About This Archive

The history you will find here began life as OjaiHistory.com, a community history project created by the Ojai Valley Museum in partnership with Tyler Suchman, made possible by a generous grant from the Smith-Hobson Foundation and support from the Ventura County Community Foundation.

Over more than a decade, a dedicated group of contributors, researchers, and volunteers built an archive of more than 300 stories drawn from the valley’s long memory: its founders and characters, its landscapes and landmarks, its disasters and reinventions. Principal contributors include Craig Walker, Howard Bald, David Mason, Drew Mashburn, Mark Lewis, and Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, among many others.

That site has now been retired, and its contents are being migrated here, to a permanent home in the Museum’s digital archive. The work of migration is ongoing.

Want to help? We are looking for volunteers to assist with migrating stories from the original archive. No technical experience required. Contact us at the Museum to learn more.

Have a story to share? The Ojai Valley Museum welcomes original contributions to this archive: family histories, neighborhood recollections, photographs, documents, and firsthand accounts of valley life. If you have something to add, we would love to hear from you.