Museum Escape Room

Welcome!
Thank you for joining us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of our collection! We are in the storage area, under the historic 1910 Santa Rosa Post Office building and- oh no! The door has closed and locked behind us! There's a keyhole, but I don't have the key.

There's a box on the wall with a combination lock. There might be something inside that can help us escape! Let's look around for some possible clues.

I think you found something! This black leather fire helmet has a note in it, which reads,

"This fire helmet of John S. Taylor, Santa Rosa Hose G No. 1 in the year of 1874. Presented by his son John Taylor, Jr., 124 Stanford Street, Santa Rosa, January 11, 1940."
Let's try some of these numbers with the combination lock

1874 124 1940
Hmm, that didn't work. Let's try another one.
It worked! There are a couple of items inside:

1) A brass match container with a lid, which belonged to Song Wong Bourbeau, one of the last residents of Santa Rosa's Chinatown.

2) A purse made out of 49ers' bootlaces by a Miwok woman from 1895.
Which one should we open?

Match Container Purse
Oh no, it's empty.
There's a folded note inside! The note says

"Thomas Hill, Indian Camp on the Merced River, Yosemite"

That's a painting in our collection. Let's go check it out.
Beautiful painting, but now what?

Carefully look behind the painting Take a break and just enjoy this painting
Ok, I'm rested, let's keep looking.
There's a locked safe behind the painting! We need a 4-digit combination.

There's a date in the bottom right corner of the painting! 1899. Let's try that.
Enter number
It opened! There's a ceramic plaque inside.
"Daughter and Cat" by Marguerite Wildenhain, the renowned potter from Pond Farm in Guerneville.
Hmm, what to do with this?

Look for cat-related objects Head to the bookshelves
That might take too long, let's try another plan.
Ok, here's "Mountains and Molehills, or the Recollections of a Burnt Journal" by Frank Marryat, a sportsman-tourist's chronicle of California in the early 1850s. It talks about the Carrillo Adobe, Russian River, and other Sonoma County areas.
Flip through the book Put the book back
Something tells me we should keep looking at that book.
Wait, the pages are glued together to make a book safe!
There's a key!

Try to unlock the door
It doesn't fit. Let's look around for something else this might fit.
Here are a couple of objects with locks:

1) A Russian chest, covered with heavy paper and decorated nailheads. It was originally brought from Russia ca. 1800, was purchased in Alaska in the late 1940s.

2) A hatbox made of brown leather. Printed on top is "R.E.B.-- U.S.N."
Which one should try?

Russian chest Hatbox
It doesn't fit. Let's try the other one.
It opened! There are two epaulets (or shoulder pieces), a black belt, a black hat, and miscellaneous accessories with gold tassels.
What should we do now?

Try on the hat, I bet it looks great! Carefully take the objects out of the box and see if there are any other clues inside
Alright, enough of that, let's get back to our mission.
Look what was under the hat!
Could this be our way out?

Try the key
CONGRATULATIONS!

You've helped us escape!

Well, it wasn't the collections tour we had originally planned, but we hope you enjoyed learning about the objects and artwork in our permanent collection. Want to keep browsing? Click here to continue searching our collection online.
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Welcome!