January 1954 and the first exhibit was held in the new quarters in May. The Society would remain housed in the Old Mission for the next eleven years. 1950-1960s In April 1955 the first issue of the Society’s journal, Noticias, was published and this quarterly devoted to the study of the Santa Barbara region has been in publication ever since. In 1959 the Society acquired the Judge Charles Fernald Mansion. The fourteen-room home, built by one of Santa Barbara’s most prominent citizens of the late 19th century, was threatened with destruction in 1958 upon the death of the judge’s last surviving child. The Society’s Executive Director, W. Edwin Gledhill, spearheaded a fundraising drive to purchase the house and have it moved adjacent to the Trussell-Winchester Adobe on West Montecito Street. After a massive restoration project, Fernald House opened to the public as an historic home museum in 1962. The dream of a permanent home for the Society was fulfilled with the dedication of the museum building at 136 East De la Guerra Street on February 28, 1965. In 1961 Santa Barbara County granted a 99-year lease to the Society for a parcel in downtown Santa Barbara and a building fund campaign was launched. In 1963 ground was broken for the adobe museum building – of exhibition, office, and collections storage space. In 1964, the Society also acquired two adobes adjacent to the museum grounds from the Rancheros Visitadores, the 1817 Covarrubias Adobe and the Historic Adobe, c. 1836. The Covarrubias is utilized as a lecture space and houses the office of the Docent Council; the Historic Adobe headquarters the Rancheros Visitadores. Two additional events of note in the decade of the 1960s was the dedication of the Gledhill Library in 1967, named in honor of W. Edwin Gledhill and his wife Andriette, who served for many years as Executive Director and Curator, respectively. Growth In 1981 the Society began an oral history program which to date has logged over 500 interviews. Professional development was a focus in the mid-1980s as staff increased and departmental specialization initiated. A Long Range Plan, adopted in 1985 and annually reviewed, became the foundation for future advancements. In 2000 began a multi-year redesign of museum grounds and upgrade of the museum building. This entailed a $3.5 million installation of a state-of-the-art air filtration and climate control system and a complete redesign of the exhibit galleries.