Historic Dolls & Teddy Bears Making a Holiday Visit to Kelley House Museum. Our Holiday Exhibit is now up, and among the antique toys we pulled from the archives you’ll find three dolls that Daisy Kelley MacCallum used to played with, right here in her childhood home on Albion Street. This year they have new playmates. Several Victorian-era girl dolls have come to visit, as well [...]
Back in 2000, students of Ryan Olson Day’s Options Class at the Mendocino Middle School created an oral history project with the help of Steve Jordan and a grant obtained by Deena Zarlin. They made audio recordings of their interviews with twelve “Old Timers,” who told these children what it was like back in the day. Two decades later, the transcripts of these stories have been [...]
A dilapidated Kelley House when it was acquired in 1975. Collecting, preserving, protecting and sharing. This is the mission of the Kelley House Museum. Kelley House has been around long enough for three generations to have experienced it, enjoyed its history-themed events, or dug into its archives to research family stories and photos. Some have called it Mendocino’s most important cultural institution It all began with [...]
Cattle Invade Garage This odd headline appeared on the front page of the Oct 13, 1928 edition of the Mendocino Beacon. The story goes on to say, “A band of some 60 head of dairy cows being driven up the coast were going through Mendocino and when passing the S. & E. Garage, spied the big open doors, and evidently taking it for a barn, they [...]
1920 topographic map showing the area of Siewers ranch on the south side of Mendocino Bay. Naming places is something people do to orient themselves and connect with their environment. In our homes, we have “Grandma’s chair” or the “back forty.” Moving outwards, our neighborhoods have local designations, too. These hyper-local labels often commemorate events, such as “Two-Buck Turn” on Little Lake Road east of Mendocino. [...]
Dave Sverko (seated) with middle school students Adam Channel, Sadie Pepper and Morgan Matthews in 2000. Back in 2000, students of Ryan Olson Day’s Options Class at the Mendocino Middle School created an oral history project with the help of Steve Jordan and a grant obtained by Deena Zarlin. They made audio recordings of their interviews with twelve “Old Timers” who told these children what it [...]
Norman de Vall’s sailing cargo ship, Fri, as she enters San Francisco Bay on her ocean voyage from Denmark in 1967. In the late 1800s, schooners like these carried goods to ports all over the world, including the Mendocino Coast. This season’s exhibit at the Kelley House Museum, “Wind & Water: the Nautical Collection of Norman de Vall” showcases antique charts, old navigational instruments and other sea-going [...]
A new exhibit showcasing the nautical collection of coast resident Norman de Vall will open at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino. Through November 11, you can see antique coastal charts dating back to the 1700’s, sextants old and new, a large brass compass from a sailing ship, taffrail logs that were pulled behind the ship to calculate its speed, a caulking mallet and irons, and [...]
Oral History Interview in 2000 with Homer Drinkwater, Gilda Lillian Canclini Drinkwater, Steve Jordan (behind) and students Joshua Novakov Lawlor, Mandela Linder, and Lola Thornton of Mendocino Middle School. Back in 2000, students of Ryan Olson Day’s Options Class at the Mendocino Middle School created an oral history project with a grant obtained by Deena Zarlin. They interviewed and recorded twelve “Old Timers” who told these children [...]
Residents of Mendocino County leaving Ukiah, CA in 1942 for a Japanese prison camp in Colorado during World War II. Pictured, left to right: Mr. & Mrs. Sam Wada and Mr. & Mrs. Joe Onomiya of Ukiah; Mrs. & Mr. Frank Wada of Hopland. (Photo Courtesy of Held-Poage Research Library, Ukiah) The current Kelley House Museum exhibit, “The Story of Look Tin Eli: Exclusion and Citizenship [...]