Collections
The museum houses over 2000 objects documenting life in the region including tools, books, artwork, maps, and photography. Many of these objects can be seen in the rotating exhibitions in the History Gallery located within the museum. Search objects in the collection.
Current archivist and collections manager is Sarah Lewis. This position is funded from the George Oswell Memorial Archives.
Sarah works with staff and visiting curators to include objects in art and history exhibitions. Are you interested in researching objects in the collection? Please stop by on Thursdays or make an appointment by calling 619 267-5141.
The museum completed a sixteen-month project in the collections department to update all of the collection’s protocols with archivist Beatriz Esparragoza in 2020. This project focused on reorganizing, processing, and digitizing the Bonita Museum’s collection while at the same time establishing and sustaining a digital repository for the Bonita Museum’s institutional materials. This included rearranging the physical collection, purchasing archival material and furniture, and updating its current facility to reflect the Society of American Archivists (SAA) standards. Archivist Miguel Murillo maintained the collection and ‘prop’ gallery until after Covid-19.
Special collections at the Museum: Greg Cox, Audi Lawson, Maestro Jahja Ling, Ric Todd
When you visit, make sure to find these History objects:
- Proctor Valley Monster footprint
- Fossils from the Sweetwater Valley
- The Bonita Badger
- Brands of the Ranchos
- 1880’s kitchen with Bonnie Brae Lemons
- Fran Cornell’s Toy cabinet
- School Days in Bonita
- Desk from the Old Red Barn
- Cowboy Artist of America, Mehl Lawson sculpture
Are you interested in donating an object to the museum?
Below are useful forms when donating to our museum: