DeWayne Boccali’s Father and Grandfather, c. 1951, Boccali Family Archive

Jim and Ned Clark, c. 1984, Jim and Bambi Clark Archive

Jim Clark, Jim and Bambi Clark Archive

Jim Clark and Son Ned, Jim and Bambi Clark Archive

Packing House, c. 1910, Ojai Orange Grove Association Archive

Almond Harvest Upper Ojai, c. 1910, OVM Archive

Bill And Helen Lucking, C.1942, Lucking Family Archives

Bob C Davis, Sr., Rancheros Visitadores, c 1960, Bob Davis, Jr. Archive

Nick Noce’s Walnut Ranch, OVMuseum Archive

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 5th - 5 to 7 p.m.

The Ojai Valley Museum mounts one original history exhibit each year focusing on a topic significant to the Ojai community. This year’s exhibit is an historical perspective on ranching in the Ojai Valley.

Six local ranch families who have worked their land for at least two generations are featured in the show, with family photographs, historical texts, and objects borrowed from their ranch houses and outbuildings. The exhibit is a rich exploration of these stalwart, experimental, and determined families who ranch in the Ojai Valley. Their stories illustrate the reasons any of us choose to live in such a beautiful place.

A group of prominent Ojai ranchers met and selected the six ranches that make up the scope of this exhibit: Crooked Creek Ranch – established 1937, Clark Ranch – est. 1947, Boccali Ranch – est. 1951, Matilija Canyon Ranch – est. 1956, Topa Topa Ranch - est. 1959, and Haley Ranch - est. 1972.

The families include John E. Anderson; Dewayne and Marilyn Boccali; Jim and Bambi Clark, Leslie Clark, Linda Clark, Patricia Clark Doerner; Robert Calder Davis Jr.; Carly Lucking and Ernie Ford; and Roger Haley.

The museum director and members of the museum exhibition committee visited each ranch and selected the personal objects represented in the exhibit. Everything from saddles to a kitchen table, from paintings to smudge pots, from Navajo rugs to field boxes, have been gathered for the exhibit.

Photographs from each family were chosen to tell their story in pictures spanning dates between the early 19th century and today. Wedding portraits, baby pictures, ranch vistas, vintage farm equipment, wildlife, crops, and a myriad of other images serve to describe their generations and the reality of Ojai ranch living.

The intimate Alcove and Hall Galleries introduce visitors to the history of ranching in the Ojai Valley beginning with the 19th century Rancho Ojai Mexican land grant and Fernando Tico. Over-sized photographs from the museum’s Archive and Permanent Collection describe in pictures the variety of 19th century Ojai farms, how they were tended, who the work crews were, and how the produce, grain or citrus was transported. Wall texts enhance the archival visuals with scholarly research or excerpted published articles.

Each historic family and their ranch has a place in the main Rotating Gallery, immersing visitors in the individual stories told with text, objects, and personal photos. Looked upon as a whole, the gallery is a rich array of the lifestyle and lives intrinsic to ranching as a chosen profession.

Owner of historic Friends’ Ranches and Ojai Valley Museum Board member, Tony Thacher, was instrumental in bringing the idea for this exhibit to the museum. He corralled ranchers to early strategy meetings and helped focus the direction of the show. One of his ideas was to produce a feature length video of interviews conducted with the ranching families in the exhibit. This has been accomplished, pro bono, by local videographer Chris Ritke. The video will play looped in the gallery as an adjunct media element to the main exhibition.

In addition, Thacher has arranged for each family to host a special event on their ranch between mid-October and December. The events include picnics, a wine tasting, a gala museum fundraiser and more. The public is invited. Museum members will receive invitations, and the website and Facebook page will preview each event in a timely manner.

The Opening Reception is Saturday, October 5th from 5 to 7 p.m. in the galleries of the Ojai Valley Museum. All of the ranchers represented will be attending. Members are free and non-members are $5.00 at the door. No-host bar.

The exhibit has been made possible by a grant received from the Heritage Fund through the Ventura County Community Foundation, as well as general donations and income from the companion special events.

The Ojai Valley Museum, established in 1967, is generously supported in part by museum members, private donors, business sponsors and underwriters, the Smith-Hobson Foundation, Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, City of Ojai, Rotary Club of Ojai, and the Ojai Civic Association.

The museum is located at 130 W. Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA. Admission: free for current 2013 members, adults - $5.00, children 6–18 - $1.00 and children 5 and under – free. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Tours are available by appointment. Free parking is available off Blanche Street at back of museum.

For more information, call the museum at (805) 640-1390, ext. 203, e-mail ojaimuseum@sbcglobal.net or visit the museum website at: Ojai Valley Museum.org Find us on Facebook Ojai Valley Museum.