Santa Barbara Museum Of Natural History

Last updated on April 22, 2008

To enlighten the public by developing and presenting fundamental knowledge of natural history research, so as to teach and inspire a lifelong passion and abiding respect for the natural world.
To enlighten the public by developing and presenting fundamental knowledge of natural history research, so as to teach and inspire a lifelong passion and abiding respect for the natural world.

Description:
Location:
Main Campus: Set on eleven oak-shaded acres in historic Mission Canyon and crossed year-round by Mission Creek, the Museum campus features a cluster of Spanish-style buildings and easy nature walks.

Sea Center: Located on Stearns Wharf, the Sea Center offers a window on the Santa Barbara Channel, numerous marine exhibits and aquaria.

Exhibits: The Museum features eleven exhibit halls, focusing on regional natural history, including birds, insects, mammals, marine life, paleontology, Native Americans and the Chumash Indians. The Lizard Lounge features live reptiles and amphibians.

Features: Life-size Blue Whale skeleton, a planetarium, an antique natural history art gallery, a museum store and special programs featuring outstanding lecturers and films.

Audience: The Museum serves the southern and central coast of California. The City of Santa Barbara is home to 89,000 people. It has a large Hispanic population and an active Native American population. More than 150,000 people visit the Museum each year.

Of Interest: The Museum has the only natural science database and collections repository specializing in the Santa Barbara region. We house the largest collection of Chumash Indian artifacts outside the Smithsonian. Our shell collection and bird egg collection are among the most significant in the country.

History:
Museum of Comparative Oology . . .
The earliest roots of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History extend back to the 1890s when a group of professional scientists and amateurs founded the Santa Barbara Natural History Society with a small museum at 1226 State Street. This pioneer effort waned around the turn of the century but was reinforced in 1916 with the arrival of noted ornithologist William Leon Dawson from Ohio. Together with a group of prominent Santa Barbarans, Dawson founded the Museum of Comparative Oology, at first located in two outbuildings on his property on Puesta del Sol in Mission Canyon and based on his own extensive collection of bird eggs as well as collections of several members of the community. Dawson and his friends believed that oology—the study of bird eggs—“would throw a flood of light upon the trend of life itself,” yielding “the secrets of life’s origins and its destiny.”

Contact person: Rebecca Fagan Coulter, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (805) 569-3170

Address:

2559 Puesta Del Sol Road
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
(See a map)

Web Site: http://www.sbnature.org

Directions:

From the North: Take U.S. Hwy 101 south to the Mission Street exit. Turn left (towards the hills) at the offramp stop light. From the South: Take U.S. Hwy 101 north to the Mission Street exit. Turn right (towards the hills) at the offramp stop light. Proceed on Mission to Santa Barbara Street. Turn left on Santa Barbara Street, proceed two blocks to the first stop sign at Los Olivos. Turn right on Los Olivos, stay to the left at the "Y"--you will cross a stone bridge. Turn left at the second street after the bridge; this is Las Encinas. Turn left at the stop sign (Puesta del Sol Road)and proceed to the first parking lot driveway and turn right.

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