Skip to content
Museum of Ventura County
  • VC 150
  • Donate
  • Visit
  • Contact Us
  • Membership
  • Subscribe
  • Home
    • Visit
    • Visitor Health and Safety Guidelines
    • 2021 Year In Review
    • About
    • Mission & History
    • Board and Committees
    • Press and Video
    • Connect
    • Subscribe
  • Membership
    • Join or Renew
    • MVC Business Club
  • Events
    • Events Calendar
    • VC 150
    • Event Rentals – Event Pavilion & Plaza
  • Collections
    • Highlights from the Collection
    • Carmen Ramirez Remembrance Collection
    • Rapid Response Collecting
    • George Stuart Historical Figures®
    • Collections Development Plan
  • Exhibits
  • Education
    • Play-Well TEKnologies Summer Camps
    • Online Learning
    • Onsite School Tours
    • Puzzles, Quizlets and Games
    • Bonita C. McFarland Scholarships 2023 Award Winners
    • Education Internships
  • Research Library
    • About
    • Search The Collections
    • Voices of Ventura County
    • MVC Then Blog
    • Family History Project
    • 2020 Protest Collecting
    • Covid-19 Rapid Response Collecting
    • Digitized Photographs
    • Journal Flashback
    • Local History Research Directory
    • Library Internships
    • Collections Development Plan
  • Ag Museum
  • Support MVC
    • Membership
    • MVC Business Club
    • Ways to Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Memorials
    • Volunteer
    • Tribute Donations

February 4, 2020

Grant To Fund Online Access To Rare Ventura County History Journals

Featured in VC Star | Written by Stacie N. Galand

For 40 years, local historians documented Ventura County’s past — the people, places and events that make the area what it is.

Now, a state grant will allow the Museum of Ventura County to digitize their work from 1955 to 1995, making it available sometime this spring to anyone with internet access. The 160 issues of the “Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly Journal” have only been available in the rare hard copy.

“Many of these are first-person accounts, and those get lost over time,” said Deya Terrafranca, the museum’s research librarian and archives director. “The first issue came out in 1955. Those early copies are dwindling. They’re hard to find.”

Terrafranca estimated the value of the California Revealed grant at about $3,500, which covers the cost to convert the hundreds of journal pages to digital documents. The grant is an initiative of the California State Library, which receives federal funding.

The documents will be available on the California Revealed website and eventually on the museum’s research library and archives website. “Access to information is so important,” Terrafranca said. “That’s the key, I think, to a democratic system.”

Terrafranca described the state’s effort to digitize documents as a “really cool project.” Smaller institutions and collections can be nominated for California Revealed and make their collections available to a broader audience, she said. 

“It helps anyone and everyone get things online and accessible,” Terrafranca said.

Pamela Vadakan, director of California Revealed, said this year the program funded about 20 projects but has provided funding for up to 100 in years past. Grants vary widely in range depending on the project, but at least one was as much as $20,000.

She said Ventura County’s journals cover California mission history and Native American populations in early California, topics that are underrepresented. 

“There’s just whole swaths of the state that we’re missing,” Vadakan said. “That includes the coasts.”

The 10-year-old state program started digitizing video and audio first to ensure preservation of aging materials and run on increasingly outdated equipment. In recent years, California Revealed has broadened its grants to paper-based materials like the museum’s journals, maps and photographs. 

California Revealed is hoping to reach areas less represented in the state’s archives.

Terrafranca said digitizing the museum’s journal collection is part of the nonprofit’s greater effort to be more relevant to the community.

In 2017, the museum was on the brink of closure and its leaders identified six areas, including making its collection more accessible, as ways to reinvent itself.

Terrafranca said the journal project and another recent effort – in collaboration with students from CSU Channel Islands—to digitize the museum’s vast photo collection aim to fulfill that accessibility.

“We really feel strongly that we need to be the institution, the historical resource the community desires,” she said. “We need our collections available online so people can access them anytime and anywhere.”

The museum librarian said ultimately information drives creativity. She hopes the community will find inspiration in the stories from the past.

For more information about California Revealed, visit https://californiarevealed.org. For more on the museum, go to https://venturamuseum.org. 

Read the full article at VCStar.com.

Our Mission and Vision

Inspiring vibrant communities by connecting the past, present, and future. The Museum of Ventura County, through its collections, exhibits, educational programs and publications, celebrates the history, art, and culture of Ventura County and the Channel Islands.

Our Purpose

To promote interest in and understanding of the history of the Ventura County region; to collect and preserve archives, artifacts, art, and ephemera bearing on the history of the region; to document current regional events; and to create exhibits and programs that enlighten, educate, and engage the past, present, and future.

Our Partners

Major funding for the programs
at the Museum of Ventura County
is made possible by

City of Ventura

County of Ventura

Museum of Ventura County
100 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Directions

Thursday—Sunday
11am to 5pm

Phone: 805.653.0323

Research Library at the Museum
100 East Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Directions

Appointment Only
Wednesday—Friday • 11am to 5pm

For library assistance call
805-653-0323 ext 320
or email library@venturamuseum.org

Agriculture Museum
926 Railroad Avenue
Santa Paula, CA 93060
Directions

Thursday—Sunday
11am to 5pm

Phone: 805.525.3100

Albinger Archaeological Museum
113 E. Main Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Directions

Saturday
11am to 5pm

Phone: 805.658.4728

  • Visit
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Membership
  • Volunteer
  • Research Library
  • Ag Museum
  • Exhibits
  • Financials
Connect with the Museum through social media:
Website Development by Willhouse.
Translate »

The Agriculture Museum will be closed beginning Monday, October 2
and reopening Saturday, October 21 with a brand-new exhibit, 
Ventura County, The Place We Call Home

We hope to see you there!

Sign Up For Our E-Newsletter