History Center of San Luis Obispo County

A great little museum in the middle of downtown San Luis Obispo, next to the mission. We walked in while waiting for mass and were pleasantly surprised with a well maintained museum with interesting exhibits in an old library. There is a suggested $ 5 donation box at the top of the stairs near the entrance.
When we were in town, a special exhibit about Phoebe Hearst was displayed. Since we had just been to Hearst Castle the day before, it really expanded what we experienced and learned from the trip. I never knew she was the first woman appointed to the University of California Board of Regents.
Didn’t have a chance to speak with the docent, but hope he is feeling better (he had a really bad cough).

I love quirky museums in small towns and this one fits the bill. Really nicely maintained — like a nice library — with a small exhibit on Phoebe Hearst while I was in town. The exhibit was well done with lots of interesting info and artifacts — this was a real professional job and not just a hobby. Interesting too because I’ve been having (coincidentally) a month of Hearst of history starting with the George Hearst mausoleum in Colma, Hearst Castle and now this. It was great to learn more about this famous powerful family to help bring context to everything.
The lady was really helpful.
I just wish they had an exhibit on local history. There was a photo of the town from back in the old days but not a lot of info about it.
The Phoebe Hearst exhibit was the only on display on the weekend I was there.
The museum should only take about 30 minutes for the exhibit.

Small, pleasant place, three exhibit rooms, a block from downtown. The receptionists are friendly and often very knowledgeable. Appointments can be made for assistance from experienced researchers.
The museum hosts many events and talks (announced on their informative website) and has a large database of records and pictures.
The well-​mounted exhibits (notably a recent one on Native American basketry) change over time, with one room often featuring the history of a local organization or service club.

The museum features, at least during our visit, one room of Native American baskets and artifacts and another room of old photographs. There’s also a downstairs, but it’s off limits without a tour guide. The man working the day we visited was very knowledgable and engaged us in conversation that was both interesting and informative. Admission is free and donations are accepted.

Sweet lady who works here, and this place is FREE!
This used to be a Carnegie LIbrary and it really reminds me of a place in Old Town Pasadena.
It’s a place where various ppl come in and tell their own personal history stories.
They could record all these and make an exhibit out of it.
The native american basket exhibit was VERY impressive.
The other Exhibit was confusing and I had to read it through 4 – 5 times before understanding. It didn’t help that one panel referred the person in the surname and the other panel referred to the same person in first.

The History Center is conveniently located in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo, and the building itself is a piece of history, one of the hundreds of libraries donated by Andrew Carnegie in the early 20^th century, serving as the city’s library for 55 years.
It’s a nice little museum, featuring original exhibits of the area’s history. Ironically though, there was no standing exhibit where you could learn the big picture about local San Luis Obispo history. Fortunately for us, the guide at the front desk filled us in with an entertaining 20 minute lecture that covered the history from soup to nuts!
This is not a museum you’ll spend hours and hours in, but it’s certainly worth a stop if you’re in the neighborhood.

This gorgeous former library is right across the street from the mission, and now houses a nice little history museum. Admission is free and donations are suggested. The docent on the day we visited was very eager (a little over eager) to tell us all about the exhibits they had on hand.
The current exhibit (French Connections — art, wine and exploration in SLO) followed a French traveler who married into a local Spanish speaking family in the 19^th century. It featured clothes, paintings, and furnishings, and was really well done for such a small operation.
The center also features a shop (naturally) and a small children’s area.

It’s free! Donations accepted!
It’s a museum — museums are cool and the fact that’s it’s free — bonus!
The docents are adorable little fellas and the one working when we stopped in — on a Sunday — was from Maniotou Springs — hello small world!
The history of the building itself is pretty cool — was a «free library» for a number of years and then donated and saved and turned into the museum!
This current showing had to do with a single family and how they brought wine to San Louis Obiuspo! (SLO to the locals)
Pop in, say hello, take a gander and see the gift shop!

Friendly, helpful staff, and interesting exhibits. A wonderful place to connect with some of the 19^th and 20^th Century history of the Central Coast.

A very cool little museum next to the Mission on monterey and broad. Its in the old Carnegie library, so its not that big, but if you want to learn about local history, check it out!

This site used to be a library, from 1905 – 1955?, it is one of over a thousand libraries that andrew carnegie, the industrialist, donated to america. when i was there, the museum consisted of 2 showrooms, one showing bridal trends in s.l.o, and one showing farmer and labor history, also in s.l.o. an october showing will focus on s.l.o. fisherman (morro bay).
the rest of the building was for a library and selling souvenirs. the library had an oral speaker there explaining the history of s.l.o. an interesting fact: uc-​slo, like uc-​berkeley, is an entity by itself. they have their own pollice force, etc.
this museum is evolving as is their website. as nature was calling, i rushed out of here and forget to leave a donation in a can by the door.
my bad!

My husband and I made our second visit to this beautiful little musuem today. It’s right near the Mission. There’s no charge for admission, but they do have a donation box near the top of the stairs.
The 5-​star rating is based on it being a small museum and the fact that they have a very cool website where you can browse old pics and learn more about SLO County history.
We first came here almost 4 years ago and were excited to learn that they were working on a display for the Chinese-​American history that helped shape SLO. Since I lived in Canton (aka, Guangzhou, China) for nearly a decade, I’m particularly interested in the stories of Cantonese immigrants to my homeland. Unfortunately, Chinese people had to endure many difficulties here… so much prejudice and discrimination in how Americans first treated them.
Thankfully, we have the examples of great Chinese-​Americans like Ah Louis and his family to show how persevering through difficulties can bring about better things.
The museum has some interesting books on local history and sites for sale. They also have a neat display of photos showing what the area looked like 100+ years ago.
Behind the back of the building, you can see part of the original wall of the old mission. I think it dates back to the late 1700s.
Worth a stop and a couple bucks in the donation box!