Mission:

The mission of the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History is to educate and involve the community, through recovering, preserving and displaying local and world wide natural history objects.

The Buena Vista Museum promotes the scientific and educational aspects of earth history, particularly paleontology, biology, geology and anthropology. This is done through public education, research, and by serving as a repository for fossils, and other natural history items. High priority is given to documenting and displaying the rich, unique aspects of the natural history of Kern County. The museum is the repository of the Bob and Mary Ernst Collection, the largest private collection of Sharktooth Hill Miocene fossils in the World.