MUSEUM MAKEOVER AHEAD LOCAL INDIAN HISTORY SITE LAUNCHING LAST SEASON BEFORE MAJOR OVERHAUL BEGINS.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer LAKE LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. - Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Indian Museum The Indian Museum was founded by Dr Nathaniel Wallich a Danish botanist at Serampore (originally called Frederischnagore) near Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in 1814. It is a multi-disciplinary institution of national standing and is one of oldest museums in the world. will open today for its last season before it gets a $2 million makeover. The quirky, Swiss chalet-style structure is due next summer for a long-awaited reinforcement project that will keep the museum closed and its thousands of artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. in storage for at least a year. ``People who'd like to see the museum should try to get here this season,'' said curator Edra Moore, who along with museum volunteers was cleaning and preparing the building this week for its opening weekend. A historic park in the state parks department, the museum displays more than 3,000 stone tools, woven baskets and other artifacts from coastal California Coastal California refers to the coastal regions of the US state of California. The term is not primarily geographical as it also describes an area distinguished by sociological, economical and political attributes. , Great Basin Great Basin, semiarid, N section of the Basin and Range province, the intermontane plateau region of W United States and N Mexico. Lying mostly in Nevada and extending into California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, it is bordered by the Sierra Nevada on the west, the and Southwest peoples. It has a gift shop and picnic area, and a nature trail winds through the boulders around it on Piute Butte Butte, city, United States Butte (by  t), city (1990 pop. 33,336), seat of Silver Bow co., SW Mont.; inc. 1879. It is a trade, ranching, and industrial center. .
The exhibits are displayed much as they were when artist H. Arlen Edwards built the building as a home for his family in the 1920s. The butte on which the museum sits was a spiritual site for native peoples. ``The public really enjoys the open displays, so they can see things as if they were in a home setting,'' Moore said. The building will be closed starting next summer for reinforcement because it is nearly 80 years old and in fragile condition. Constructed partly out of movie set material scavenged from the Hollywood studios where Edwards worked, the building is settling and actually shifts in high winds, parks officials say. Edwards started the collection of American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. artifacts and it was added to by Antelope Valley artist Grace Oliver, who in 1939 purchased the building and collections when Edwards moved back to the Los Angeles area. Starting in the 1940s, Oliver opened the home to the public as the Antelope Valley Indian Museum. The property and the collections were acquired by the state in 1979. As roof supports, Edwards used Joshua tree Joshua tree: see yucca. trunks that have little structural strength, officials say. Boulders form part of the walls and floor, and the building was not attached to a foundation like modern buildings. In addition, the museum is cooled by big evaporative evaporative pertaining to evaporation. evaporative loss loss of body water by evaporation of water from the body to the air; a heat control mechanism and a factor in water balance studies. coolers, which pump in damp air that could hasten deterioration of some of the artifacts. The makeover will include installation of a climate-control system. A historical building itself, the museum will be reinforced in such a way that its appearance isn't changed, officials said. ``The stabilization project is exciting,'' Moore said. The museum will be open to the general public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. most Saturdays and Sundays through mid-June. School tours for third- and fourth-graders and adult groups of 10 or more people can be scheduled in advance to visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The museum will be closed Dec. 17, 18, 24, 25 and 31, and Jan. 1. A hands-on exhibit called the Touch Table - in which visitors can try making a fire by friction or grinding corn with stone tools - will be open on some weekends. Visitors can call (661) 946-3055 before their visit to check. The museum is on Avenue M between 150th and 170th Streets East. Admission is $2 for adults, free for visitors age 16 and younger. Call the Mojave Desert Mojave or Mohave Desert, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. sector state parks office at (661) 942-0662 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays to arrange a school or adult group tour. The museum collection includes thousands of items that aren't displayed but can be viewed online through an electronic catalog made possible through the Getty Grant Program. The artifacts can be viewed at www.avim.parks.ca.gov. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) The Antelope Valley Indian Museum, housed in a Swiss chalet-style building, plans a $2 million reinforcement project. (2) Curator Edra Moore cleans up pieces at the Antelope Valley historic museum in preparation for the weekend opening. (3) Linda Schmid of Mojave Desert State Parks maintenance vacuums the museum's California Hall. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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