Collections
Our historical collections are comprised of over one million items, including the personal historical collection of Senator John P. Jones, co-founder of Santa Monica, and the archives of the Santa Monica Outlook Newspaper (1875-1998).
With more than 600,000 rare photographs, the Museum has one of the most extensive image archives in Southern California.
COLLECTION SCOPE & DONATIONS
SCOPE
We consider several things when collecting Santa Monica history. The scope of our archive encompasses the history of life, work and governance in the Santa Monica Bay area and includes architecture, artists, education, literature, music and more.
DONATIONS
We continuously add to our archival collections. Through the generosity of individual and corporate donations we are able to fulfill our mission and share Santa Monica’s history.
We would be pleased to hear from you regarding photographs or other materials relating to the Santa Monica Bay area that you wish to share or donate. Contact Us or fill-out our online form. Contact Us or fill-out our form.
We are currently seeking materials to document the Covid-19 pandemic.
Historical Photographs
The museum is the caretaker of one of the largest image archives in Southern California. Consisting today of over 600,000 prints, negatives, glass-plate negatives and slides, the photo collection is a foundational to the museum’s archival holdings.
In addition to being the most comprehensive collection documenting Santa Monica’s history, most of the images in the collection are unique, rare, and not available anywhere else.
Many of our photos are available as re-prints. Search our archives or find one in our Gift Shop.
Historical Objects
In addition to our extensive historical photograph collection, our holdings contains numerous pieces of Santa Monica history. Letters from the city founder, John P. Jones, coins, objects from businesses such as Edgemar Farms and more.
Our Permanent Exhibition galleries display many items of note illustrating the history of the region, and our Research Library is available by appointment.
RESEARCH LIBRARY
Our research library provides historical materials and information to teachers, students, scholars, publishers, the media and a host of others. We have Special Collections (e.g. rare books & periodicals, school yearbooks, telephone directories), Sanborn Maps, street plans, newspapers and more.
Access to our Research Library and Special Collections is by appointment only.
More About Our Collections
In the 1990s, the museum’s collection of images was significantly augmented by the accession of major photo collections from within the city of Santa Monica. In 1995, the museum received the photo archives of Outlook newspaper photographer, Bill Beebe, whose collection of over 75,000 images spans the 1930s to the 1960s. This acquisition was followed in 1998 by the accession of the Outlook archives (over 300,000 images covering its 123 years of operation). We received the archival collections of the former City Scene newspaper (over 6,000 images), and later the accession of the personal archives of photojournalist Bob Smith (over 6,000 negatives, including images of former Presidents Kennedy and Nixon). Mr. Smith was a staff photographer at the Outlook between 1970 and 1997.
In 1996-1997, the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum was awarded funding in the amount of $75,000 from the city of Santa Monica towards the conservation of its photo collection. In addition, the SMHSM received funding from the Ahmanson Foundation (Los Angeles) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (Washington, D.C.) for photo conservation and digitization.
