de la Guerra-Taylor, is featured in a 1940 painting by Orpha Klinker, a lesser-known yet significant artist. She painted a series of portraits of California’s public figures, among many other accomplishments.

Three generations of the Gledhill family are associated with the Historical Museum and with the painting “Young Keith Gledhill with Dog” (circa 1920) by artist Carl Oscar Borg. Edwin Gledhill was the museum’s first executive director, and his son, Keith, served on the board of directors, as did grandson David, who donated the painting. 

The museum’s already considerable collection of works by Western artist Edward Borein also got a boost.

“Among our newly donated works is an etching of a Mexican vaquero given to us by a sweet donor in memory of her husband,” Harwood said. “It was touching to watch her spot it on the wall at our opening. These pieces are so special to people and their families.”

Adjacent to “The Gift” is an exhibition featuring works by plein air painter Ludmilla Pilat Welch, who moved to Santa Barbara in 1905 and painted local scenes, particularly the adobe structures still standing at that time. The exhibit name, “Serene Santa Barbara,” conveys the feeling of her sun-infused, colorful renderings.