This Month's Highlight of California Collections
Courtesy of
Tomales Regional History Center
Tomales Regional History Center
The Tomales Regional History Center, in the West Marin town of Tomales, collects material from the Shoreline region, from Point Reyes all the way up to Bodega Bay, and inland to Sonoma County towns like Petaluma.
The History Center has an extensive and remarkable collection of photographs, documents, artifacts, manuscripts, maps, and textiles. So many stories live in these collections, and the photographs show us just how popular the region was as a tourist destination in the early twentieth century.
People from around California flocked to rustic camps, lodges, or campgrounds to play, hunt, fish, and picnic, thanks to the narrow-gauge railroad. The Redwood Domain, as some guidebooks called it, was a magnet for city people who were weary for an outdoor respite.
Many of these visitors took pictures of their vacations, and some were also taken by Tomales resident Ella Jorgensen. She was a brilliant photographer who captured all aspects of local life around town and who turned many of her shots into postcards. Her work is preserved in the History Center’s archives.
Pictured here are the hotel and store at Dillon’s Beach around 1920.
And this photo features women cavorting in the waves off Dillon’s Beach around the same time.
Jorgensen took this photo of a girl enjoying a barbeque in 1911, made it into a postcard, and then mailed it to someone named Gertie.
The railroad stop at Camp Pistolesi is also a Jorgensen photo postcard. Opened in 1902 south of Tomales, the camp featured a hotel, cottages, and tents, along with a dancing pavilion, shuffleboard court, and coal and wood for fires.
To learn more about the Tomales Regional History Center, visit our website at www.tomaleshistory.com. The Center has a museum, lecture series, and archives which are open to researchers by appointment. See what the Shoreline region has to offer!
Thank you to this month's contributor!
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