Annual Egg Decorating

What a blast!

On Saturday, the Museum held its 3rd Annual Egg Decorating Event. We painted, we glued, and we ran out of eggs!

Grand Opening, "Arcadia Snapshots" Exhibit

We had a magnificent Grand Opening for our new exhibit “Arcadia Snapshots.” Gary Kovacic, editor of the book "Visions of Arcadia, A Centennial Anthology" and former Mayor of Arcadia was our guest speaker. Visitors listened to his presentation, walked around the new exhibit and enjoyed refreshments and conversation.

Chinese Brush Painting Class

Master Tam's Chinese Brush Painting Class meets twice a week here at the museum. The class will be exhibiting their beautiful works of art in one of our exhibit galleries in September.

January Brown Bag Lunch Talk, Preserving Your Family Photographs

Come and join the fun! We have lunch-time talks once a month.

New Curator

On December 4, 2007 the museum welcomed a new Curator, Dana Dunn.Dana's hometown is San Diego, but has lived in the Los Angeles area for the last thirty years. She says that “southern California is my home, from Santa Barbara to San Diego and from the ocean to the Colorado River, and even beyond.” She has worked in museums and libraries for the last thirteen years with specialties in collections management, exhibits, and historical research. She received two Bachelor Degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2003, one in History and the other in Anthropology. Her Masters Degree, which she received in 2005, is in History with a specialization in Public History and Museum Curation from the University of California, Riverside. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in History, specializing in the Early Modern World, the West and the history of Native America. Her past experiences have been at the Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery and Western Hotel Museum, the Antelope Valley Indian Museum, the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA, Pechanga Cultural Resources, the Riverside Municipal Museum and the Palmdale City Library.Please stop by and say "hello!" Dana is very interested in the local history of Arcadia and looks forward to talking with people who have lived in Arcadia for a long time. She is working on presenting the public with some wonderful exhibits and programs on the rich history of Arcadia and her people, as well as working diligently to preserve our precious artifacts that tell our story here.Dana wishes to thank all of the people in Arcadia, the Friends of the Museum, Arcadia Historical Society members and the employees of the City Library and the City of Arcadia for their warm welcome and for helping to make her feel at home.

The Arcadia Historical Society Presents...."Courting Penelope"

Come and join us at the Arcadia Community Center on Sunday January 20, 2008 for our general meeting and enjoy a Victorian vignette. Courting Penelope is the story of an 1870s whirlwind courtship - when Miss. Penelope Primrose stole the heart of Mr. W.P. Nichol IV.

....it will tickle your funny bone!

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Brown Bag Talk
January 24, 2008 12:00 – 12:30 pm

Come and join us on your lunch break! Dana Dunn, Curator, will be talking about preserving your family photographs. Do you have an old photograph of your family in Arcadia? Bring it with you and we will discuss how to preserve these precious family memories.

Bring your own lunch or enjoy our pizza (first come, first served!). Please call 574-5440 to make a reservation. Space is limited.

Happy Holidays!

The Museum will be closed on Tuesday, December 25 and Tuesday, January 1.

There's still time to come see the special exhibit of toys, which will be on display through January 5.

We wish you happiness and joy at this special time of the year.

7th Annual Holiday Ornament Making Workshop

This is the 7th time we've done this, and I sure think we did a great job! We had a total of about 530 visitors to this event. This Holiday Ornament Workshop is a wonderful Museum tradition. For the past two years, we've held the event in conjunction with the Snow Festival organized by the Arcadia Recreation and Community Services Department. We all had fun painting pinecones, making pipecleaner candy canes, and cutting paper snowflakes. A couple popular craft stations were the Winter Wonderland (ornament made with inverted plastic cups!) and the Christmas Walnut Mice (using walnut shells). A BIG thank-you to all our absolutely incredible volunteers! You've made the day beyond successful!

Friends of the Museum Holiday Tea and Boutique

Every year, the Friends of the Museum host a fundraising Holiday Tea and Boutique. Tasty treats with a hot cup of home-brewed cider welcomes visitors to join us for an afternoon of one-stop shopping.

A Good Old Tea Time with our Favorite Dolls!

Have you ever had pretend tea with your favorite bear or doll? At the Museum, we hosted a wonderful afternoon of REAL tea, scones, strawberries with Raggedy Ann. We had hostesses at each table talking about the history of Raggedy Ann and Andy. Guests enjoyed their tea, with their very own teacups brought from home. They also got to learn about tea manners and making cootie catchers, oh and cute Raggedy Ann and Andy crafts too! It was just a tea-rrific afternoon!

Historic Dolls Now on Exhibit

If you have fond memories of spending an afternoon with your favorite doll, you will enjoy visiting the Arcadia Historical Museum during its annual toy exhibit now through January 5, 2008. You may even see a favorite doll from your childhood!

For a preview of the exhibit, check out the great photos that appeared in today's Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Remember - admission to the Museum is always free!

Update on Getting to the Museum on Saturday

This just in! More details about the Saturday, November 17th street closures to help you better plan for your trip to the Museum!!

Baldwin closed completely from 8:30 to approx. 1:00 p.m.
Huntington to Camino Real closed same times as above
Duarte from Golden West to El Monte same times as above
Campus closed completely from 6:00 a.m. to approx. 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Huntington Drive will be diverted and there may be slow flow early in the morning.

Saturday at the Museum

Getting to the Museum may be a little challenging this weekend because it's time once again for the 54th Arcadia Festival of Bands, which starts at 8:30 a.m. Some streets will be closed but don't let that stop you from enjoying the final days of the exhibit "Back to School—First Avenue Celebrates 100 Years", which closes on Nov. 21, 2007 or seeing the newest exhibit "Discover the History of Dolls" on exhibit now through Jan. 5, 2008.

To help you navigate, here's a map of the street closures:

Celebrate First Avenue's 100th Birthday!

For 100 years, Arcadia’s children have walked the halls of First Avenue School. Now you can relive this history by coming to the Museum for its latest exhibit, which celebrates the 100th Birthday of this school. Featuring class pictures and a historical timeline, this exhibition showcases the story of this school and the impact it has had on the community.

Share your memories and your favorite nickname for the school with future Museum visitors by writing on our message board. This exhibit will be on display through November 21.

Make Your Own Peacock Feather Jewelry

Peacock Feather Earrings -- would you like to make a pair?

Make Your Own Peacock Feather Jewelry

Peacock Feather Earrings -- would you like to make a pair?

Ms. Street reading a peacock story, with our peacock puppet (sitting on the side) to children and parents.

Look what I've made!

Galore of jewelry you can make with peacock feathers!