SONOMA COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY LIBRARY
 
 
NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2021
Volume 3 Issue 2 
 
While the majority of the over 45,000 photographs in the Sonoma County Digital Collections were created by unknown photographers, a few photographers and photo studios are well represented. Check out this growing list of photographers, both professionals and others, whose profiles were compiled in the process of researching new additions to the collections. Follow this link or go to digital.sonomalibrary.org > About > Contributing Photographers.  
 
Sonoma County photographer Don Meacham on board of his plane holding a camera.
Don Meacham (1916-2010) in flying togs. Meacham lived most of his life in Sonoma County, where he retired after 50 years as a freelance commercial photographer.
 
Studio of photographer Ken Schroll on Mendocino Avenue.
 Studio of Kenneth E. Schroll (1918-2009) at 520 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, in 1957. The Ken Schroll Studio did the yearbook photography for various high schools in Santa Rosa and enjoyed popular success through the years. 
 
Portrait photo of John LeBaron (1924-2014), Sonoma County photographer
John LeBaron (1924-2014) worked as a photographer for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat from 1948 to 1968. He was married to prominent Sonoma County historian Gaye LeBaron.
SCL Historical Research Databases
The Sonoma County Library offers a variety of online resources that can help you with your historical and genealogical research. Learn how to access and navigate the Top Five - Ancestry Library Edition, HeritageQuest, Newspapers.com, the San Francisco Chronicle 1865-1922 and Fire Insurance maps online (FIMo) in this short video tutorial. Have more questions? Join us for virtual Community Coffee!
 
 Virtual Community Coffee 
 
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
11 AM - 12 PM
 
Join the staff of the H&G Library for virtual Community Coffee!
 
This time, we’ll focus on the Sonoma County Library’s historical research databases. Did you know that due to
COVID-19 you can access all of these databases from home - free with your library card? Bring your own questions or just sit back and listen in. Register here! 
  
 
Sonoma County Archives 
Meet our patrons - Dr. Matthew G. Kelly
Good morning, Dr. Kelly, what brought you to the Sonoma County Archives?
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Pennsylvania State University and an expert in state school finance policies. I’m also trained as a historian and started to research the history of school funding and the evolution of differences in educational resources and opportunities in California as part of my doctoral program at Stanford University. At the time, I was trying to locate county supervisor records covering the history of school district boundaries in times when they were being relocated and moved. I knew from a dissertation written in the early 1930s that some counties had preserved these records over time. Sonoma County was one of the few counties in Northern California that not only had these records, but also the most extensive and accessible collection of records dating back to the time when the actual petitions were filed in the mid-19th century - a collection that was far more comprehensive than any of the others I was able to locate in the state. This prompted my visit to the Sonoma County Archives in 2016. 
 
Portrait photo of Dr. Matthew G. Kelly.
Interesting. What exactly did you find?
I came across historical references to patterns where school district boundaries were not being used to enforce enrollment and residency in the way that we would imagine that they should have, due to how schools at the time were funded. It was curious and unexpected and made me look more closely at the history of both school funding and school district boundaries in the state. I was really surprised to find that contrary to general belief and standard assumption, school districts were not only funded by property taxes alone. In fact, the data revealed that very few districts actually levied a property tax before the abolition of California’s statewide property tax in 1910. Only then did many local districts begin to raise a property tax to fund their schools. This rise in district funding corresponded with the spread of requests to change the boundaries of districts.
 
Does your research at the Sonoma County Archives still impact your work? 
The records in Sonoma County helped me understand the ways in which school district boundaries could create a reality as much as reflect it. Today, within the contemporary policy context, school district boundaries and their movement can be used to create pockets of affluence and advantage as much as pockets of poverty and disadvantage. School district boundaries have become a policy tool to divide up territory in ways that, unfortunately in a lot of places, make educational opportunity a function of the wealth of a child’s parents and where they are born. The records at the Archives show how this system, which in many ways contradicts the meritocratic and universalistic expectations we have for our schools, evolved over time. It is tempting to look at school district boundaries in the same way we look at a creek or river, as some kind of natural feature of geography, when it is in fact a human creation that can be used in really inequitable ways. The historical records at the Sonoma County Archives have given me a perspective to see school district boundaries in the present for what they really are: a public policy creation. Making sense of this quandary allowed me to become the school finance scholar I am today. In this way, the Sonoma County Archives was an invaluable resource for me. 
 
Read more about historical Sonoma County school district boundaries and school funding in this research article: Kelly, Matthew Gardner. “A Map Is More Than Just a Graph: Geospatial Educational Research and the Importance of Historical Context.” AERA Open, (2019). Works cited include:
 
Index of historical Sonoma County school districts map.Davis, E. W. Correspondence from E. W. Davis to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. 1895. Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Records. Sonoma County Archives, Santa Rosa, CA.
 
