| Homestead Museum || Historic House Tours || Events & Activities || Workman House || La Casa Nueva || El Campo Santo |

Collections & Research

The Homestead Museum's collection focuses on objects dating from 1830 to 1930 with strengths in the history of southern California and the Workman and Temple families, along with other items pertaining to Los Angeles, California, and the United States.

THE HOMESTEAD'S COLLECTION

Main Collecting Areas
• Architecture, including interior decoration and decorative arts
• Economics, including ranching and farming, the oil industry, viticulture and wine-making, and real estate development
• Household management, including party and event planning, etiquette, cooking and serving, and household cleaning and maintenance
• Leisure, including sports, music, film, tourism, and outdoor activities

Other Areas of Interest
• Race and ethnicity
• Politics
• Education

Strengths of the Collection
• Maps, especially of the Los Angeles area, California, and the western United States
• Documents and reports from Los Angeles County, California, and United States governments, including selected volumes of California statutes, reports of the state Supreme Court, and state reports on agriculture, mining, and other topics
• Documents pertaining to such subjects as real estate, architecture, the oil industry, viticulture and wine-making, and tourism
• Photographs, including stereoscopic photographs, cabinet cards, and snapshots of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and the San Gabriel Valley
• Books from 1930 and before concerning the history of California, the Los Angeles area, and the American West

THE HOMESTEAD'S RESEARCH LIBRARY

In addition to historic books in our collection (pre-1930), we also have a focused Research Library containing around 1,500 volumes with strengths in museum studies, architecture, interior decoration and decorative arts, and local history, in addition to Research Files organized by "People," "Places," and "Subjects."

ACCESSING THE COLLECTION & RESEARCH LIBRARY ON-LINE

The PastPerfect cataloging program contains three databases from which to search:
• Objects - all pre-1930 artifacts, EXCEPT photographs
• Photos
• Library - post-1930 books found in our Research Library. Pre-1930 books in the collection are included in the "Objects" section of the database.

Please note: The "Images" portion of the search program is NOT utilized by the Homestead, so a search here will yield no results!

For more thorough information regarding search options, click on the "Help" sidebar in the search window.

BE WARNED! While copies of a catalog record and digitized image may be printed, the image is low resolution and watermarked! The print function is meant to assist researchers in contacting the Homestead for more information about an artifact.

Mistakes will be found in abundance-this search site is a work-in-progress, and not all of our records have been entered yet. We strive to be as accurate as possible in our descriptions, subject headings, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and, most importantly, our facts! If your search is unsuccessful, it may be an error on our part, so try another angle or give us a call.

SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT

Appointments are required to view items from the collection or to use the Research Library, and can be made by contacting Collections Manager Paul Spitzzeri at (626) 968-8492 or p.spitzzeri@homesteadmuseum.org.