SPRINGTIME SOIRÉE
HSMC preparing for upcoming 1920s-themed fundraiser
The Historical Society of Mendocino County will be holding its first annual fundraiser, a 1920s Springtime Soirée, at Barra of Mendocino on May 18, from 5-9 p.m., with a 1920s-inspired dinner catered by Garbocci Gourmet Catering, music from the era and a live and silent auction.
So, shake out your Gatsby pleated skirts, tubular dresses, beads and sequins, cloche hats, high waisted Oxford bags, suspenders, vests, herringbone tweeds, fedoras and flat caps — or not — and join in the celebration for the upcoming opening of the Held-Poage Memorial Home Museum.
The Mendocino County Historical Society (currently the Historical Society of Mendocino County) was first established in February, 1956, through the enterprise of Marion Marvin and George Ward. Their first meeting was held at the Ukiah Public Library with a follow-up in May at the Palace Hotel, firmly establishing the organization with its elected officers, by laws and district directors.
In 1970, William P. Held, eldest child of William Daniel Louis Held and Ethel Poage, deeded 603 W. Perkins St. — the home in which he grew up and in which his newly-wedded parents moved to in 1903 — to the MCHS for use as their headquarters on behalf of his parents. That same year, the dedication of the Held-Poage Memorial Home took place on the front lawn with 250 in attendance.
The Memorial Home, and research library, housed all the county's local history and archival materials with additional storage in outbuildings on the property.
With the completion of the 4,400- square-foot William J. and Molly Toney Archive in 2016, the collections were moved into the archival building with temperature- controlled rooms, fire and UV protection and heavy insulation fully protecting all historical documents and articles in the facility. The furnishings were put in temporary storage.
The Toney Archive serves as the headquarters and offices for the HSMC with a research room and collections of approximately 2 million pages of documents, 20,000 photos, thousands of rolls of microfilm, glass plate negatives from the late
1800s on up and contemporary collections of photographs, documents, maps, art, newspapers, county records and oral histories pertaining to the social, political, geographic and cultural history of Mendocino County.
In addition to special collections, they maintain a large reference collection filled with compiled research and books on various topics within Mendocino County which are available to the public for personal use and commercial use in films, books, articles and other media. The Archive is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 1- 4 p.m., free to the public, and research by appointment can be arranged by telephone or email.
The HSMC is currently cataloging and digitizing its collection from the ground up — less handling of fragile items, greatly prolonging their life, and increased accessibility to the collection.
Part of the proceeds from the fundraiser will go toward work on this longterm project.
Historian and Archivist Alyssa Ballard explains that money raised from the fundraiser will be used for operational needs of the HSMC as well as for the restoration of the Held-Poage Memorial Home Museum begun in 2019.
“We're hoping to be able to open it up to the public later this year,” she says.
The original house, built in 1903, underwent a major renovation in 1924. The old kitchen was converted into a bedroom for the Helds' daughter, and a modern kitchen was added on the southeast corner of the building. Already equipped with electricity, the house was plumbed and hot water radiators replaced the wood stoves.
The1920s theme for the event was chosen as a way of highlighting the year 1927, the last year all of the children were in the house before leaving home for college or marriage.
Once the house was cleared, wallpaper was removed layer by layer, carefully documented each as they went; the dining room had five layers in some areas.
“We've selected various patterns; we'll need as many as six for all the rooms, those we believe would have been there in the '20s. We've spent a long time trying to get as close as we can in finding reproduction wallpaper.”
It's been a bit of a struggle; not only are they looking for the time period of the 1910s and 1920s but also for those that reflect the rural setting of Ukiah at the time — not quite so fancy.
Although many companies do reproductions, they are done on printers and do not have the right qualities, the right texture.
“We've found some promising silk screen reproductions but those are expensive and we're going to need to raise money for them.”
“We are striving for authenticity to the greatest extent possible,” adds Executive Director Tim Buckner.
They are planning on doing a Fund and Need auction during the event specifically for the wallpaper.
Paint has been scraped off the walls, also layer by layer, documenting as they go, and they now know what colors were in each of the rooms.
All of the woodwork in the house had originally been painted with a faux wood grain, a kind of golden oak style over the redwood.
Their painter developed a technique in which he recreated the effect of what had been there by putting on an entirely new layer without having to remove the old paint — a very timeconsuming process.
Painting of the outside of the house is almost complete. The second story still needs to be done, and it has been restored to the white it has been for over 100 years while the green has been changed to what it was in the 1920s.
“Someday when we need a new roof, it will go back to the original green,” says Ballard.
The original furniture is back in the home, much of it blanket-wrapped; the kitchen still has its built-in ice box; a late, 1910s, wood burning cook stove was acquired from Lou Martinelli; and Ballard found an eraappropriate clothes washing machine a while ago on the side of the road with a $20 price tag on it that she wheeled home. The Eastern pine floors have been refinished.
“We have some original pieces from the family and other pieces that the Historical Society has acquired over the years. We're going to do a big call out to the public for specific pieces from specific eras. We'd really like to get those that have Mendocino County history behind them — 1927 or earlier.”
Festivities for the fundraiser will include a social hour, dinner crafted from a 1920s menu; a silent auction and a live auction that will include a 10-person, 1920s dinner party hosted by Dennis and Madelyn Yeo in their historic Victorian home at 612 W. Smith St. in Ukiah, and a Fort Bragg experience package for four with an overnight stay, an excursion on the Skunk Train railbikes and dinner at the North Coast Brewing Company.
DJ Jerry Schultz will spin sounds from the period; a Mendocino County silent film of the era will be playing in the background; and members from the Ukiah Players Theatre will be in costume and in character, adding to the authenticity.
Ballard and fundraising committee members Roberta Hurt, Mirabel Anderson, Philip Gary, Holly Rodgers, David Poma, Gary Nix,
Tim Buckner and Marvin Talso are modeling their event from a garden cabaret party inside the pages of a Dennison's Party Magazine from the summer of 1927.
“There're a lot of instructions on how to make your own decorations, crêpe paper flowers, streamers and lanterns, and we're making many of them ourselves.”
In fact, Ballard has already begun making the 250 crêpe paper flowers for the 20 table arrangements, delicately and carefully articulating the brightly- colored leaves, petals, stamens and pistils — each flower a work of art on its own.
“The committee has offered to help if I start to run out of steam.”
This is their first of many annual events and, as those who are dedicated to preserving the past as genuinely as possible, they are striving to create a truly authentic experience.
Tickets are on sale until April 26: $100 per person or $1,000 for a table of eight (includes extras). For tickets, go to: https:// HSMCbenefit. eventbrite. com; call 707- 462- 6969 or contact: info@mendocinocountyhistory.org.