When I started looking for primary and secondary sources for a school history book about CSDR for the 50th anniversary, I saw many artifacts of historical value all over the campus. I feared that they could be discarded and never seen again. I decided to wear another hat to salvage old-school stuff for a future museum. It was Fall 1995.
When I first started, I worked alone. To begin with, we had only a few boxes of photographs, old sports trophies and the like. With no place to store new discoveries on campus, I used my CSDR Middle School classroom as a storage room. When Bummy Burstein of the Media Center became aware of my daily rummaging all over the campus for extraordinary treasures, he was generous enough to loan me two metal shipping containers behind the cafeteria that I could use to house the ever-expanding museum inventory. With the extra storage space, I could continue searching every room and crevice non-stop for six years until June 2001. In the process, I asked the late Alban Branton, ‘81, Tim Price, ‘81, Jens Rechenberg, ‘81 and Kenny Andrews, ‘84, to watch for anything that deserved a place in the museum. Before I left CSDR, the museum inventory expanded 500%, filling up the two containers.
With my new professorship at Palomar College in San Diego in August 2001, I commuted two hours one way to CSDR on some Fridays and Sundays. I searched for more treasures and worked inside the shipping containers until late 2002.
The 40-foot shipping container for museum storage is parked in the state vehicle and school bus parking lot adjacent to Maude Street.
As can be seen, the storage capacity is almost full. Please take a look at the pictures that Pat and I think are important to hold in hopes of securing a future site with an increased foot square for public display in the foreseeable future.
Old furnishings are stacked against the walls with enough room to walk in the middle.
Due to the long drives between San Diego and Riverside, Pat Davis, ‘63, agreed to take my place as the museum curator since she had already been employed on campus, thereby making it easy to take care of the museum tasks.
Eighteen years later, in 2020, I retired as a professor and moved back to Riverside for my primary residence. I could return to my old love for museum work with Pat on campus again.
Superintendent Nancy Hlibok Amann assigned two adjacent rooms in Rooms 309 and 310 in 2022 for archives and museum. We spent five months working five days a week, transferring museum items from the old site in the former DMHU/Middle School complex to the new site in the high school area.
With the new rooms approaching capacity, Hlibok was generous enough to get one shipping container as an extra storage space for museum items in the state vehicle and school bus parking lot alongside Maude Street.
Pat Davis and I are proud alumni interested in preserving school treasures for today and posterity. We appreciate the support for the archives and museum from the administration, alumni, faculty, staff and students.
Kevin Struxness and Pat Davis are volunteer museum curators. Kevin comes to campus on MWF and Pat comes on T and Th.
We welcome your donations if you have albums or personal possessions from your student or employment years.
Kevin Struxness, ‘76, MA
CSDR Historian
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