The Riverside Metropolitan Museum is a local history, anthropology, and natural history museum in Riverside, California. It contains over 100,000 artifacts and specimens gathered from the city and the surrounding region. It also houses an archive which contains 2,000 linear feet of archive materials comprising of photographs, manuscripts, and ephemera that document the history and growth of Riverside. The museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and manages the Harada House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Heritage House, which is a National Historic Landmark. The museum has permanent and traveling exhibits, offers educational programming, and offers special events throughout the year.
The museum opened in the basement of City Hall in 1924 and its first acquisition was a collection of Native American artifacts donated by the widow of Cornelius Earle Ramsey, a wealthy businessman. The museum moved to the current location in 1948; the building served as post office beginning in 1912.