Status

The PHL&M remains shutdown until The City determines it is safe to re-open. In the meantime, Museum staff are planning how to safely and effectively open our permanent collections and research library to the public when we are allowed to do so.

Board Elections

As part of the shutdown we are postponing our board elections as our printing services and mail delivery have been put on hold. Your board is discussing how best to reschedule elections as well and announce the results.

Exhibit Update

Most of the exhibits that were scheduled for this year are now being planned for 2021.

The notable exception is our Suffrage Exhibit which we plan to open at the end of August and run through Election Day in November.

Please find the most current update on the Women’s Suffrage Movement Exhibit Web Page at PetalumaMuseum.com.

Virtual Exhibit

Even while the Museum remains closed did you know that you can experience our 40th Anniversary exhibit on line?

Thanks to Wayne Dunbar of AfterTec Advanced Imaging the exhibit was captured digitally and is available to experience at https://www.petalumamuseum.com

Just scroll down the main page to find: A Story of Civic Pride and Progress.

Membership

We began as a membership organization with the mission “To preserve the unique history of Petaluma and to provide educational and cultural services to the Community”. Your membership is critical at this time as we find our way through this transition to a safer museum and a safer research library.

We hope to reopen by June but in the meantime it’s important that you renew your membership. Without access to our office we are not able to send our regular renewal reminders so please check your membership type and expiration date on your membership card. You can renew online by going to https://www.petalumamuseum.com/join/ and scrolling down to find your membership type. Please consider upgrading your membership level if you can afford to do so.

Your new membership cards and receipts will be printed and mailed once the City lifts the seal on the building and we are allowed to return.

Giving

We miss your participation here in the Museum. The annual Gala fundraiser was postponed at the last minute as were many talks and tours. These were vital ways to stay in touch as well as affording you the opportunity to support your museum financially. If after contributing to those on the front lines of the pandemic, you can afford to contribute, I promise you it is needed and will be well used as we all take the next step on this path towards a better museum, a better city and a better world.

DOCUMENT THE PANDEMIC IN SONOMA COUNTY, A PRIMARY SOURCE COLLECTION

The Sonoma County Library invites community members to document history through writing, art and other creative expression during the COVID-19, and to donate these items to the library. The materials, representing firsthand experiences by local residents, will become part of a special library collection of primary sources. Once the crisis is resolved and it is safe to bring items to the library, residents will be invited to bring in journals, photos, drawings, letters, scrapbooks and other two-dimensional physical documents that tell the story of life in Sonoma County during this time.

Library staff will catalog a selection of the items into a special collection that can be accessible to future generations of Sonoma County Library visitors.

“Researchers and students will be able to use your work to understand what it was like living in Sonoma County during this challenging time,” said Connie Williams, History Room Librarian at the Petaluma Regional Library. “Your story can be a part of our community’s story.”

As a way to begin, Williams suggests documenting – in writing or in images – your initial reactions to news about the virus and work/school closures, and recording daily experiences, such as what life is like in your neighborhood, how you communicate with others and what has changed.

The library requests that items be no larger than 11” x 17” and can be stored flat. For more information, contact publicservices@sonomalibrary.org.

Sonoma County Library Director Ann Hammond said, “This is a great way to help our community preserve memories of an important event.”

Advice from John Murphey of Architectural History Services:

All historians (amateur, academic, public, or otherwise) should be using this downtime to collect documents of this unbelievable, historic event. Important are images of store closure or alternative service signs, community communications and signage, messages on Nextdoor and other social media, emails from the government entities and businesses explaining their policies. I was disappointed to learn that Nextdoor – really the voice of the greater wired community – does not externally archive their posts. All those heart-wrenching messages from the 2017 Fire are lost to the public.