Arcadia Historical Society to Remove Artifacts from Museum

A new agreement between the City of Arcadia and the Arcadia Historical Society calls for the society’s extensive collection of photographs, ephemera and artifacts to be removed from the Ruth and Charles Gilb Historical Museum and returned to the Society.

The City Council authorized the new arrangement at its meeting on June 7, despite both Council Member Peter Amundson and Mayor Pro-Tem Robert Harbicht showing their distaste for this unexpected turn in the relationship between the City and the Historical Society.

“What’s going on here?” asked Harbicht.  “What sparked this?”

City Manager Don Penman said the main issue was access.

“We have a professional staff that gets paid to operate the Museum, and the Historical Society operates on a volunteer basis, so from a standpoint of how they operate and how we operated, … there was a clash,” Penman said.

Arcadia Historical Society President Gene Glasco also cited access as the primary reason for removing the Society’s items.

“The Society was very happy with the Museum partnership remaining as it had been for many years,” Glasco said in an e-mail to Patch, “As [the] Museum evolved and began putting in place new procedures and policies, it became an unworkable challenge to access [the] Society's own materials, such as photographs, for various Society projects like books and displays outside the Museum and Historical Markers, in a timely and convenient manner for volunteer Society members.

“… [It] was only when Museum officials gave [the] Society an either-or scenario--commit Society artifacts to Museum in perpetuity rather than continue on indefinite loan, or remove Society materials from Museum altogether--that [the] Society regretfully felt forced to choose the latter option,” Glasco said, explaining why the relationship between the two entities had come to this.

Library and Museum Service Director Carolyn Garner-Reagan felt that changes in mission statements from both organizations had created issues. 

“I think that there has been more than likely a dissatisfaction on both sides for some time and probably for a matter of years,” she said. “As the Society made their decision to change their focus to go with a broader mission which allows them to do more and different things, … I think the difference in where we were each headed became more apparent.”

In addition to removing its items, the Society will also vacate the office space it occupies at the Museum by Nov. 15 as part of the new agreement. The Society will continue to pay for half of the Museum’s insurance costs for fine arts and allow it to borrow photos and artifacts for future exhibits. 

Despite the Society’s decision to pull its items from the Museum, Garner-Reagan, who is retiring this year, feels the story of Arcadia will continue to be told in an appealing and effective manner.

“We believe that the Museum will thrive with its mission and the excellent exhibits will not be compromised,” she said.

The Society will continue to support the museum while also attempting to broaden its reach, according to Glasco.

“We provided enthusiastic support, both financial and vocal, for the fine Museum now run by the City, and we will continue to do so to the best of our ability,” he said.

“However, we are eager to spread our wings to encompass efforts to reflect our current Mission Statement 'to preserve, protect, interpret and promote community interest in the history of the City of Arcadia and its immediate environs.' The Charles and Ruth Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum falls squarely under those parameters, but so too do other worthy efforts equally deserving of attention.”