The Haggin Museum is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

and local

history museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...

in Stockton,

San Joaquin County San Joaquin County (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''San Joaquín'', meaning "Joachim, St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 20 ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, located in the city's Victory Park. The museum opened in 1931. Its art collection includes works by European painters

Jean Béraud Jean Béraud (; January 12, 1849 – October 4, 1935) was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings depicting the life of Paris, and the nightlife of Paris society. Pictures of the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of t ...

Rosa Bonheur Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals ( animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style. Her paintings include '' Ploughing in the Nivernais'', fi ...

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

, and

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...

, landscapes by French artists of the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

, and sculptures by René de Saint-Marceaux, Alfred Barye, and

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

. The museum also features a number of works by

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

and California landscape painters, including the largest collection of

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

works in the region, and in 2017 dedicated a gallery to display the largest public collection of original artworks by

J. C. Leyendecker Joseph Christian Leyendecker (March 23, 1874 – July 25, 1951) was a German-American illustrator, considered one of the preeminent American illustrators of the early 20th century. He is best known for his poster, book and advertising illustrati ...

History of the building

File:Haggin Museum Stockton California.jpg Upon formation in 1928, the San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical Society listed several objectives in its Articles of Incorporation: to develop educational facilities for the study of history, to collect documents and articles of historical interest, and to establish and maintain a museum where such items could be stored and displayed. Stockton native Robert McKee and his wife, Eila Haggin McKee, offered the group $30,000, with two stipulations: that the museum be named in honor of her late father, Louis Terah Haggin (the son of James Ben Ali Haggin), and that it include galleries to house her parents' art collection. The Louis Terah Haggin Memorial Galleries and San Joaquin Pioneer Historical Museum opened its doors to the public on 14 June 1931, Flag Day.

Upon her death in 1936, though she never visited in person, Eila Haggin McKee left the institution $500,000. Further, to honor her memory, Robert McKee donated funds for the building's first addition, which included storage space on the ground floor and a vestibule and large gallery on the second. When it opened in December 1939, the room now known as the McKee Gallery contained paintings, furniture, and decorative art from the couple's New York residence, and overlooked the rose garden. In 1948, Stockton architect Howard G. Bissel drew up plans for a 15,500 square foot addition along the western edge of the existing structure. Principal funding came from the estates of Robert McKee and of rancher Jennie Hunter, and a significant gift from Irving Martin, Sr., owner of the '' Stockton Record''. The new exhibit areas, including the California Room, the Jennie Hunter Rooms, the West Gallery, and the lower level Arms Gallery and Vehicle Gallery, opened in 1949. Julian Rix--Redwoods--1873-1881--Haggin Museum--Stockton CA

Julian Rix--Redwoods--1873-1881--Haggin Museum--Stockton CA

In 1976, a major gift from William Knox Holt funded construction of a wing named for his father, the

Benjamin Holt Benjamin Leroy Holt (January 1, 1849 – December 5, 1920) was an American businessman and inventor who patented and manufactured the first practical crawler-type tread tractor. The continuous-type track is used for heavy agricultural and engi ...

Wing, with a gallery showcasing Holt's contributions to the mechanization of agriculture, including a restored Holt 75 Caterpillar tractor. The Holt gift also funded construction of environmentally controlled storage facilities, offices, and the museum's library and archive. In 2017 the museum completed a $2.5 million renovation of its galleries, which included permanent gallery space for displaying a large portion of the museum's extensive collection of the work of

. The museum's three-story building now contains more than 34,000 square feet of exhibition space.

