Museum History

The Oakland Museum of California has earned worldwide recognition for its singular and important mission: sharing the story of California, the state that embraces and inspires innovation. Created by the City of Oakland in 1969, the museum is now one of the largest cultural institutions in the Bay Area and the only museum in the state devoted exclusively to the art, history, and ecology of California.

To learn more about the Oakland Museum of California, please visit our website at http://www.museumca.org/.

For a more detailed timeline, visit the Museum Restaurant to view the exhibition Passion and Perserverance: The Past and Future of the Oakland Museum of California.

: Dinkeloo Architects’ early design sketch for the Museum koi pond

Timeline

1910	Oakland Public Museum founded in the Camron Stanford House; acquired Wilcomb historical collection.
1916	Oakland Art Gallery opens in the Oakland Municipal Auditorium (now the Heny J. Kaiser Convention Center), featured art left over from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition.
1922	Henry A. Snow Museum opens in a creaky mansion on 19th and Harrison Streets, filled with hunting trophies from Africa.
1953	Oakland Museum Association founded to create one museum out of the Oakland Public Museum, Oakland Art Gallery, and the Snow Museum.
1955	Oakland Museum Women's Board is founded to support the Museum's educational programs. The first White Elephant Sale raises $509.
1961	$6 million bond passed to build the new Oakland Museum of California.
1965	Acquired the Kahn Collection, major paintings from 1853-1920.
1966-1971	Acquired Dorothea Lange collection, including most of her photographic negatives, contact sheets, prints, professional papers, and correspondence.
1969	Oakland Museum of California opened.
1970	First annual California Wildflower Show.
1973	Chief Curator of History L. Thomas Frye launched a statewide media appeal;museum collected nearly 25,000 20th century objects and many stories of the people who made or used them.
1979	Great Basin and Desert regions opened in Gallery of Natural Sciences.
1984	Coastline and Coastal Mountains regions opened in Gallery of Natural Sciences.
	Acquired largest Richard Diebenkorn collection in the country.
1992	Aquatic California opened in the Gallery of Natural Sciences.
	Launched D.E.A.F. Media Inc. collaboration for expanding family programs.
1993	First annual Días de los Muertos Community Celebration.
	Received Bay Area’s first Helen Crocker Russell Award for community service from The San Francisco Foundation.
1996	Acquired major collection of 800,000 photographs from the news archives of the Oakland Tribune.
1997	Recognized as a national leader in building effective museum-school partnerships in Creative America: A Report to the President by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
2000	Launched online resource Picture This: California Perspectives on American History.
2001	Education Department recognized as a leader in developing innovative programs and invited to participate in Urban Network: Museums Embracing Communities, a new national consortium of major museums.
2002	Oakland Public Schools recognize “Preparing for the Future Community Partners” in the Oakland Works Academy Awards.
	Oakland voters pass Measure G, which designates $23.6 million in public funds for museum improvements.
	Opened Betty & Knud Danild Student Art Gallery for student-created exhibitions.
2003	First Lunar New Year Celebration, involving a wide range of Asian-Pacific traditions.
2006	Lori Fogarty joins museum team as executive director.
2007	Obtained the prized art collection of Ted and Ruth Nash. This gift of 275 artworks includes peices by 140 preeminent 20th century artists from Northern and Southern California.
2008	Art and History Galleries close for Phase I construction

: photo by Mark Gebhardt