California Historical Society
Collaboration with Autry National Center
In an effort to bring the vibrant history of California to a wider audience, the California Historical Society and the Autry National Center have joined forces to display in Los Angeles significant works of art and costumes by some of America’s best known nineteenth and early twentieth-century artists. More than sixty paintings by such artists as Albert Bierstadt, James Walker, and Maynard Dixon, and turn-of-the-nineteenth- century costumes will be displayed in California Historical Society Gallery of the Autry Center, opening in 2008, after a temporary exhibition in 2007.
Established in 1871, CHS collects, preserves, publishes, and exhibits materials on the history of California and the West. Its collections contain paintings, photographs, costumes, archival material, and a library of inestimable value and historic significance. CHS has entered into a collection-sharing agreement with the Autry that will allow the strengths of each to be used productively and effectively to further the collective benefit of both in serving the people of California. The collection will remain under the Autry’s purview for a period of one hundred years, during which time the Autry will be responsible for long-term conservation, curatorial activities, publications, exhibitions, educational programs, storage, and loan requests by other institutions. “Museums in the twenty-first century are being challenged to get their greatest art and artifacts out of storage and into public view,” said Stephen Becker, former executive director of CHS.
“Our partnership with the Autry extends our limited galleries in San Francisco to a magnificent new space in Los Angeles. We’re proud to become partners with the Autry, an institution that is growing and maturing, and is clearly the West’s greatest and largest museum of California and Western American history and culture.” “Our partnership with the Autry is a dream come true for both institutions,” said Robert A. McNeely, president of the CHS board of trustees. “We have long wished to have a greater presence in Los Angeles and southern California. By sharing some of the best and most treasured pieces of our art and artifact collections, we’ve been able to fashion a long-term commitment that will benefit both organizations and, more importantly, truly share the society’s collections with large public audiences.”
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