Collections

The SRJC Museum has a collection of more than 4000 cataloged items, including art objects and archival materials such as photographs. Traditional Native American art makes up the greatest portion of the collection, with all of the North American Indian culture areas represented. Art forms include ceramics, basketry, beadwork, sculpture, textiles, and jewelry.

Most of the pieces in the collection were made specifically by artists to be sold in the collector's and art market, which has flourished in the United States for more than a hundred years. Some of the most famous American Indian artists of this century are represented in this collection.

The SRJC Museum does not collect and does not exhibit sacred or religious articles of North American Indian peoples. We encourage the return of all such items to the appropriate cultural group.

In addition to Native American art of North America, the museum also has small collections of ethnographic art from Mesoamerica, Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia.

 

 

 

 

 

Museum History

The museum was originally named for Jesse Peter (pictured on the left), a native of Santa Rosa, who taught both in the local public schools and at SRJC. He was a naturalist, collector, and explorer and made expeditions to the American Southwest in the 1930s to collect geological specimens for the University of California and Native American art for Santa Rosa Junior College. Some of the museum's ceramic treasures, by such artists as Lucy Lewis (Acoma) and Nampeyo (Hopi), were collected by Mr. Peter during that time.

In 1938, a Works Projects Administration Grant was awarded to Floyd Bailey, SRJC President, and Jesse Peter to build a museum on the college campus. It opened in 1940, and Jesse Peter, assisted by his wife, Mabel Crane, served as the director until his death in 1944. During these years, the museum was primarily a natural history exhibit, with a small collection of Native American art.

By the late 1960s the original museum had been broken up. The building was taken over by the Art Department, which created the Art Gallery, and most of the natural history collection was given over to the Departments of Life Science and Earth and Space Science. The Native American art collection was left stored in a small section of the original facility, which is now the heart of the present SRJC Museum.

In 1975, Bill Smith, an SRJC instructor and Mihilakawna (Dry Creek) Pomo, opened up the storage space and created a Native American Exhibit with the collection of approximately 300 pieces of art. He recruited Native American students to help build models of a Pomo Roundhouse and a Klamath River house, and designed a circular display area within the rectangular space, creating little hide-away exhibits to give the viewer a feeling of privacy.

Smith left the college in 1979, at which time Benjamin Benson, an Anthropologist, was asked by the college to take over the Native American exhibit and create a museum. As the new director, Benson began with a series of theme shows, mounting educational exhibits on single subjects, ranging from basketry to Amazon Indian cultures. New display cases were built, a model of a Hopi pueblo was put in place, and storage, lighting, and security systems were developed. In the past twenty years, the collection has grown from 300 pieces to more than 4000.

In 2007, the museum began a major renovation that virtually recreated the museum.  The Art Gallery was moved into the newly completed Doyle Library and the museum re-inhabited its original wing of Bussman Hall—nearly tripling the exhibit space. Along with the renovation came a name change, new museum Director, and slight shift in the museum’s vision. Multicultural education is now the central focus of the museum.

 

Museum Location

The Museum is located in Bussman Hall on the Santa Rosa Campus.

ADDRESS:

1501 Mendocino Ave
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
(707) 527-4479



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Staff
Interim Co-Director - Benjamin Benson
Interim Co-Director - Dr. Margaret Bond
Exhibit Specialist - Christine Vasquez, MPA