Museum of Riverside

Programs and Events 

COVID 19: The City of Riverside ENCOURAGES members of the public to wear a mask indoors at city facilities and outdoors on city property when social distancing is not possible, REGARDLESS of vaccination status.

Upcoming at the Main Museum

3580 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501
                 

First Sundays First Sundays are back on the front steps of our main museum in Downtown Riverside October 2022 through May 2023!  All First Sunday events are from 1-4 p.m. and free of charge. May 7 - Captain Carl and His Mobile Tidepool Join the Museum for the return of Captain Carl and his amazing sea creatures! Adults and children alike can hold a starfish, squeeze a sea squirt, and touch an urchin as we bring a bit of the shore to Riverside. Learn how you can reduce your use of plastics and make a sustainability pledge to help keep our oceans clean!

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ArtsWalk

The Museum of Riverside participates in the Downtown Riverside ArtsWalk held the first Thursday of each month 6-9 p.m.  Activity and ending time will vary.

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Nights with the Museum

Always Different, Never Boring

Attend fascinating discussions with people from our local community.  No previous expertise necessary!

First Fridays of the month  |  6:30 – 8:00 p.m.  FREE!

Located at the Main Library Community Room, 3900 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside.

Friday, May 5, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
H. Vincent Moses, Ph.D., Vincate & Associates History Consultants
“Jekel, Spurgeon, Wilson: Riverside's Architects of the Spanish Colonial Revival, 1914-1940”
By 1930, the Spanish Colonial Revival (SCR) dominated the architecture of Southern California. Moses's presentation will examine the primary works of Riverside's three best known architects of the SCR 1903-1940 and place them within the context of SCR in Southern California. Click here to reserve your free seat.

Friday, June 2, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Bree Putnam, Ph.D., Department of Biology, Cal State San Bernardino; Natural History Museum of L.A. County
“Does Fear Filter Lizards from Urban Areas?”
Urbanization is growing worldwide, displacing native wildlife. Yet, some animals do well in urban areas (think of pigeons!). But why are some animals better than others at responding to such habitat changes? Dr. Putman will present her research that looks at whether our native lizard species differ in their fear responses toward humans, which may be associated with their survival and success in urban environments. Click here to reserve your free seat.

Friday, July 7, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Mairin Balisi, Ph.D., Augustyn Family Curator at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology
“California Carnivores Through the Ages”
Non-native donkeys introduced into the Mojave Desert have become prey for a growing population of mountain lions, but this is only the current stage of a long and complex history of mammalian predators and prey in California, from dire wolves to sabertooth cats.                                              

Friday, August 4, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Douglas J. Long, Ph.D., Curator of Natural History, Museum of Riverside
“Riverside's Deadly Elephant Rampage: The Full Story”
A traveling circus and an oil depot explosion set off one of the strangest days in Riverside's history. This talk will explain the events of that day in 1908 and unravel the fascinating back-stories of the characters involved, including the elephants. Click here to reserve your free seat.

Friday, September 1, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Phillip Stearnes, Ph.C., doctoral student, Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside
“Life and Times of the Megalodon, the World's Largest Shark That Ever Lived”
New research shows just how big this ocean predator was, what it ate, how it lived, and why it became extinct. Fossils of this super-shark have even been found in Riverside County, dating from the time when the area was under the Pacific Ocean. Click here to reserve your free seat.

Friday, October 6, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Jennifer Mermilliod, architectural historian, JM Research & Consulting, and Restored TV show historian
“Evergreen Cemetery: Riverside's Pioneer Burial Grounds Reflect Local History and National Trends”
Learn about the evolution of American cemetery design, funerary architecture, and death and burial practices embodied in Riverside's oldest cemetery and the extraordinary citizens its grounds embrace.

Friday, November 3, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Christopher Tracy, Ph.D., Director, Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, University of California Natural Reserve System, University of California, Riverside
“Sand Between Their Toes: How Coachella Fringe-toed Lizards Helped Us Understand Desert Lizards in Africa”
The Coachella Valley is the only place in the world where the Coachella fringe-toed lizard lives. Herpetologist Dr. Chris Tracy will introduce us to his decades-long study of this federally protected lizards species, how it has affected development and natural conservation in the valley, and how that project took the research team from the Deep Canyon Research Center to Africa's Namibian Desert to understand more about lizards that live on sand dunes. Click here to reserve your free seat.

Friday, December 1, 2023  |  6:30-8:00 p.m.
Cathy Gudis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of California, Riverside
“From King Citrus to the Empire of Logistics”
The inland region today is occupied by over a billion square feet iof warehouses, and Amazon is the biggest employer. Yet the region was once promoted through vistas of seemingly endless orchards and was known as the Orange Empire, where citrus was king. How did we get to this point, where logistics has dominated the landscape, and with what implications? Click here to reserve your free seat.

Upcoming at Heritage House

8193 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA 92504

Regular tours of Heritage House are held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (12:15-3:15 p.m.)
We encourage guest safety. Please make a reservation to tour Heritage House via Eventbrite link here.