Museum Galleries

Clarence Ruth Gallery Located on the Museum’s main floor, this gallery includes displays of ethnographic and archaeological artifacts from across the Americas. The gallery was named for the local educator and amateur archaeologist whose donated collection of Native American artifacts formed the core of the Lompoc Museum when it was established in 1969. The vast majority of the Ruth Collection consists of Chumash material collected in the 1920s and 1930s by Mr. Ruth during his pioneering research in the Lompoc area. Specimens from other areas of California and regions across the western hemisphere are also represented, including the Plains, Eastern U.S., and Alaska as well as the American Southwest, Central and South America. Over the years, additional collections of baskets, arrowheads, stone bowls, and other artifacts have been added to the Museum Collection by other local families.