The Antelope Valley Indian Museum focus at Old-Timers

Palmdale – At the Sizzler in Palmdale on Friday, July 31, 2026, the guest speaker was Archeologist and Curator Peggy Ronning from the Antelope Valley Indian Museum SHP.

Peggy gave a slide presentation covering the very first start of the museum and bringing it up to today. Shirley, Charlee and Chuck from Lake Los Angeles were there to support and share the experience with 72 other members of the Old Timers group. The group meets on the last Friday of each month, at Sizzler’s, except for November and December during the holidays.

Peggy provided 18 points of growth and development of the museum starting in the year 1928 when artist Howard Aden Edwards began building the main museum building with the help of his wife Rose and son Arden. The first room to be built was Kachina Hall followed by 17 other steps leading to today’s museum.

Ronning said, “In 2021 Friends of the Antelope Valley Indian Museum partnered with State Parks and received a $29,400 grant to create virtual tours of the museum. The narrations were developed by members of the Native community and present their perspective of the museum and the collections. Funding for this project was provided by the special interest license plate featuring the image of Snoopy, with permission and support from Peanuts Worldwide (Section 5169 of the Vehicle Code) for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.

“In the museum’s next phase, we will be co-managing the museum with the Antelope Valley and Great Basin Tribes, and they will decide what information, objects, and stories they want to share about their cultures. We are starting to schedule meetings with the tribes to begin this re-envisioning process.

“Some of the tribal governments we will be partnering with include two federally recognized Serrano tribal governments, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Banning and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation in Highland, and two State recognized Serrano tribal governments, the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians in Newhall and the Serrano Nation of Mission Indians in Patton; two State recognized Tataviam tribal governments, the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians in Newhall and the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians in San Fernando; one federally recognized Kitanumuk tribal government, the Tejon Tribe, and one state recognized Kitanumuk tribal government, the Kitanemuk & Yowlumne Tejon Indians, both in Bakersfield; and one state recognized Kawaiisu tribal government, the Kern Valley Indian Community in Lake Isabella.”

From here, Peggy took us on a virtual tour of the museum. The photos are property of others, thus copyrighted so we cannot share them with you in this report. Peggy itemized what the many events the Museum has to offer.

“In addition to our funding from the State, the museum receives financial support from the Friends of the Antelope Valley Indian Museum (also known as FAVIM). So, another way to help the museum is by helping FAVIM.

• FAVIM is a 501c3 non-profit.

• It is an official Cooperating Association under contract with State Parks.

“Its purpose is to raise money to support museum programs.

“For example, FAVIM pays for park aides to staff the museum. They also donated money to reroof one of the historic cottages in the park and install central heating and air so we can use this building as an art gallery.

“FAVIM is looking for board members with special skills such as accountants, lawyers, people in the marketing and PR profession, and fundraisers.

“FAVIM also welcomes donations.

“This year’s Native American Celebration event will be October 18 and 19. Admission is $10 per person. Kids aged 12 and under are free. I hope I will see you there!”