Sonoma County historians share fascinating photos, letters for Archives Month

Climate-controlled rooms filled with shelves and drawers of documents, photos, journals, letters and other items may not appear exciting at first glance, but this is what historians and journalists rely on to tell fascinating stories of the past.

There are troves of materials in archival collections around Sonoma County. There’s a fun postcard of a man riding a cow at a 1908 parade in Santa Rosa. Famed horticulturist Luther Burbank’s pollinating tools. The 1850s handwritten journal of a Petaluma newspaperman. A 1963 photo of President John F. Kennedy with architect John Carl Warnecke, whose family ranch is in Healdsburg.

“All of these documents and photographs and drawings and maps tell a story that we might not otherwise know or understand,” said Carol Eber of Petaluma, a descendant of local pioneer Mark West.

Celebrating the remaining physical pieces of our history and the people who care for them — archivists, historians and amateur history buffs — is the spirit of American Archives Month, annual, national recognition of archives every October.

“When you go to a museum, you don't necessarily realize all the things that are behind the scenes to make an exhibit,” said Katherine Rinehart, historian and co-chair of the Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives. “So the idea of Archives Month was to give recognition to these collections that are often hidden.”

A local “archives crawl” was organized in 2019, and more Archives Month events will hopefully happen in the future, Rinehart said.

In a recent survey by the Sonoma County Heritage Network — whose 114 members include local museums, libraries and historical societies — 29 organizations responded that they had archival collections, although more exist, said Rinehart, who chairs the network.

County archives were relocated in August out of the path of wildfires to a larger building near the county airport. It’s a big first step, advocates say, but accessibility is the next step.

Years ago Eber located her great-grandparents’ marriage certificate in the county archives — her great-grandfather was William West, son of pioneer Mark West — with help from staff at the Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library.

“Archives tell a story. They tell our story,” she said. “And they tell a history you might not find anywhere else.”

See the gallery above for photos of intriguing archival items shared by Sonoma County history enthusiasts.