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, 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.
HISTORIC VENICE-NOKOMIS BRACKET TOURNAMENT
Like the well-known college basketball contest, the Historic Venice –Nokomis Bracket Tournament pairs up sixty-four different historical resources in the area. Top vote getters in each contest move on to the round of 32 and so on until our community selects a champion in June that can brag about being the most historic resource in our area.
There are four regions of competition: Eagle Point & Nokomis, Venice Island North, Venice Island South, and Edgewood. Each region has historic resources seeded from #1 (most well known) to #16 (maybe you haven’t heard of it). Contestants range from archaeological sites, to Mid-Century Modern homes, to some of the finest Nolen-Era buildings we have. This is your opportunity to learn more about the amazing historic resources we have.
Remember to vote as often as you can and return to vote in each round.
Here are the regions:
Eagle Point & Nokomis Region
Venice Island North Region
Venice Island South Region
Edgewood Region
Vote Here!
SPECIAL EXHIBIT
Historic Photographs
IN THE GIFT SHOP
Show Your Support
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/.
SPECIAL EXHIBIT
Now through July 2023
ABOUT VMA
The City of Venice (COV) is the parent organization of the VMA. Museum staff are COV employees under the Department 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.