Current Special Exhibit

Through the Lens of Robert Geivet: Orange County in the Post War Era, 1946-1962

Now Showing through August 2008

Following years of wartime shortages, American enthusiastically embraced peacetime prosperity. Agriculture in Orange County, long the number one industry, was enjoying its period of greatest productivity. Yet pressures were growing to transform this fertile farmland into cities to accommodate thousands of new arrivals to Orange County. As reporter for the Long Beach Press Telegram, Robert Geivet photographed and wrote about the events, people and places or postwar Orange County with unique insight into his subject matter.  His legacy to Orange County is a major collection of photographs taken during his career. A selection of these photos is now on display in the Museum's gallery.

Future Special Exhibits

All the World's a Stage: Medjeska's Arden

Opening August 2008 and running through January 2009

When the world famous actress, Helena Modjeska moved to her summer home, in what later became known as Modjeska Canyon, she saw it as her retreat into the wilderness. She named the landscape after the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare's play "As You Like It," in which she played one of her most famous roles. All the World's a Stage tells the story of Orange County's first "celebrity home" and some of the fascinating people associated with it.

Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California

February 8, 2009 through March 29, 2009

"Sing Me Your Story" features a combination of art by contemporary artists, such as Rick Bartow, Harry Fonseca, Frank La Pena, Judith Lowry, and Poetry by Janice Gould, Deborah Miranda, and Stephen Meadows. Much of the artwork and poetry included in the exhibition relate to the renewal and recovery of traditions, ceremony and cultural practices within the diverse Native American communities of California. "'Sing Me Your Story' is a call to California Native artists and poets to share their cultural knowledge and life experience; leading all of us to understand how culture, history, ancestry, and story have shaped each one of us - Native and non-Native," says exhibition curator Theresa Harlan, "This exhibition carries the potential opportunity for museum audiences to gain an understanding of the complexities of a fuller and richer California." The exhibit is organized by the California Exhibition Resources Alliance (CERA) for tour throughout California in concert with Heyday Books. It is funded through generous grants from The James Irvine Foundation, the William Randolph Hearts Foundation, Columbia Foundation, LEF Foundation, the Fleishhacker Foundation, The Clorox Company, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Old Courthouse Museum is located in the landmark Old Orange County Courthouse, at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana.  The museum is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission to the museum is free.  The museum's telephone number is (714) 973-6607.  The museum's website address is www.ocparks.com/oldcourthouse.  The Old Courthouse Museum is a facility of OC Parks.