On the Rocks : Museum Will Be History Without More Funding, Backers Say

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The Orange County History Museum, the only local institution devoted to displaying and teaching about the county’s rich natural and cultural history, is in danger of becoming extinct itself.

Struggling to survive on a shoestring budget of donations, the little-known museum at the Franciscan Plaza downtown is scrambling to raise funds to pay its bills and stay open.

Here, the public can see and touch ancient history, including extraordinary fossils of whale and dolphin skeletons millions of years old, as well as Indian artifacts and exhibits of indigenous animals past and present.

“There’s no place in Orange County that members of the local public can go to find out about the county’s natural history,” said Steve Conkling, director of paleontology and archeology at Irvine-based LSA Associates and president of the Orange County Natural History Museum Assn. “If you want to find out about Orange County, this is the place to go.”

But with things the way they are, the county’s history might end up in somebody else’s museum far from home.

Usually the museum, run by about a dozen volunteers and without government funding or private grants, falls short of the estimated $2,000 a month it needs to operate, including $1,000 for rent. Museum officials whose lease expires on July 31 have been given until the end of August by plaza owner Ocwen Federal Bank to settle on a new lease.

Museum representatives hope to negotiate a lower, more affordable rent, but if they can’t, the museum might still be forced to close.

“If [rent] stays as is, we can’t do it without more help,” said association board member Mark McGuire.

With its foot traffic and nearness to Mission San Juan Capistrano, the plaza is an ideal location for the museum and one officials do not want to give up.

“I’d really hate to move now that we’ve begun to get established,” museum director Jacki Hanson said. “I think it’s a good location.”

There is no contingency plan if the museum is forced to close.

If that happened, the rocks, fossils, animals and exhibits on display would be stored with individuals, housed in the county’s huge warehouse or even relocated to other museums outside the county.

“If a museum facility like the natural history museum doesn’t exist . . . those [fossils] could leave Orange County,” Conkling said. “Are we willing to throw away what we’ve done . . . just because we don’t support a museum?”

Financial insecurity is nothing new to the museum.

Established by the Natural History Foundation of Orange County, the museum opened in December 1990 in Aliso Viejo but closed six months later $200,000 in debt.

The association was then formed in 1992 to support the natural history museum. Operating without the benefit of local, state or federal grants, the association-backed museum opened in February 1993 in Laguna Niguel. It moved to the current location in 1996 after losing its rent-free space.

With minimal marketing and no outside support, the museum relies on the generosity of the public, association membership fees and revenue from admission tickets (50 cents for children and $1 for adults) to pay the bills and support exhibits.

“There have been serious attempts to get a natural history museum for over 20 years,” Conkling said. “The problem is no one wants to pay for it.”

That’s not to say there is no need for such a museum. With Orange County’s growth and development, paleontologists and archeologists are uncovering a treasure trove of fossils and other historical finds.

The indigenous fossils and artifacts displayed at the museum come from development site excavations, private donors and the existing volume of material collected in the county since 1977, which, when not on display, sit in a 10,000-square-foot county warehouse that is “packed to the absolute gills with fossils,” Conkling said.

At the museum, visitors can step back in time and see the huge skeleton of a pseudo-walrus that lived in the Lake Forest region approximately 12 million years ago.

Other displays include prehistoric shark teeth and driftwood, dolphins and other marine and terrestrial fossils, Indian artifacts and indigenous animal exhibits, along with stuffed or mounted birds, spiders and butterflies.

In some exhibits, children have the opportunity to dig for lost fossils, pound away at rock, or sift through 1,000-year-old seashells. Special programs and lecture series are also offered through the museum.

“This is a great place for kids,” Hanson said. “Los Angeles County may have a bigger museum, but here kids can touch and do things.”