History galleries

The Pioneer Room, the principal history gallery during the museum's early years, displayed artifacts and archival material collected since 1868 by the San Joaquin Society of California Pioneers. The Victorian furnishings of the Jennie Hunter Rooms evoke life in the Central Valley during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The contents were bequeathed to the museum by Miss Jennie Hunter, a local rancher, alumna of

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

, and Daughter of San Joaquin County Pioneers, with the proviso that they be displayed just as they had been arranged in her home. The result is an almost uncanny peek into the past. Emma LeDoux

Other exhibits focus on Native Americans, the

Gold Rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

, agriculture in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

, historic firefighting equipment, a recreated local flour mill, as well as shipbuilding and other Stockton industries. The displays known as the Storefronts are recreations of businesses and rooms typical of establishments in San Joaquin County between 1890 and 1915, including a one-room schoolhouse and a Chinese herb shop. Also among the thousands of historical items permanently on display are a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

jeep and the trunk used by murderess

Emma LeDoux Emma LeDoux (September 10, 1875 - July 6, 1941) was the first woman sentenced to death in the State of California. She had been convicted of murdering Albert McVicar, her third husband, whom she had poisoned and stuffed into a steamer trunk the ...

in the infamous "trunk murder of 1906."

Art galleries and collection

Rodin--The Athlete--c1901-1904--Haggin Museum--Stockton CA

Eila Haggin McKee's grandfather, the

tycoon James Ben Ali Haggin, collected art to decorate the walls of his 61-room

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highes ...

mansion. However, it was her father, Louis Terah Haggin, and her mother, San Francisco socialite Blanche Butterworth Haggin, who assembled the majority of the Haggin Collection. Louis and Blanche both spoke fluent French and maintained a residence in Paris, where they entertained artists, writers, and European nobility. Their growing collection came to fill their homes in San Francisco, Paris, and New York City. Typical of art collections assembled after the Civil War by wealthy Americans, the Haggin Collection reflects the work of conservative

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

painters of the latter part of the 19th century. It is characterized by Louis and Blanche's penchant for landscapes, genre, and animal paintings. They avoided religious or historical paintings. They eschewed the nude, ''Nymphaeum'' by

being a notable exception to this rule. And like their contemporaries, the Haggins assembled a collection that was encyclopedic and international in nature, featuring one or two works from a broad sampling of artists. Certain artists were collected in depth, however, including

, Edward Lamson Henry,

Barend Cornelis Koekkoek Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (October 11, 1803 – April 5, 1862) was a Dutch landscape artist and lithographer. Biography Early life: 1803–1824 Barend Cornelis Koekkoek was born on 11 October 1803, in Middelburg, Zeeland. He was the first and e ...

, Eugène Joseph Verboeckhoven and

Jehan Georges Vibert Jehan Georges Vibert or Jean Georges Vibert (30 September 1840 – 28 July 1902) was a French academic painter. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of engraver and publisher Théodore Vibert, and grandson of the influential rose-breeder Je ...

. Approximately one-third of the collection is composed of works by American artists and the remaining two-thirds by European painters. Of the European art, French works are the most numerous. The-Nymphaeum (1878) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The-Nymphaeum (1878) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Initially, Mrs. McKee gave the San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical Society 180 paintings, most of them part of the $10 million estate she inherited following the death of her father in March 1929. Both Eila and her husband Robert arranged for additional paintings to be bequeathed to the museum upon their deaths. Today the Haggin Collection totals nearly 240 works, of which approximately 75 are on view in the museum's art galleries at any one time. A catalog of the paintings, ''The Haggin Collection'', compiled and written by Dr. Patricia Sanders, was published in 1991. A hall between the two European art galleries displays Haggin and McKee family memorabilia, including portraits, photographs, and personal items including one of Eila's evening gowns and the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

uniform she wore in France. Although the core of the museum's art collection is derived from gifts from the Haggin and McKee families, it has been significantly augmented through gifts and purchases, including works by American and European artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that complement the original Haggin gifts. Notable is Rodin's ''The Athlete'' (c. 1901–1904). The museum has also assembled collections of Japanese woodblock prints,

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s, paintings by American illustrators such as

and

Maxfield Parrish Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustration, illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. His ...

, and both Western and Asian

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...

