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  • Welcome!

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  • 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.

     

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  • 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."

  • 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. 

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  • 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.

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  • Ok, I'm rested, let's keep looking.

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  • 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.

  • It opened! There's a ceramic plaque inside.

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  • "Daughter and Cat" by Marguerite Wildenhain, the renowned potter from Pond Farm in Guerneville. 

  • That might take too long, let's try another plan.

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  • 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.

  • Something tells me we should keep looking at that book.

  • Wait, the pages are glued together to make a book safe!

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  • It doesn't fit. Let's look around for something else this might fit.

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  • 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."

  • It doesn't fit. Let's try the other one.

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  • It opened! There are two epaulets (or shoulder pieces), a black belt, a black hat, and miscellaneous accessories with gold tassels. 

  • Alright, enough of that, let's get back to our mission.

  • Look what was under the hat! 

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  • 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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