The Santa Maria Historical Society holds an annual meeting for members to gather, eat, drink, and catch up with what the organization is doing. This year’s meeting on April 28 was unlike any that had come before because the Santa Maria Valley Historical Museum itself has never looked so good.
The museum is newly reopened after an extensive remodeling project that began in December, 2017, Historical Society Executive Director Cindy Ransick told the Sun. Members stood on the new white tile floor, or sat, listening to an update on the museum’s progress while afternoon light poured into the freshly finished interior.
It’s a far cry from what the museum used to look like since she arrived, Ransick said. The faux-wood paneled walls, leaky roof, and (color undetermined) carpet dated the place decades, but now the museum has a fresh new face from top to bottom.
“Pulling out carpet that’s literally been down for 40 years can’t help but help,” Ransick said. “I don’t know anybody who gets more out of carpet than we do.”
The new layout completely rethought the administrative and research part of the museum. The library and large work table area now looks over the whole museum through large windows, and Ransick’s office is up front by the entrance to the museum.
The entrance begins with the pre-history of the Santa Maria Valley, Ransick said, gesturing to the fossils, Chumash artifacts, and info on the rancho period. Further into the foyer, the first 50 years of the city of Santa Maria is covered.
A blank stripe across the walls awaits another installation, Ransick explained.
“We’ve collected barnwood from some of the original ranches around here, and we’re creating a timeline that will run through here,” she said. “We put together a little grant with the Santa Barbara Foundation to get that funded, so, everything in its own time.
“You get the first 50 years and the pre-history of the valley before you even get to the doorway!” she added.
The main room of the museum seems much bigger, with the white-tiled floor and ceiling giving a great sense of openness. There’s a logic to how everything is arranged, in sections, with Santa Maria-style barbecue up in front with a large dairy cow, original Santa Maria Valley schools complete with a school bell to the right, and farming records and artifacts following that. Historic carriages and pianos create aisles and sections in the middle of the room.
Historic names pop out from lists of farmers: Thornburg, Stowell, Morrison, Minami, and many others. There’s even a whole kitchen/breakfast nook tucked in the corner.
“A lot of folks think we made the place bigger, and we didn’t,” she said. “This place really didn’t have love much since the originals started it. This was huge.”
There’s spaces open still, including for collaborators. The Santa Maria Valley Railroad Historic Society will install its own section on the valley’s railroads, Ransick said. Another room to the side features photos of some of the valley’s most historic residents, from G. Allan Hancock to others whose names are city streets in Santa Maria.
It’s all there to preserve parts of the valley’s history, Ransick said, which still means a lot to locals.
“The way I look at it is, one of the things that upsets Santa Marians more than anything in the world is the things that they lost,” she said. “The loss of the downtown, the gripping of fear they felt when they thought the house on the hill was going away, or the theater and things—they feel like they’ve lost a lot, and so being able to create a space to hold things that can’t be taken away, that was kind of my big thing.
“If you bring it to me, I’ll hang onto it for you and find a way to share it,” she said. “So I think it’s more of a gift back for the fact that they lost a lot of stuff.”
Highlight:
• The Center for Employment Training (CET) received $1.3 million from La Cooperativa Campesina de California and the State of California’s EDD National Emergency Department for a Southern Wildfires Temporary Jobs Program designed to serve the needs of those impacted by last year’s wildfires. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. and have had their work impacted by the wildfires. The work will be specifically to clean up and repair public or private nonprofit facilities impacted by the wildfires. Those interested can apply at CET Santa Maria, 509 W. Morrison Ave., Santa Maria. More info: (805) 928-1737.
Managing Editor Joe Payne wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, mail, or email at spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 3-10, 2018.