Library/Archives

Old Betsy fire engine Haggin Museum Stockton

The Haggin Museum's Library/Archives began with material donated to the museum in 1931 by the San Joaquin Society of California Pioneers, comprising a wide-ranging collection of historical artifacts, photographs, ledgers, journals, correspondence, and other

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

. Today there are some 10,000 volumes in the library. Approximately two-thirds are history related, and one-third deal with art and art history. The latter make up the Earl Rowland Art Library, named in honor of the museum's longest-serving director. The majority of the history volumes are part of the Almeda Mae Petzinger Library, named after the benefactor who bestowed a generous endowment to help maintain the library in perpetuity. There are more than 600 archival boxes and some 100 flat files filled with photographs, maps, business records, greeting cards, advertising, and other items in the library stack room. A separate facility, the Betty H. Schroebel Stockton Historic Center, houses materials that relate specifically to the city's past. Albert Bierstadt - Looking Up the Yosemite Valley

Albert Bierstadt - Looking Up the Yosemite Valley

The Agricultural & Industrial Archives were established in 1984 with a grant from the William Knox Holt Foundation. The history of

Holt Manufacturing Company The Holt Manufacturing Company began with the 1883 founding of Stockton Wheel Service in Stockton, California, United States. Benjamin Holt, later credited with patenting the first workable crawler ("caterpillar") tractor design, incorporated ...

, the local industry that developed the side-hill combine harvester and the Caterpillar track-type tractor, is documented in photographs, drawings, business records, operators' manuals, and advertising. The Archives also include records and drawings of Stephens Bros. Boat Builders, designers of commercial and pleasure watercraft; material from the Stockton Iron Works, which built dredges that helped construct the San Joaquin River Delta levees; the

Tillie Lewis Tillie Ehrlich-Weisberg Lewis (born Myrtle Ehrlich; July 13, 1901 - April 30, 1977), was a highly successful entrepreneur and leader in the mid 20th century food packing industry. She was an early promoter of the Italian San Marzano tomato to the ...

collection, which preserves the history of Stockton's preeminent "Tomato Queen" agri-businesswoman; and material from Sperry Flour Company. The Haggin's library also includes a large collection of work by Ralph O. Yardley, editorial cartoonist for the ''Stockton Record'' from 1922 to 1952. During this long tenure he produced a series of more than 1400 cartoons published weekly under the title "Do You Remember?" that dealt with local homes, businesses, buildings, organizations, special events, and everyday life. The museum has more than 1100 of these nostalgic glimpses into the city's past.

Gallery

File:Jean-Joseph Benjamin Constant--Doge of Venice--c1889--detail showing Blanche Butterworth Haggin.jpg, ''Doge of Venice'' by

Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (also known as Benjamin-Constant), born Jean-Joseph Constant (10 June 1845 – 26 May 1902), was a French painter and etcher best known for his Oriental subjects and portraits. Biography Benjamin-Constant was bor ...

, c. 1889, with detail showing the female figure modeled on the painting's original owner, Blanche Butterworth Haggin. File:Jean Béraud - Les Halles.jpg, ''Les Halles'' (1879) by

File:Bierstadt Albert Sunset in the Yosemite Valley.jpg, ''Sunset in the Yosemite Valley'' (c. 1868) by

File:Albert Bierstadt - Canadian Rockies.jpg, ''Canadian Rockies'' (c. 1889) by

File:Ralph Albert Blakelock, Evening, between 1880 and 1890, Haggin Museum.jpg, ''Evening'' (between 1880 and 1890) by Ralph Blakelock File:Ralph Albert Blakelock, The Canoe, between 1880 and 1890, Haggin Museum.jpg, ''The Canoe'' (between 1880 and 1890) by Ralph Blakelock File:Afterglow (1870-1875) by William Bradford.jpg, ''Afterglow'' (1870-1875) by William Bradford File:Bonheur--Haggin--Gathering-for-the-Hunt-color-corrected.jpg, ''Gathering for the Hunt'' (1856) by

