Riverside Metropolitan Museum

Riverside Metropolitan Museum
Built 1912, originally as the United States Post Office[1]
Established 1924
Location Riverside, California
Coordinates 33°58′55″N 117°22′21″W / 33.9820°N 117.3726°W / 33.9820; -117.3726
Type History, Anthropology, Natural Science
Collection size 100,000
Curator Brenda Buller Focht
Website http://www.riversideca.gov/museum/
Official name Riverside Municipal Museum[1]
Reference no. 11

The Riverside Metropolitan Museum, or RMM, is a history, anthropological, and natural science museum located in the historic Mission Inn District of Riverside, California, United States. The museum is a department of the City of Riverside, but is supported by the Riverside Museum Associates (RMA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

History

The museum was established on December 12, 1924, when the widow of Cornelius Earle Rumsey donated his collection of Native American artifacts to the City of Riverside. Rumsey, a retired executive of the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), came to Riverside for his health and subsequently developed an interest in Native American artifacts.[2]

The museum was originally located in the basement of the old City Hall building from 1925 through 1948. It then moved to the basement of the current building, originally a Federal Post Office. As the museum's collections grew, the museum expanded to all of the floors in the 1960s and 1970s.[3]

After his retirement from teaching at Riverside Junior College, noted naturalist Edmund C. Jaeger served as a curator for the museum. A permanent exhibit at the museum is dedicated to him and the natural landscape of Southern California.

The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM).[4]

Architecture

The building was designed in the Renaissance Revival Style.

References

  • Patterson, Tom. A Colony For California; Riverside's First Hundred Years, Second Edition, 1996. The Museum Press of the Riverside Museum Associates. ISBN 0-935661-24-7.
  • Riverside Municipal Museum Brochure
  1. 1 2 Riverside Cultural Heritage Board (January 2002). "Landmarks of the City of Riverside" (PDF). City of Riverside. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
  2. ↑ Patterson, page 345.
  3. ↑ BID Bulletin, Riverside Downtown Business Improvement District, September 2010, Volume 11, Issue 9, page 2.
  4. ↑ "Alliance Accredited Institutions" (PDF). American Alliance of Museums. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
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