Tim Buckner, executive director of the Historical Society of Mendocino County is watching the calendar. In a few weeks, Microsoft will no longer support operating systems using anything older than Windows 11.
“This is going to affect all our equipment,” he explains. “We may have to replace our flatbed scanners and microfilm readers, and will definitely have to replace our 9 computers.” For an organization that focuses on being the repository of paper, photos, film and other ephemera, including a complete collection of the Ukiah Daily Journal and its predecessors, the necessity of keeping abreast with technological changes has become essential to the proper storage and preservation of the more than 2 million pages of documents, 20,000 photos, thousands of rolls of microfilm, maps, tribal records, county records, great registers, genealogies and much more.
Ethel Poage graduated from Ukiah High School in June 1896, as part of the school's pioneer class. She was the class historian. In 1903, she married attorney W.D. Held and the couple moved into their new home across from the Presbyterian Church at Perkins and Dora streets. Today their home is the headquarters of the Historical Society of Mendocino County. (File photo – courtesy of Lila Lee)Finding a way to create a neutral environment to preserve the collection has been a years-long effort for the 69-year-old non-profit, which is the repository for records from all over Mendocino County. “We had to create a way to create absolute climate control to keep out mold and degradation.” Through the selfless efforts of Paul Poulos, the 2016 construction of the William J. and Molly Toney Archive enabled staff and volunteers to begin a more fulsome process of cataloguing, photographing and organizing the material. The windowless building is outfitted with a HEPA filtration system and the thermostat is set to 68 degrees, year-round.
“We didn’t have a lot of expenses until the construction of the Archive building, but running dehumidifiers all day long and keeping the temperature steady was costing about $1,000 per month.” A decision by the board of directors was made to install a solar system, and last week, the work was completed.
“It was critical to our future to save that money. It will take some time to pencil out, but we estimate that we’ll be making money in less than ten years,” Buckner continues.
Seb Strzelecki, General Manager and Solar Project Manager for AC&R Services Heating and Cooling was the lead for the project.
“We installed a 12.88-kilowatt enphase microinverter system that will offset the use for the Archive Building, with a little spillover to the museum. Any credits will go toward the museum’s utility bill.” Buckner opted to leave some room for expansion for batteries or a generator if the need arises in the future.
“We took a great deal of time to research the project,” Buckner continues. “It was discussed for about two years. Once we got the financing, we broke ground in April, and the installation took about a week.”
“Any installation larger than 10 kilowatts requires approval by the City of Ukiah, so we provided them with a preliminary study,” Strzelecki notes. “In general, the City’s move toward greening up made it more reasonable for us to get a quicker payoff on investment,” says Buckner. “The City was great to work with. This took a lot of careful thought, with a lot of foresight planning for the future. We can monitor and troubleshoot the system functions remotely and look at how each panel is performing.”
This project was one among several to modernize and professionalize operations at the Society. “We were an all-volunteer organization for many years, but we reached the point where we needed the expertise of paid staff. It’s been a sea change, but one that is very positive,” says Buckner. “These are the kinds of decisions that are integral in preserving our county’s history.”
The focus of the Historical Society has been on the preservation of information, not artifacts. “If we receive a donation of artifacts, we refer the donor to the appropriate entity or museum. So if we received antique milk bottles, we might not keep the bottles, but we’d be very interested in records of the dairy like shipping manifests- that’s our true stock and trade. We have greatly benefitted from the community’s largesse,” says Buckner, noting that the Society regularly receives calls from people interested in donating items to the collection.
“We now have an employee who is in the process of digitizing documents so they’re easier to research with minimal handling.” In 2018, a representative from the Bancroft Library came to the Society and assessed the collection. “They made many recommendations and complimented Paul on getting the Archive built. Their primary recommendation was to digitize the material, so that in the event of a disaster, the information is captured.” During the Pandemic, the Society closed down and used the time to reset and refocus. The digitization program was initiated at that time. “RespecTech was and is a great help to us. They helped us develop the IT to support the project. We have a very large format scanner which is connected to our server where all of the records are stored.”
There are many reasons that people access the Archives.
