Rancho Obi-Wan, Petaluma, Ca.
Description
Rancho Obi-Wan is a nonprofit public benefit corporation whose purpose is to serve the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition and interpretation of Star Wars memorabilia and artifacts. Rancho Obi-Wan is a museum that contains the world’s largest privately-owned Star Wars collection. It was amassed over 40 years by super-collector Steve Sansweet. It is housed on private property in rural Sonoma county just outside Petaluma, California. The 9,000-square-foot (828 m²) museum building was once home to over 20,000 chickens during Petaluma’s egg-producing heyday.
Rancho Obi-Wan was originally established in 1998 after Steve moved from Los Angeles to become Director of Content Management and head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm. The first “Rancho Obi-Wan” was one of three old hen houses on the property. After an extensive renovation Steve had plenty of space to display his collection with room to grow. During this time, Steve showed his collection only to friends and colleagues.
Steve retired from Lucasfilm as a full-time employee in April, 2011, after 15 years. At the same time, after three new movies and eight Star Wars Celebration conventions, the collection had outgrown its original space. An expansion project incorporated a second hen house into the museum and reorganized the entire collection into a space that could be shared with fellow fans and collectors from around the world.
In October, 2011, Rancho Obi-Wan, Inc., was founded as a California nonprofit public benefit corporation to manage the collection. It serves the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition and interpretation of Star Wars memorabilia and artifacts, using the collection to provide meaningful educational, aesthetic, intellectual and cultural experiences to a wide array of audiences and to carry out other charitable and educational activities associated with this goal.
As a publicly supported, federally recognized charity, Rancho Obi-Wan’s mission is to inspire! Star Wars has transformed our own lives. We hope to further inspire others by giving guided tours of the private collection in Petaluma, traveling to conventions with carefully curated displays, supporting other organizations in their charitable efforts, and reaching out to children (and adults) of all ages.
Star Wars and all associated property is © Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All rights reserved.
Rancho Obi-Wan is a proprietary term used under authorization.
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RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS
facebook.comToday, please meet Michael Wistock! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#wistock This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet Lucas Seastrom! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#seastrom This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet Marc Morita! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#morita This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet Michelle Norgan! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#mnorgan This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet Dwayne Smith! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#smith This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet David Buckley! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#buckley This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Today, please meet Dan Norgan! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#dnorgan This week we are introducing our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. We are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the wonderful stories behind the collection.
Every time we get a new one of these, we have to show the whole set! It just gets better and better...
This week we would like to introduce you to our team of expert docents. Each has studied with owner Steve Sansweet and trained under the supervision of our Head of Docents, Lucas Seastrom. Each is unique and wonderful and we are so happy to have them guide each group through the museum retelling the stories behind the collection. Today, please meet Jon Nagel! http://www.ranchoobiwan.org/#nagel
This is one of our longer videos, and worth every minute! Hear Steve tell an incredible story about a "cast" member, which he only learned recently himself, and was excited to share.
Check out this amazing newspaper page from May 22, 1977!! It's a great ad, and an awesome little piece of history from The San Diego Union, which is no longer in publication.
Many thanks to those of you who participated in our T-Shirt Fundraiser! Thanks to the 501st Legion, the Rebel Legion, the Mandalorian Mercs and the R2-D2 Builders for wholeheartedly supporting it. We are thankful and humbled by the outcome.
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