September 12-November 3
Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making broadly outlines California’s history leading up to statehood as a backdrop to the factual and fictional stories that emerged after the US takeover. It considers nineteenth-century Mexican American individuals and families who told their stories and looks at some of the early narratives that helped create an enduring California mythos, as well as the stories that were ignored in favor of this new, often exaggerated or fictionalized lore. The exhibition is developed by the California Historical Society, drawing extensively from the their collections and consisting of 10 to 11 free-standing pop-up banners. The Petaluma Historical Library & Museum was one of three institutions selected through a competitive process as a sponsored host, generously funded by the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation. The Museum will concurrently display artifacts from our own collection related to early Mexican-American history in our region.

Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making was developed and organized by the California Historical Society and tours through Exhibit Envoy. Institutional support provided by San Francisco Grants for the Arts and Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. The Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation supported the first 3 bookings of this exhibition.