File:Gerome--Haggin--Horse-Market.jpg, ''The Horse Market'' (1867) by

File:Gerome--Haggin--Unfolding-the-Holy-Flag.jpg, ''The Standing Bearer, Unfolding the Holy Flag'' (1876) by

File:Gerome--Haggin--Saddle-Bazaar.jpg, ''The Saddle Bazaar, Cairo'' (1883) by

File:Gerome--Haggin--The-Artist-and-His-Model.jpg, ''The Artist and His Model'' (1895) by

File:Jean-Léon Gérôme--Hoop Dancer--before 1895--Haggin Museum--Stockton-CA.jpg, ''Hoop Dancer'' (before 1895) by

; seen in his painting ''The Artist and His Model'' File:Harpignies--Haggin--The-Mill-Stream.jpg, ''The Mill Stream'' (1870-1900) by

Henri-Joseph Harpignies Henri-Joseph Harpignies (; June 28, 1819 – August 28, 1916) was a French landscape painter of the Barbizon school. Life He was born at Valenciennes. His parents intended for him to pursue a business career, but his determination to become a ...

File:Untitled (1877) by Thomas Hill.jpg, ''Untitled'' (1877) by Thomas Hill File:Old Homestead (1877) by George Inness.jpg, ''Old Homestead'' (1877) by

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was a prominent United States, American landscape painting, landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced b ...

File:Mount Tamalpais (1879) by William Keith.jpg, ''Mount Tamalpais'' (1879) by William Keith File:Lhermitte--Haggin--The-Moated-Wall.jpg, ''The Moated Wall'' (1893) by

Léon Augustin Lhermitte Léon Augustin Lhermitte (31 July 1844, Mont-Saint-Père – 28 July 1925, Paris) was a French naturalist painter and etcher whose primary subject matter was rural scenes depicting peasants at work. Life and work He was a student of Lec ...

File:Woodland Temple (1867) by Thomas Moran.jpg, ''Woodland Temple'' (1867) by

Thomas Moran Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...

File:Renoir--Haggin--La-Toilette-pastel-THM0245-copy.jpg, ''La Toilette'' (1889) by

File:Troyon--Haggin--Last-summer-Day.jpg, ''A Last Summer Day, Normandy'' (1840-1855) by

Constant Troyon Constant Troyon (August 28, 1810 – February 21, 1865) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. In the early part of his career he painted mostly landscapes. It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his ''métier'' as a pa ...

File:Наполеон и кардинал.jpg, ''Check'' (undated) by

File:Sophistication by Harry Watrous, 1908.jpg, ''Sophistication'' (1908) by

Harry Watrous Harry Willson Watrous (17 September 1857 – 10 May 1940) was an American artist who received an academic education in France. His paintings included genre scenes, stylized figural works, landscapes, nocturnes, portraits, religious subjects, and ...

File:The Furtive Message, by Jules Worms.jpg, ''The Furtive Message'' (after 1877) by

Jules Worms Jules Worms (16 December 1832 – 25 November 1924) was a French academic painter and illustrator. Born into a family of Parisian shopkeepers, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1849 at the age of seventeen, where he studied under (1810–79 ...

File:Jules_Worms--The_Red_Shawl--undated--Haggin_Museum.jpg, ''The Red Shawl'' (undated) by

References

External links

*
Visitor guide and museum mapHaggin Museum Library/ArchivesHow did world-renowned paintings come to be located in Stockton?Fortunes & Family: The Haggin McKee Legacy
{{authority control
Huell Howser visits the Haggin Museum
(video)
Haggin Museum
at visitstockton.org Art museums and galleries in California History museums in California Museums in San Joaquin County, California Buildings and structures in Stockton, California Culture of Stockton, California History of Stockton, California Art museums established in 1928 1928 establishments in California