by Anne Petersen
The reading room at the Santa Barbara Presidio Research Center. Photo by Anne Petersen.
Many members of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and the larger Santa Barbara community make use of our excellent reference library at the Presidio Research Center. In case you have not paid a visit, the Research Center is open to the public by appointment. We have placed many research tools online to give patrons detailed information about our holdings, which you can find here. In addition to our vertical files, photographs, periodicals and manuscript collections, we maintain a diverse collection of books covering the fields of Spanish Colonial history, California history, Native American studies, Asian American studies, genealogy, public history, museum studies and archaeology, among others! We are proud members of the Central Coast Museum Consortium, which hosts a website where our book catalog is listed, along with those of our local partners. You can search the catalog for titles here.
Donation from Robert L. Hoover.
Gratefully, we are able to keep our holdings updated in our key collecting fields. Every once in a while, however, a wonderful and unexpected donation comes in that fills a gap in one of our specialty areas and really helps set our collection apart. Last month we received one of those donations from Dr. Robert L. Hoover, Professor Emeritus in Archaeology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Dr. Hoover’s donation includes several invaluable reference books for historical archaeologists, many of which are aids for identifying artifacts uncovered during excavations. These volumes include guides to ceramics, bottles and coins, among others.
Donation from Robert L. Hoover.
The donation is especially timely as SBTHP is preparing to host an Archaeology Field School on site at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park this summer. Students in the field school will be excavating the rear area of the north wing of the fort. For more information about this summer’s field school click here. For more information about SBTHP’s ongoing commitment to archaeological field work and collections, click here.
Donation from Robert L. Hoover.
To make an appointment to visit the Presidio Research Center contact Anne Petersen, Associate Director for Historical Resources, at (805) 966-5073 or anne@sbthp.org