Description
The Museum provides a gallery for artists to exhibit the recent and present picture of Route 66. Route 66 had an extraordinary influence in Southern California on the architecture, the arts, community development and commerce. Most of this influence has disappeared in the area from Needles to Santa Monica. It is important to preserve, document and educate for all, the impact of the Mother Road on Southern Californians. Towns like Needles, Barstow and Victorville exist today because Route 66 was their main street. Our goal is to keep alive the memories of those Americans who lived, worked and traveled along the Road from 1926 to the present and to share those memories with those who visit the Museum. One room of the Museum is dedicated to the City of Victorville and contains historic photo collections, desert paintings and memorabilia depicting the people who traveled through or came to stay and build their lives along the Road.
In 2004, the Museum hosted approximately 7,000 visitors from all 50 States and 54 foreign countries. Admission is free to the public and kept open by sales in the gift shop, donations and fundraisers. Our staff is composed of a 10 member volunteer Board of Directors and 10 dedicated volunteer docents. A membership program for 'Friends of the Museum' currently has 30 dues paying members. Icons of the Road, including historian and author Michael Wallace, artist Bob Waldmire and artist Christina Ianni (see attached supplemental materials on Ms. Ianni's exhibit) support and are intimately familiar with the Museum and some of its staff.
Last November the Museum celebrated its 10th anniversary in its second location in historic Old Town Victorville on Route 66.
Partnerships with other civic organizations are encouraged and the Museum supports or receives support from many in the area. Support is non financial but includes inviting the Museum to have a vendor/information booth at their public functions, providing publicity, moral support, etc. Some of the groups are the Chamber of Commerce, the Route 66 Rendezvous, the High Desert Car Club Council, the Huck Finn Jubilee Festival, the San Bernardino Fairgrounds, the Victorville Property Owners Association, the High Desert Center for the Arts, the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation and the City of Victorville.
