California History Guide > Donor Information

Chronicling our state's history through its twenty dioramas, the California History Hall has long been a favorite exhibit among museum patrons and visitors. The Hall also represents a vital component in the California State Social Science Standards for Social Studies in the third and fourth grades.

In August of 2000, the Alliance Board of the Natural History Museum embarked on a $120,000 campaign to revitalize the California History Hall. Through the leadership of Robert Swartz, Alliance Board President, and Tani Sackler Krouse, California History Hall Revitalization Project Chairwoman, the campaign far exceeded its goal, raising more than $160,000. Components of the revitalization included a redesigned lighting system, new paint for walls and ceiling, a newly designed adobe rancho-style entrance as well as educational materials and a comprehensive curriculum guide following California state frameworks for the fourth-grade history requirements. Showing support for the history told by the dioramas, from narratives about California's earliest inhabitants through the mission and rancho periods to statehood and the gold rush, donors at the $5,000 level and higher received recognition for diorama sponsorship.

Funding of the California History Hall Revitalization project helped to realize a long-held dream of the History Department's curatorial staff, and showcases the Natural History Museum and its one-of-a-kind California History Collection. The Museum would like to acknowledge the Alliance Board for its tremendous success in support of the California History Hall Revitalization Project. We invite all of you to visit the new California History Hall.

Lynn and Douglas Brengel

KTLA Charities - a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation

Guil and Gwen Babcock
Mrs. Adienne Young Underwood

Wells Fargo Bank
Richard and Eileen Garson
Jenna, Daniel and Cecilia Perlstein
Robert Swartz and Grace Labatt

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Leventhal
Mr. Richard Dunsay and Dr. Anita Artstein-Dunsay
Betty and Marvin Hoffenberg through the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust
Michael Kriesel
Kristin and Mark Lieberman, Mallory, Andrew, Zoë and Joshua
Alden and Joann McKelvey
John and Donna Sussman
Peg Yorkin
Lorraine P. Young

Mrs. Iona Benson
Alan and Frieda Berlin
Barry and Irena Gernstein
Jonathan Gordon and Kristie Hubbard
Joan C. Grasty and John H. Dillingham
Shirley and Gene Hoggatt
Frank and Diana Jansen
Marshall and Deanne Kass
David Kriesel and Joyce Levinson
Tani Sackler Krouse and Lou Krouse
Mary G. Lane
Robert Lane
Emily and Alexandria Simon
Jennifer and James McIntosh
Robert and Kathleen Patterson
Thomas and Betty Reddin
Maryann and Charles Rinsch
James and Charlene Royer
Howard Sherman and Sela Ward
Walter and Betty Tauer
Arnold and Joan Travis
Joan and Robert Wrede

Dr. Jo Ann Brasel
Dolores and Karl Samuelian