Relics: Six treasures from Healdsburg Museum

By HOWARD SENZELL / Towns Correspondent

An art exhibit for people who love history, or a history exhibit for people who love art?

Healdsburg Museum’s latest exhibit, “Healdsburg’s Artistic Heritage,” is both, and it gives museum curator Holly Hoods the chance to show off some of the museum’s oldest treasures.

Items on display are a tribute to the creativity of northern Sonoma County residents from 1850 to the present, including pieces of fine art, folk art and creative hobbies that are at least 100 years old.

Many bear the names of Healdsburg’s founders, including Capt. Henry Delano Fitch’s writing desk and a silk dress worn by Antoinette Matheson.

If you know Healdsburg, you know those names. The Fitch family has a mountain named after them, and Matheson Street is a thoroughfare through town.

Put together by Hoods and Ann Howard, coordinator of the museum’s volunteer association, the exhibit runs through April 15 at the museum, 221 Matheson St. Admission is free; hours are Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“What I find unique about this exhibit is that most of the items on display were created by people who did not necessarily consider themselves artists,” Hooks said.

Here are six treasures to look for:

Bailhache quilts

Josephine Fitch Bailhache, daughter of Henry Fitch and Josefa Carrillo, sewed the silk quilts between 1890-1900. The one on the left is in the tumbling blocks tradition, the one on the right is an attic windows design. The quilts were donated to the museum by the Bailhache family in the 1970s.

Antoinette Matheson’s silk dress

Matheson, known as one of the best-dressed ladies north of San Francisco, first wore this handmade lace and silk dress in 1855. At the time, seamstresses demonstrated exceptional needle skills by making handmade lace. Matheson was widowed seven years after wearing this dress. Her husband, Col. Roderick Matheson, died in the Civil War. Nina Luce, a local descendent of Mrs. Matheson, donated the dress.

 

 

 

Portrait of Capt. Henry Delano Fitch

This oil painting, completed around 1840, might be the only portrait of the man who once owned the land that is now Healdsburg, part of the 48,800-acre parcel he called Rancho Sotoyome. The painting was done by William Mulligan, the son-in-law of Fitch’s ranch manager, Cyrus Alexander, after whom the Alexander Valley is named. The portrait is on loan from the J.T. Bailhache family.

 

 

Buselmeier rifle

Anton Buselmeier made this half-stock percussion rifle in 1870 his shop, which was located on what is now called Healdsburg Ave., near where Piper St. intersects. Buselmeier was in business there 1867-77. He was in demand because of the intricate wood and metal craftsmanship necessary to create the balance and accuracy required of a precision firearm. He also repaired and cleaned firearms at his shop. The late Walter Snider donated the rifle in the 1980s.

 

Hooked rug

Well-known artist Grace Hudson traveled down from Ukiah to help Gene Warfield make this rug around 1924. Hudson was famous for her portraits of Native American Pomo children and their families. The design of this rug is reminiscent of Monet’s “Water Lilies.” It was constructed by pulling scraps of wool fabric through coarse burlap weave to form loops. The museum bought the rug at the Gene Warfield estate auction in 1989.

 

 

Pomo baskets

The Pomo were actually seven separate groups, each living in a defined area that extended across the Coast Range mountains to the ocean on the west and Clear Lake on the east. They were well-known basketmakers, flourishing in what became Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties. The exhibit includes 15 examples of Southern Pomo craftsmanship, some decorated with brightly-colored feathers, beads and shells. Others represent the rougher coiling and twining technique used for utilitarian purposes such as fishing and cooking. Red-hot stones were dropped into coiled baskets holding water and acorn meal, gradually cooking the mixture into a porridge. A majority of the baskets were donated by Santa Rosa resident Ira Rosenberg. His mother was Gretchen Hall Rosenberg. The family owned Hall Ranch and employed Pomos. Mrs. Rosenberg purchased the baskets from them. Other baskets in the exhibit were donated by Healdsburg resident Amy Neel and the late Mrs. Wendell Packwood.

 

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