A Treasure Trove of Local History

PART 3

First published September 2023

by Chris Pattillo

This is the 3rd article I’ve written as part of the society’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Russian River Historical Society. There is additional information about the archive in the two previous issues – “The Russian River Historical Society History” published in the March issue and the story about founder Evelyn Pedroia in the June issue.

For this article, I interviewed some of the current archive volunteers and asked them what they think is special about our archive. Patty Thayer responded that our historic photo collection is what she most enjoys. She has been surprised by how many very old photos we have. She also values our collection of historic newspapers. We have back issues from 16 different publications – some going back as early as 1915. Patty says, “It is endlessly fascinating to me to read in the original newspapers what was going on 100 years ago.”

She also enjoys looking at all the posters and theater flyers we have. She is impressed by how the lower Russian River has always had lots of music, theater and other entertainment programs at numerous venues. Patty started volunteering a couple of years ago, after meeting fellow archivist Roberto Esteves at a party. That was when things started reopening after being shuttered by covid. Patty came in to help process the backlog of material that had accumulated.

I asked “What is your favorite part of this volunteer position?” Patty quickly responded, “Talking with other volunteers and the social component of the work.”

Roberto Esteves offered a different perspective. He feels that what is special about our collection is that it organized the history of Monte Rio, and to some extent Duncans Mills, for the first time. He credits founder Evelyn Pedroia for sharing many historic photos as well as a man named Rhea who also shared lots of old photos. Roberto noted that while the founding members deserve credit for recognizing the need to save historic material and soliciting donations, it’s the more recent volunteers who deserve credit for organizing everything to make it accessible to a broader audience. Those volunteers include Roberto, Vick Michelson, Larry Whitmyer, Myra Chesley, Tina Ward, Kim Menary, and Fran Levy. Current volunteers include Roberto, Jane Barry, Patty Thayer, Penny Bolger and occasionally myself.

John Schubert deserves credit for many of the items in our collection. He was an avid collector of memorabilia for the lower Russian River area. Roberto, a now retired professional archivist, urged the society to purchase the Past Perfect software program that we now use to catalog the material held by the archive. Fortunately, the original volunteers maintained excellent hand-written records about those early donations so as volunteers process what has been donated, they have the donor information. At this point Roberto estimates that about 80% of what has been donated has been properly processed and we continue to work on the remainder. Roberto’s favorite item in our collection is the Beach Comer’s Collection – a wonderful set of photographs from the 1920s and 30s that depict the active gay scene at the river.

If you are interested in volunteering at our archive, we welcome the help. The archive committee meets at the archive in Monte Rio every Tuesday from 10:00 – 12:00. Come by or contact us. 

There is lots happening – come join us.

We want and need you to continue to add to and disseminate our valued and colorful, diverse history. Come to a couple of our meetings; talk with Board and other members and then decide as to whether or not you want to be involved with this essential organization. Robbi Ernst, Past Board Member