Petition for a change of school district boundaries for Guilford School District, Sebastopol School District, Myker School District, Michigan School District, Grape and Pine Ridge School Districts. 1904-1921. Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Records. Sonoma County Archives, Santa Rosa, CA.
 
Interview: Simone Kremkau. Photo, top: Provided by Matthew G. Kelly. Photo, right: Thomas Bros. Key Map for Sonoma County School Districts. 1926-1928 (Sonoma County H&G Library).
 
Black History Month 2021
Sonoma County Library 
Black History Month 2021: Celebrating Family Through Story and Song
 
Saturday, February 27, 2021
6:30 PM - 8 PM
 
Hosted by the Sonoma County Library Petaluma History Room. This year, Petaluma Blacks for Community Development will celebrate Black History Month virtually and you’re invited! Created in collaboration with the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, the Petaluma Arts Center, and the City of Petaluma, this year’s program provides a rich tapestry of perspectives for exploring the black family in past and present America. Join for 90 minutes of music, art, stories and dancing to celebrate the vibrant diversity of our Community! Register here.
 
Books to Read during Black History Month and Beyond
 
Through the generous support of the Rotary Club of Rancho Cotati, the Sonoma County Library was able to purchase new and additional physical copies as well as digital copies of important titles to honor and celebrate Black history and Black authors: Adult Fiction - Adult Fiction eBooks and eAudiobooks - Adult Nonfiction - Films on DVD - Adult Nonfiction eBooks and eAudiobooks - Juvenile - Juvenile eBooks and eAudiobooks - Young Adult - Young Adult eBooks and eAudiobooks.
 
Virtual Events
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation—that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law. A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation—the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments—that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day. Join the author for a virtual evening. Register here. 
 
Join the San Francisco African American Historical & Cultural Society for a celebration of 2021 Black History Month - The Black Family: Representation, Identity and Diversity. Click here for all links and more information, or call (415) 292-6172.
 
New! Historical Virtual Backgrounds
Tired of joining virtual meetings in front of the same boring white wall? What if you could be sitting in front of an iconic Sonoma County scene selected from the Library's historical photograph collections? Save your favorite Zoom background from our new collection and turn on Zoom’s virtual background feature. Follow the link or go to digital.sonomalibrary.org > More > Other Resources! 
 
Virtual Zoom Background of postcard of Carnegie Library, Santa Rosa. 
Virtual Local Events 
Romantic drawing of creek with trees.
A Creek Runs Through it - Santa Rosa Creek and How it's Shaped the City
 
Thursday, February 18, 2021
6 PM - 7:30 PM
 
Join the Historical Society of Santa Rosa and a panel of creek specialists to learn about Santa Rosa Creek. Panel topics will include: pre-history of the creek, use by indigenous people, early structures built along the creek, and environmental stressors through downtown. With Steve Brady, City of Santa Rosa Water Department; Jeff Elliott, author and local historian; Nick Tipon, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria; Bill Turner, HSSR board member, and Robin Hoffman, archeologist and historian. Free event. More information and registration here. 
 
Portrait photographs of Claus and Alma Spreckels.Spreckels' Sugar Empire
 
Sunday, February 21, 2021
4 PM - 5 PM 
 
Hosted by San Francisco City Guides. In the late 1850s, Claus Spreckels arrived in San Francisco and set his sight on building his sugar empire that would later bring a tremendous amount of wealth to his family. Join city guide Bruce Bennett as he shares stories of Claus & “Big” Alma" Spreckels' influence in the early days of San Francisco and the legacy they left, including the Legion of Honor and Maritime Museums. Free event. Register here. 
 
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How to reach the Sonoma County Library's Special Collections
Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library: history@sonomalibrary.org.
Call (707) 308-3212, Tue-Thu 10 AM-5 PM. 
Petaluma History Room: cwilliams@sonomalibrary.org.
Call (707) 763-9801 x0722, Mon 11 AM-7:30 PM; Fri 10 AM-5 PM; Sat 10 AM-1 PM.
Sonoma County Wine Library: mjones@sonomalibrary.org.
Call (707) 433-3772 x0416, Mon/Tue 12 PM-7 PM; Wed-Sat 10 AM-5 PM.
Curbside pick-up of materials available Mon-Sat. 
 
Sonoma County History and Genealogy Library
Mailing Address: 211 E Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Physical Address: 725 3rd Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: (707) 308-3212 
Read about us in the Press Democrat
Email the editor: skremkau@sonomalibrary.org