About Us

Museum History

The Chautauqua (shuh-TAH-kwuh) Literary and Scientific Circle established its Pacific Coast branch in Pacific Grove in 1879. A two-week Chautauqua assembly was held here every summer, featuring lessons, exhibits, lectures, picnics, and concerts. Over the years several members felt the need to have a storeroom and exhibition site to house collections of nature’s wonders and to make them available for study. In 1883, a petition calling for a Museum building was signed by Professor H. B. Norton, Dr. J. H. Wyeth, Dr. C. L. Anderson, Miss Lucy M. Washburn, Miss Mary E. B. Norton, and Professor Josiah Keep. The petition was sent to F. S. Douty, secretary of the Pacific Improvement Company, and the Chautauqua Museum's first home small wooden octagonal building located at what is now Jewell Park became the Chautauqua Museum's first home.

The original Chautauqua Museum in Pacific Grove was initiated at the second meetings of the Chautauqua Assembly in 1881, and the actual Museum was founded in 1883. The Museum was created to house collections of nature’s wonders and to make them available for study. The first Museum was in a small wooden octagonal building in the site that is now Jewell Park, located across from the current site of the Museum. In 1900 the Chautauqua Museum disbanded to form a more permanent organization as the Pacific Grove Museum Association. The Pacific Improvement Company donated the Museum’s current lot to the Association, and the Museum subsequently moved into a large building on its current site.

The Association maintained the Museum until 1916 when it was transferred to the City of Pacific Grove through a Charter election. The Museum remains city owned and is operated by a non-profit 501.c.3 The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. The Museum has been accredited by the American Association of Museums since 1972, the first such institution in Monterey County.

The Museum's mission is to inspire discovery, wonder, adn stewardship of our natural world. The Museum has become a living field guide to the California Central Coast.

Museum Mission

To inspire wonder, discovery, and stewardship of our natural world.

Museum Board of Directors

JASON BURNETT, Director and President

Home: Carmel
Degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Economics, Stanford University; Masters of Arts, Earth Systems, Stanford University
Business Background: Principal at Burnett EcoEnergy, a consulting and investment group, which supports financing of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects; Associate Deputy Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (energy and climate change policy and greenhouse gases regulations); testimony before Senate and Congressional committees and continuing engagement with federal and state policy leaders on regulation of greenhouse gases; Director of Consulting and Structured Investments, Evolution Marketing.

DEREK SMEAD, Director and Vice President

Home: Carmel
Degree: Bachelor of Arts, History, St. Mary's College of California
Business Background: Founder and Principal at Sustaina Beverage Group, LLC., A functional beverage manufacturing company. Co-Founder Apollo Enterprise Solutions, A web-based Debt-management company. Board of Regents member, St. Mary's College of California.

ROBERT BIANCHI, Director and Treasurer

Home: Pacific Grove
Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Accounting, University of San Francisco
Business Background: Managing General Partner, Bianchi, Kasavan & Pope, LLP providing public accounting & tax services for individuals, corporations, partnerships, non-profits, trusts & estates, as well as auditing and business valuation services; former partner in successful oil & gas exploration company.

JUDD PERRY, Director and Secretary

Home: Pacific Grove (10 Years)
Degrees: Bachelor of Arts, History, Columbia University; Doctor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Business Background: 35+ years in the practice of business and corporate law; Vice President & General Counsel to Kaiser Industries Corporation, Kaiser Steel Corporation and Prodigy Services Company.

GEVA ARCANIN, Director

Home: Pacific Grove
Degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Chemistry, Graduate Studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of the Pacific; Master of Arts, Management and Healthcare Administration, Central Michigan University
Business Background: Business development, management, management consulting, marketing and sales in a variety of healthcare- related businesses, including hospitals, medical clinics, pathology laboratories and health centers; experience in start-ups and turn-arounds; and legislative advocacy in professional fields.

HANK ARMSTRONG, Director

Home: Pacific Grove
Degrees: BA English, Stanford University
Business Background: Vice President Communications, Monterey Bay Aquarium. Experienced in directing communications and marketing programs, including media relations, web/website operations, graphic design, community relations, marketing and advertising. (26 years.) Board member, Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce. Board member, Monterey County Hospitality Association. Former board member and committee member Monterey Visitors and Convention Bureau. AAM professional member and PRAM committee member. Professional and committee member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

DEDE BENT, Director

Home: Monterey
Degrees: Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Berkeley; Masters of Arts, University of Oregon
Business Background: Owner, Personnel Resources (Monterey); Human Resources Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium; Administrator, Marin Museum of Science; Seminar Coordinator, Young President’s Organization; Assistant Registrar, Guggenheim Museum.

CHRIS HASEGAWA, Director

Home: Marina
Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry, University of California, Davis; Master of Arts, Education, University of California, Davis; Doctor of Philosophy, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Oregon
Business Background: Professor, union president, department chair, development officer and currently Dean of Extended Education and International Programs, California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB); development of University programs in Teacher Education, Liberal Studies, Telecommunication, Multimedia and Applied Computing; instrumental in raising $10 com complete CSUMB Science Academic Center.

FRANK PENNER, Director

Home: Pacific Grove
Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Physics, Manhattan College; Master of Business Administration, Pace University; Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, CSUMB
Business background:
Director of International Marketing and Product Management, Compaq Computers and Hewlett Packard; 6th Grade Core instructor, PG Middle School; past-President of the Pacific Grove Museum Association

LILA STAPLES, Director

Home: Pacific Grove (30 Years)
Degrees: Ph.D. in interdisciplinary Museum Studies / Education Theory; Master of Arts in Arts Education; Bachelor of Arts in Art History
Business Background: 10 years, Professor of Museum Studies and Art History, California State University Monterey Bay; 11 years, Art Teacher, Pacific Grove Middle School

TERRY TROTTER, Director

Home: Pebble Beach
Degrees: Pacific Grove High School 1968; AA degree, Monterey Peninsula College; Bachelor of Science, Psychology, California State University, Hayward
Business Background: Manager and Buyer, Antiques International, Ltd., San Jose; Employed in family business, Trotter's Antiques, Pacific Grove; Currently co-own and operate (with Paula Trotter), Trotter Galleries, in Pacific Grove and Carmel, which focuses on California's artistic heritage (1875-1950), with emphasis on the early artists of the Monterey Peninsula. Trotter Galleries has a long history of association with museums and institutions on a local, state, and national basis. Certified appraiser of American furniture and Fine Art by the International Society of Appraisers.

Contact Museum Board of Directors

Contact Museum Board of Directors:

The Museum Board of Directors welcomes your input and comments. You may contact them directly via email, MuseumBoard@pgmuseum.org or by sending a letter to:

Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

c/o Secretary, Board of Directors

165 Forest Avenue

Pacific Grove CA

93950

Your letter or email will be read as formal correspondence during the Museum Board's monthly meeting. Since the Museum Board of Directors will respond directly to you, your legal name and address must be included in your correspondence for it to be formally accepted.

If you would like to contact Jason Burnett, President of the Museum Board of Directors, please email jason.burnett@gmail.com or call his home phone at 831.624.3252.

Attend a Museum Community Day held twice a year:

The Museum hold semi-annual Community days to provide a status report on the previous six months of operation, receive insight into future directions and to provide the community with formal and informal ways of providing general Museum feebback and input. Please join us for the next Museum Community Day is Sunday, September 12, at 3:00.