ANAHEIM : City to Take Over Struggling Museum

The financially ailing Anaheim Museum will be taken over by the city Library Department under an agreement unanimously approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Under the arrangement, the museum’s board members will be advisers to the council and concentrate on fund-raising activities. It will cost the city about $25,000 a year to operate the museum.

“Hopefully, this will set the stage for real positive growth of the Anaheim Museum,” Mayor Tom Daly said.

Ardith Paget, the museum’s executive assistant, said she is excited about the new partnership between the city and nonprofit Anaheim Museum Inc., which has operated the facility since its inception in 1987.

“We’ll be more visible to the public,” Paget said. “More people will be aware of the fact that we do exist.”

Bringing the museum under the city’s control also will make it easier to obtain grants and other forms of outside funding, according to Paget, who said corporate donations have fallen in recent years due to the area’s economic downturn.

The small museum, which traces Anaheim’s history from the mission period to present day, is housed in the city-owned Carnegie Library at Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway.

Built in 1908 with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie, the building is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. It is one of five Carnegie libraries constructed in Orange County and the only one that is still standing, museum registrar Susan Liu said.

“It’s really the only cultural building we have here,” Liu said.

The split-level structure served as a library until the 1960s and was later converted into the city personnel office.

Permanent exhibits at the museum include agricultural tools from the 1800s, historic photos of the 1938 flood, a horse-drawn buggy, and a grand piano that belonged to Polish-born actress Helena Modjeska, who moved to Anaheim in 1876.

Current special exhibits focus on fashions from the 1950s and architectural details at Disneyland. There is also a hands-on exhibit for children that highlights cultures from around the world.