It was a community effort to fund and create the five dioramas that once filled the History Room at the Asistencia on Barton Road in Redlands. Now, these beautiful scenes are in danger of being destroyed.
"Thousands of school students have toured the Asistencia over many decades, learning about our community's history by seeing the dioramas," says Jim Shipp, president of the Loma Linda Area Parks and Historical Society.
The five dioramas depict native Cahuilla and Serrano life before European contact, the digging of the historic Zanja waterway, the Lugo ranch period, Dr. Ben Barton's winery and,the 1930s reconstruction of the Asistencia. There are miniature characters and detailed modeling.
The history of these huge dioramas is a bit murky, but some facts are known. Marilyn Palmer, a member of the Redlands Latter-day Saints church, organized a fundraiser to build five display boxes to illustrate five eras of local history. Steve Clugston was contracted to design the displays. An artist from San Clemente, Louise Lopina, was commissioned to paint the backgrounds in 1992.
When the Asistencia, a 1930s reconstruction of the 1830s San Gabriel Mission outpost, passed from San Bernardino County Museum hands to the Redlands Conservancy this year, the dioramas became extra baggage. The Conservancy needed the History Room for events, and they began to reach out to see if local history groups were interested.
The Loma Linda Area Parks and Historical Society took ownership of the dioramas in April, and in May they were moved to Mousley Museum in Yucaipa for display on a temporary loan. The loan expires on August 31, so the displays need a new home. Each is over three feet by six feet wide and about six feet high. They total 81 square feet of floor space needed.
Loma Linda's Historical Society hopes to have a display space somewhere on Mission Road in a couple of years, but has no place to store the dioramas in the meantime. "We're pleading with the public to find a safe place to keep these dioramas until we can put them back on display," says Jim Shipp. If you have safe, secure storage for the dioramas for a period of at least two years, please contact Jim Shipp at jimmyshipp@aol.com, or 909-633-0749.