The collection consists of research materials collected by Pamela Skewes-Cox during the research of her publication, "Spanish Colonial Style: Santa Barbara and the Architecture of James Osborne Craig and Mary McLaughlin Craig," which she authored along with Robert Sweeney and was published by Rizzoli Press in 2015.

The Santa Barbara Legacy Reel Audio Tape Collection contain recordings of oral histories, radio programs, meetings, lectures, telephone conversations, ceremonies, and music perfomances of local old timers and influential people. These 184 electronic files, extracted from 98 one quarter-inch reel-to-reel magnetic tapes, represent the earliest audio recordings made by the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.