The mission of the Venice Museum & Archives (VMA) is to collect, preserve, and interpret historical and prehistorical material relating to the city of Venice and its neighboring communities.
VMA has a collection of 30,000+ photographs, archives, objects, and publications pertaining to area history and is housed in the historic 1927 Triangle Inn building. The museum engages the public in local history through changing and permanent exhibits, tours of the Triangle Inn, walking tours of downtown historic and architectural sites, special events, newsletters, social media, as well as onsite and offsite educational outreach programs to youth and adults. Additional services offered also include assisting the public with research requests and assisting with image request orders. The museum’s gift shop offers books, DVDs and other merchandise pertaining to local history available for purchase.
SPECIAL EXHIBIT
2/3/25 – 1/21/26
We’re Staying the Night: The Historic Hotels of Venice, opens on Monday, February 3 and features select photos from our collection highlighting Venice’s early hotel structures.
Without question, Venice’s early hotels were a prominent, important, and initial component when first building the Venice community. What did these structures look like? Where are/were these buildings located? How many exist today? Find out these answers and much more as the Venice Museum & Archives celebrates its early lodging history on the eve of the city turning 100! The exhibit is the first in a series of free educational history exhibits at the Venice Museum that will showcase Venice’s origins as we enter the City’s Centennial Celebration in 2025-2027.
Experience Venice with a History and Architecture Walking or Biking Tour
This season, discover new stories and new places about Venice history with four Venice Museum sponsored tours. Tour offerings have been expanded to provide more opportunities to learn about Venice. Choose one or two or take all four!
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SEASONAL EXHIBIT
10/7/24 – 7/30/25
Financing a City: The History of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is a seasonal exhibit that features the story of the creation and growth of the labor union – Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE). As labor unions in the country grew in numbers, the BLE sought to invest in the Florida Land Boom with a new development in the sparsely settled community of Venice. This story details how and why a railroad union got involved with creating a “city on the gulf” and its continued impact on the Venice community today.
Available in our gift shop! The fabric is 100% cotton and custom designed by a California artist, and depicts 8 lost buildings, shark teeth, hibiscus flowers and the Nolen plan. Mens sizes M-3x and Womens S-2x. Unsure of sizing? Just bring in a shirt that fits and compare, or see size chart. Venice Museum Gift Shop is open MTW from 10am-4pm, or buy online at https://www.veniceheritage.org/shop/.
ALSO AVAILABLE TO MATCH YOUR SHIRT
ABOUT VMA
The City of Venice (COV) is the parent organization of the VMA. Museum staff are COV employees under the Division of Historical Resources. The Venice City Council is the governing authority for the VMA with legal and fiduciary responsibility for the museum and for approving museum policy and its annual budget.
Institutional History
Organized through the Friends of the Venice Library, on May 10, 1974, the first Historical Committee meeting in Venice, Florida was held. The Historical Collection was established in 1975 by the committee and was originally stored in a closet at the downtown Venice Library branch. In 1976 the name Venice Area Historical Collection was adopted for the collection. The City of Venice established the Venice Historical Committee in 1982. By ordinance in 1987, the City of Venice created the Venice Historical Commission and the position of Director of Historical Resources, a volunteer position at that time. The city’s Planning Department provided technical and clerical support for both the commission and the director. The jurisdiction of the commission for the “Venice area” was defined as being from Blackburn Road in Osprey South to Manasota Key.
A Custody Agreement was signed in 1988 between the Friends of the Library and the City of Venice for the COV to “maintain custody of all pieces forming a part of the historical collection owned by the Friends of the Library pertaining to the City of Venice and its history.” In July 1991 the Venice Area Historical Collection was moved to a storage space on the first floor of the newly renovated City Hall in downtown Venice. That same year, the name of the collection was officially changed to the Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection (VAAHC).
The collection was moved in September 1996 to the restored and renovated historic 1927 building known as the Triangle Inn. The name of the Venice Archives and Area Historical Collection was changed to the Venice Museum & Archives in 2012. The 30,000+ items within the collection are housed at the Julia Cousins Laning and Dale Laning Archives & Research Center and are available upon request to view.
Contact the Julia Cousins Laning and Dale Laning Archives & Research Center for appointment. (941) 882-7229 or archives@venicefl.gov
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