The Founding of Friends of the Banning Museum: One Woman’s Calling By Julia Banning, Friends of Banning Museum President
This year, we celebrate the 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FRIENDS OF BANNING MUSEUM .
I think this is a wonderful milestone that demands a special acknowledgement of our founder and my cousin, Nancy Banning Call. In April of this year, Nancy will be 99 years old. Having known Nancy since my childhood, I must say that I am not surprised she is still with us, because she is an amazing force. Just like Phineas Banning, both of their middle names should be “Perseverance.”
I want to share a bit more about Cousin Nancy in her early years. I think this might help us understand her passion for sharing the history of the Banning Residence and the man who built it. Nancy was born in 1925, the granddaughter of Phineas’ second son, Joseph Brent Banning. While Nancy never knew her grandfather who passed in 1920, she enjoyed 21 years with her great uncle, William Sanford Banning, the family patriarch from 1885 when Phineas died, until his death in 1946. William never married and was devoted to his extended family. His many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews knew him very fondly as Uncle. In addition to taking care of his many family-business responsibilities, Uncle was fascinated with Concord Stagecoaches and driving “six-in-hand.” He never drove a car and delighted in giving rides on his stagecoach to all family members both young and old. A favorite niece, Cousin Nancy is pictured here held by Uncle at the last large family gathering at the Banning Residence in 1927 before the house was sold to the City of Los Angeles.
Cousin Nancy went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Economics. She returned to Los Angeles and became very active in several civic, cultural, and philanthropic organizations. She learned very quickly how to get things done in these various venues. Just like her great- grandfather Phineas, she knew the importance of gathering people with the right expertise, interests, and resources to accomplish a specific goal.
In the early 1970s, Cousin Nancy decided she needed to focus on the Banning Residence due to its deteriorating physical condition and the lack of any strong and interesting museum programs. This timing coincided with the passing of both her parents, leaving Cousin Nancy the senior member of the Joseph Brent Banning, Jr. branch of the family. Perhaps this made her more certain that she should lead the charge. With her connections in Los Angeles, Cousin Nancy knew who she should be talking to. She coordinated extensive research into how the house interior should be restored. She met with the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks officials to encourage and support the physical restoration of the house and committed to raising funds for interior decoration of each museum room to be accessed by the public through tours and programs.
The City completed expensive physical repair of the house by the end of 1 974. In the same year, the non-profit corporation was formed, and Cousin Nancy successfully approached family members for the initial funds to support the room- by-room restoration of the house, including wallpaper, curtains, furniture repair and upholstering, floor coverings and acquisition of decorative items. Family members also contributed many pieces of furniture that had been taken from the house when it was sold.
Today, we have beautifully restored rooms in our museum and interesting programs because — fifty years ago — one woman had the perseverance to bring many, many people and organizations together to get that initial job done and enabled all of us to continue that support today.