“People are interested in the history of their home, business or family. Currently we’re working closely with folks from the Potter Valley Cemetery who are researching the cemetery and the families that are interred there. Business owners in the downtown district are curious about the history of their building, and people who buy a 100-year-old home are curious about their property. We were so happy that the Mendocino Ballet was able to restore their façade, and learned about the history of their building in the process. A number of people who support the Historical Society helped to support the work on the façade to make it safe. It was great to see the community step up for that effort.”
The Archives are also regularly accessed by local and state agencies.
“Cal Trans is a regular client. They might want to know about cultural resources, for example, if they’re straightening out a curve where there could be a burial site.” Real estate agents and surveyors are often in need of the history of a property’s acreage or buildings. “We have assessor’s rolls going back to 1868, which show a history of a property in a deeper way.”
The Society is cultivating relationships with the county’s Indigenous communities. “We’ve built a good collection of books that support research and cultural education, which is a very important part of developing the full picture of our county’s history.” A recent Society-sponsored talk took a deep dive into the history of Indigenous people from before the arrival of the Mexicans, moving forward in time from there. “It was a very touching presentation that made you think and feel.” Another history talk featured Hopland Band of Pomo Indians Tribal Chair Sonny Elliot, Sr., who discussed the early history of the region including and surrounding the Hopland Research and Extension Center.
Meanwhile, the donations keep coming.
“We continue to receive material. Some of our most treasured donations are photos that include names, dates and locations to help us understand their context and link to our institutional knowledge.”
The collection of the Historical Society covers the entire county. “We’ve chosen to maintain this broad-based focus. Smaller organizations like the Fort Bragg Guest House, the Kelly House or the Anderson Valley Historical Society are focusing primarily on their geographic area, which is wonderful.” Recently, the Society received boxes of photos and documents from the Point Arena Lighthouse. “We’re in the process of digitizing their collection, which chronicles the history of the Station. It’s important for them as well as for us.”
The historic Held-Poage home is being restored and turned into a museum that will depict the daily life of the Held-Poague family. “Judge William Held was a politician and state assemblyman who served on numerous committees. His wife Ethel was a mother of two, a schoolteacher and very active in the community.” The home will be set in the 1920’s. As the layers of time have been peeled back, Buckner notes there have been many interesting discoveries along the way. “The entire house was built out of old growth redwood, with a painted faux woodgrain pattern that was used to lighten and brighten the redwood. It’s a lost art. We peeled back about 6 layers of wallpaper, and a vintage wallpaper house was able to recreate the original paper pattern. It’s going to be as authentic as possible, with nothing in the house post-1920.”
Buckner credits the Society’s dynamic, engaged board of directors for leading the way toward both preservation and growth. A team of about a dozen volunteers are deeply involved with many aspects of research and assisting the public with inquiries. “Our volunteer base consists largely of younger people and retirees. They do docent work and will run lobby tours of the Held-Poague home once it is reopened. We have volunteers who come in consistently to do specific research.”
Volunteers will start a search process usually by looking up a name or address. “Very often, we’ll have information on a person’s home.” Reconstructing a family history requires deeper work. “We use Newspapers.com and our database, which was built up by numerous volunteers doing data entry over many years. We have access to thousands of family names and names from the Indigenous population from before the time of erasure.”
“We have always been a dynamic organization. One of our first projects was raising money for the little red schoolhouse restoration on Highway 20. At that time, we worked with the Department of Forestry to ensure it would be maintained in perpetuity. We took on the County Museum build with the support of the City of Willits. Since then, we’ve been gathering, preserving and presenting our history to the community.” One of the most modern-day projects was the Society’s entry into the world of social media. “Alyssa Ballard, our Archivist created a four-minute Tik Tok video that made it into the Mendocino Film Festival,” Buckner smiles.
“We are hoping to generate community support to offset costs of our solar project,” says Buckner. “The solar system will ultimately decrease electrical costs, but the installation expenses were heavy. It was critical to our future to save money, especially on top of the immediate need to upgrade our computer equipment.”
Donations can be made by visiting the website, via PayPal, Square or sending in a check. “Contact us directly if you would like to receive an acknowledgement.”
The Historical Society is located at 100 S. Dora Street. It is open Thursday- Saturday from 1-4 p.m. Find them on Instagram and TikTok @mendocinocountyhistory, and on Facebook and YouTube by searching Historical Society of Mendocino County. For more information phone (707) 462-6969 or visit www.mendocinocountyhistory.org.
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