Page 3 - ra_annualreport2017

RANCHO CAMULOS MUSEUM

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

We're huge fans of HGTV home makeovers.

Dear Historic Homes and Gardens Lover:

We love seeing how those talented designers on HGTV magically transform battered old
homes-many of which saw their best days decades ago-into welcoming showplaces.
At Rancho Camulos Museum, Ventura County's only National Historic Landmark, we'd like
nothing better-with your generous help-than to restore the beauty and charm of one of
California's most significant mid-19 -century historic homes and gardens. Thanks to the help of
th
friends like you we're already well on our way to fulfilling this mission.
One of our most noteworthy achievements this past year was the completion of interior
restorations on the property's 1920 small adobe, which once served as the ranch manager's
home, and will soon become our new visitor's center and exhibition area.

For more on RCM's progress this past year, please read the enclosed newsletter. Learn about the
artifacts that are now on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in
the exhibit Many Voices, One Nation that made its Washington debut in June. Read about the
recently donated Josefa del Valle wedding portrait, accredited to Alexander Harmer, one of
th
California's premier 19 -century artists. Discover our new research library, which opened earlier
this year in the restored small adobe building. The library contains a valuable trove of books,
letters, photographs and maps that shed light on the history of Camulos and the rancho era.

There's all this and more going on at Ranch Camulos. You're invited to join us in keeping the
momentum alive by either renewing your museum membership or becoming a new member.

As demonstrated on HGTV, mending and maintaining old structures and grounds is daunting
and costly. Rancho Camulos is no different.

In the upcoming year our goal is to raise $250,000 which will enable us to make major
improvements to the grounds and gardens of Camulos by landscaping our new visitor's center,
improving our aging watering system, and making essential repairs to the main adobe residence.

It was during famed author Helen Hunt Jackson's visit to Rancho Camulos in January 1882 that
she found the inspirational setting for her novel Ramona, which became an overnight bestseller
and attracted train loads of visitors to the old adobe home and gardens, sparking a tourist boom
in Southern California. With your generous support, we can make this site as lovely as it was
when Mrs. Jackson paid her visit more than 135 years ago.

We invite you to join us in our efforts to keep Rancho Camulos structurally sound and restore its
original beauty. These efforts ensure that the museum can continue to be shared with the more
than 2,500 school children who visit us annually as well as older visitors who are still young at
heart and eager to learn about early Southern California history.