VAN DEN BERGH, Frank Seabury
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VAN DENBERGH, Frank Seabury (1866-1947), born in Michigan, he moved to Santa Barbara in 1890 where collecting shells, minerals, and Indian relics occupied much of his time. In 1937 he bought Lorenzo Yates collections, including many books, shells and island specimens, for $300. Van Denbergh transported the collections from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara where items were parceled out to various individuals and institutions. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History purchased books and pressed plants from this collection beginning in 1940. Throughout the early 1940s, additional contribution by Van Denbergh to the museum included anthropological and geological material, as well as invertebrate specimens. In 1943, he was said to have known more about sea shells than anyone in Santa Barbara, having studied and collected them for over 60 years. Upon his death June 19, 1947 at age 81, his collections were left to the museum. His wife, Nellie Hoffman, predeceased him. They are both buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery. Van Denbergh was survived by one son. [CAS portrait]
Island Collections~
SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY:
F. S. VAN DENBURGH ARTIFACTS
| ISLAND | CATALGUE # | ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| Anacapa Island | 1268 | doughnut stone |
| Anacapa Island | 1269 | doughnut stone; war club fragment |
| Anacapa Island | 3293 | bead, crab, bone, ornament, fishhook, ochre, bead blank, bladelet |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-13E-1 | eel grass cordage |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-1E-1 | matted sandal |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-1 | chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-10 | chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-11 | Monterey chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-12 | Monterey chert knife with asphaltum on base |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-13 | Monterey chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-14 | fused shale knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-15 | obsidian knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-16 | obsidian knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-17 | chert point projectiles |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-2 | Monterey chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-3 | Monterey chert knife, with traces of asphaltum at base |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-4 | Monterey chert knife, with traces of asphaltum at base |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-5 | chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-6 | chert projectile point |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-7 | chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-8 | chert knife |
| Anacapa Island | NA-CA-129-3A-9 | chert knife, with traces of asphaltum at base |
| Santa Barbara Island | NA-CA-134-XX-XX-1 | shell ornaments |
| Santa Cruz Island | NA-CA-130-3A-1.1 | 2 obsidian bifaces, 27 monterey and Franciscan chert projectile points, 1 Quartz projectile point, and 4 Monterey chert drills |
| Santa Cruz Island | NA-CA-130-3A-1.2 | steatite pendant |
| San Miguel Island | 1270 | charmstone |
| San Miguel Island | NA-CA-132-1E-1 | pine nut beads |
| San Miguel Island | NA-CA-130-3A-2-4 | misc. chipped stone tools |
| San Miguel Island? | 1271 | doughnut stone |
| San Miguel Island? | 1272 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Miguel Island? | 1273 | basalt doughnut stone |
| San Miguel Island? | 1274 | mortar |
| San Miguel Island? | 1285 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1276 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1277 | talc doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1278 | talc doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1279 | talc doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1280 | talc doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1281 | talc doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1282 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1283 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1284 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1286 | sandstone doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1287 | cylinder |
| San Nicolas Island | 1289 | groundstone |
| San Nicolas Island | 1290 | steatite bowl fragment |
| San Nicolas Island | 1291 | steatite ladle |
| San Nicolas Island | 3716 | decorated shale sword, 3 pry bars, pendant, 2 pipes |
| San Nicolas Island | 3717 | bone tools, steatite effigies, utensils, pipes, points, sharpener, lava bowl, spangles, ring, charms, steatite doughnut |
| San Nicolas Island | NA-CA-133-13A-1 | quartz crystal |
| San Nicolas Island | NA-CA-133-10A-1 | grey steatite canoe effigy |
| San Nicolas Island | NA-CA-133-13A-2 | steatite pelican effigy |
| San Nicolas Island | NA-CA-133-3A-1 | slate projectile point |
| San Nicolas Island | NA-CA-133-3A-2 | ground stone blade |
| San Nicolas Island | 3714 | doughnut stone |
| San Nicolas Island | 3718 | small sandstone bowl |
| Santa Rosa Island | 1292 | steatite pipe |
| Santa Rosa Island | 1293 | bone whistle (broken) |
| Santa Rosa Island | 3294 | shell beads and ornaments |
| Santa Rosa Island | 3295 | 3 bone awls, 1 barb, 1 bone tool |
| Santa Rosa Island | 3296 | pebble, scraper, charmstone |
| Santa Rosa Island | 3386 | Olivella brads |
| Santa Rosa Island | NA-CA-131-11-1 | glass trade beads |
| Santa Rosa Island | NA-CA-131-3A-49 | projectile point |
In the News~
August 11, 1900 [SBMP]: “Captain Short's gasoline launch, Chispa, will be in the water in a few days, ready for service. She has undergone a thorough overhauling at Carpinteria. Messrs. Hixenbaugh and Van Denberg, with party, leave today for the islands aboard Captain Short's Ariel for a ten days' outing.”
August 11, 1900 [SBMP]: “Messrs. Hixenbaugh and Van Denberg, with party, leave today for the islands aboard Captain Short's Ariel for a ten days' outing.”
August 11, 1900 [LAT/SB]: “The yacht Ariel will sail with another camping party consisting of Messrs. Hixenbaugh, Van Denbergh and friends, who will stop on San Miguel Island for ten days.”
August 14, 1900 [SBMP]: “When the Ariel sailed yesterday, the party consisted of Messrs. Van Denbergh and son, Hixenbaugh and Bert Phillips of Carpinteria, who will spend 10 days in camp on the islands...”
August 24, 1900 [SBMP]: “The biggest fish stories of the season are related by the Van Denberg Hixenbaugh party, who have been spending their vacation on a camping expedition on Santa Cruz Island. The party was composed of Frank S. Van Denberg and father and Mr. Hixenbaugh.”
August 26, 1900 [LAT/SB]: “A fishing party consisting of J. J. Van Denberg, Frank Van Denberg and R. Hixenbaugh returned yesterday from Santa Cruz Island where they had an experience with a devil fish…”
February 6, 1918 [SBMP]: “Almost everyone who goes to Washington, D.C. visits the Smithsonian Institute, that remarkable repository for the beautiful and curious in nature. For Californians it’s a long way to Washington… yet right here in our own city is a replica of The Old Curiosity Shop at the capital, and many of the 50,000 specimens that deck its walls and fill its shelves, are native to the Santa Barbara beach. ‘More than 400 different kinds of shells are to be found here,’ Frank Van Denberg, owner of the collection explains…”
