Museum of Riverside facts for kids
Built 1912–1914 as the United States Post Office and Federal Building
|
|
| Former name | Riverside Metropolitan Museum |
|---|---|
| Established | 1924 |
| Location | Riverside, California |
| Type | History, Indigenous resources, Natural History |
| Collection size | 200,000 |
| Official name: Riverside Municipal Museum | |
| Reference #: | 11 |
The Museum of Riverside is a cool place to learn about the history of the Riverside, California area. It also teaches about the culture of Native American people and the natural world. You can find it in the historic Mission Inn District.
This museum used to be called the Riverside Metropolitan Museum and the Riverside Municipal Museum. It is part of the City of Riverside. But it also gets help from two groups that raise money for it. The museum's main goal is to be a place where people can learn. It collects, saves, studies, and explains the history and nature of Riverside and its surrounding areas.
History of the Museum
The Museum of Riverside started on December 12, 1924. This happened when the wife of Cornelius Earle Rumsey gave his collection of Native American items to the City of Riverside. Mr. Rumsey was a retired boss from Nabisco (the cookie company). He moved to Riverside for his health and became very interested in Native American items.
The museum was first located in the basement of the old City Hall from 1925 to 1948. Then, it moved to the basement of the building it's in now. This building was first a United States Post Office. For many years, the museum shared the building with the police department. It also shared space with a government farming group (the U.S.D.A). During World War II, the Fourth Air Force used parts of the building too.
As the museum's collections and exhibits grew, it took over all the floors in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, the museum's downtown Riverside building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is a very important historical site.
Amazing Collections
Over time, the museum's collections grew to about 200,000 items. These items include historical objects, natural specimens, and Native American cultural resources. They show how Riverside and the areas around it grew from early times until today.
Some special collections include:
- A great collection of Native American baskets.
- Old papers and items about two important Riverside landmarks: the Mission Inn and Harada House.
- The Clark Herbarium, which is a respected collection of dried plants.
- Tools and items from Riverside's citrus industry (like oranges and lemons) from the 1800s and 1900s.
- Old items found from Riverside's Chinatown.
- Other strong collections in geology (rocks and earth), entomology (insects), and textiles (fabrics).
The museum also helps take care of two other important places: Heritage House and Harada House.
- Heritage House is an old Victorian-style home built in 1891. Since 1977, it has been a museum showing what life was like in Riverside in the 1890s. This was when the citrus industry was very big.
- Harada House is a very important place for civil rights history in California. The story of the Harada family shows important ideas about fairness, immigration, and being a citizen.
Important People
After he stopped teaching, a famous naturalist named Edmund C. Jaeger worked as a curator for the museum. He greatly improved the plant collections. A well-known anthropologist, Christopher Moser, also worked there for many years until 2003.
The Museum of Riverside was one of the first museums in the country to be approved by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This means it meets high standards for museums.
Building Style
The museum building was designed in a style called Neo-Classical. This style looks like old Greek and Roman buildings. In Southern California, it also had details from the Mission Revival style. This means it had a ceramic tile roof that looked like Spanish-style buildings.
