The Santa Barbara Community Art Association records span 20 linear feet and date from circa 1922 to circa 1935. The collection is primarily composed of architectural drawings and reprographic copies, which were entries for the various architectural competitions the Community Arts Association sponsored. The collection also includes black-and-white photographs and negatives which document Santa Barbara community events and activities in the 1930s, ephemera and letters regarding various competitions the Santa Barbara Community Arts Association sponsored, the association’s budget for the year of 1924, newspaper clippings, sketches, specifications for the houses submitted to the small house competition of 1926, presentation boards, art supplies, photolithography blocks, VHS tapes, and one DVCAM tape.

The Santa Barbara Community Arts Association was a non-profit corporation that was founded on April 24, 1922. The non-profit’s stated purpose was to “to afford individuals the opportunity of self-expression, training and education in Music, Drama and the Allied Arts and to aid in the cultural improvement of the people and in the beautification of the City of Santa Barbara.” The Community Arts Association contained of four branches: Drama, Music, Plans and Planting, and the Art School. In November of 1922, the Community Arts Association received a grant of $25,000 a year for five years from the Carnegie Corporation. The grant was secured through the efforts of Dr. Pritchett who at the time was the President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a current resident of the city of Santa Barbara. The work of each branch was under the control of its own board, which in turn, was responsible to the general board on which each branch had representation. The Santa Barbara Community Arts Association dissolved in the mid to late 1930s.

20.0 Linear feet (7 record storage boxes and 4 flat file drawers)