Oral Histories

We offer individuals and families documentation of their family history, or a special event--from a birth to a celebration of life.

With a masters in cultural

resources management, such a

service naturally extends to

businesses, museums,

organizations, and communities wishing an historical narrative.

Reynaldo Robledo, Sr. first came from Michoacan, Mexico to the Napa-Sonoma area with his father to work in the orchards and vineyards in 1968 at the age of 16. With incredible fortitude and ambition, Reynaldo took advantage of every opportunity to learn the craft of viticulture and acquire business acumen. While supporting a family of nine children, he started his own vineyard management business. His company now manages 700 acres plus 200 of his own. Reynaldo Robledo, Sr. is the first Mexican migrant worker in the United States to open his own tasting room and winery.

Download PDF:Robledo Oral History.pdf

http://www.robledofamilywinery.com/

Molly Murphy MacGregor and Mary Ruthsdotter are two of five Sonoma County women who co-founded the National Women's History Project (NWHP). The organization began in 1980 as a grassroots effort and has mushroomed into an international movement. It started with the creation of a multi-media slide presentation on United States’ women’s history, and soon evolved into the establishment of a Women's History Week as a focal point to recognize and celebrate women's historical accomplishments. Now there is a National Women’s History Month. The NWHP was started by Molly Murphy MacGregor started the NWHP with the help of Mary Ruthsdotter, Paula Hammett, Bette Morgan, and Maria Cuevas. The NWHP is a national clearinghouse for general information and curriculum materials about women's history and for specific information about National Women's History Month celebration. NWHP Oral History Transcript.pdf and http://www.nwhp.org/ and http://www.nwhp.org/resourcecenter/oralhistory.php

O. Platt Williams is a distinguished civil and labor rights activist and co-founder of the Sonoma County chapter of the NAACP. He has been honored with the Jack Green Civil Liberties Award and, in cooperation with the Peace and Justice Center on Sebastopol Avenue, a library has been dedicated in his name. Here he recounts the early days of the grass roots effort to fight discrimination and the wonderful support that came from all sectors of Sonoma County, especially the Petaluma Jewish community and folks like Hugh Codding.

Download PDF: Williams Oral History.pdf

Documentary filmmakers Annette Arnold and Cathy Wild introduce us to Rose Gaffney and the Sonoma County folks who helped lead the opposition against PG&E’s proposed nuclear plant in Bodega Bay in the early 1960s. PG&E was interested in over 400 of Rose Gaffney’s 600-acre ranch on Bodega Head. By imminent domain, the power company condemned 64 acres of her land and forced her to sell. Her ferocious fight to preserve her land led to a unique expression of local environmental activism, which became part of the template of grassroots anti-nuclear movements in the United States from there on out. It would take until 1964 when the Alaskan earthquake happened for PG&E to say, well, I guess it’s really not a very good idea to have a nuclear power plant on top of an earthquake fault.

Download PDF: Gaffney & PG&E Oral Histofy.pdf

Archaeologist Annita Waghorn offers us a comprehensive view of Annadel State Park as a cultural landscape from Native American occupation to present use. Rich with natural and cultural resources, Annadel is full of reminders of human occupation. Obsidian lined trails, orchards, stonefences, quarry pits, and beautiful Lake Ilsanjo are evidence of the historical events that have shaped Sonoma County’s history. Annita tells us exactly what happened and what might have been had forces not come together to preserve Annadel as a State Park.

Download PDF: Annadel Oral History Transcript.pdf

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=480

Kenneth Kahn, author of Comrades and Chicken Ranchers--The Story of a California Jewish Community, tells of the aspirations of Eastern European Jews to own their own land that started a great movement of Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine and the United States. Part of this trend and perhaps one of the the best known examples was the settlement in Petaluma in the first couple of decades of the twentieth-century. This is a compelling story of the socially and politically lively Jewish chicken ranchers and egg farmers in Petaluma.

Download PDF: Petaluma Jews Oral History.pdf

Pete and Luda Toutolmin are a Russian couple with fond memories of life and times on the Russian River. Some memories are bittersweet, such as the story of illegal gravel mining on the river and dams destroying Steelhead fish habitat. Pete was ninety years old when he told this tale, with his wife Luda. Pete first came to the Russian River when he was nine years old in 1924. Luda came to the United States in 1936. They met in San Francisco and married, and soon built a summer home on the river in 1955, they retired there in 1976.

Download PDF: Russian River Oral History.pdf

Joan Moulin and Diane Trembley are sisters in the Imwalle family--their grandfather established Imwalle Gardens in 1886. This family farm still remains standing and active close to the center of Santa Rosa: a testament to the enduring importance of agriculture to Sonoma County. Joseph J. Imwalle worked with Luther Burbank on many projects; they were good friends. It was Imwalle who developed the national award winning Pink Lotus, and the Tuberous Rooted Begonias. This story is a fascinating account of the creativity of farming, as well as the threat to farmlands with the expansion of city boundaries and infrastructure.

Download PDF: Imwalle Farms Oral History.pdf

Photo: Great Food from Imwalle’s and Great Wine Go Hand in Hand in Sonoma County

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All of the Above Oral Histories were exhibited at Sonoma County Museum in 2005