Under the Sun: Stacey Stern — Depot Park Museum manager

Was there really a train depot here?

Yes there was. And this existing building stands where the original one burned down in the 1970s. The City of Sonoma, the community and the Sonoma Valley Historical Society all collaborated and built this building in 1979. We just have made arrangements to lease the Marcy House from the City of Sonoma, and will use that location as our archival research facility.

And what about the exhibit materials?

They’ve been accumulated over time. We have certain permanent exhibits, like original curtain from the long-gone Union Hotel, a couple of Victorian-era “rooms”, the famous Manifest Destiny painting of the raising of the Bear Flag, and of course the “Train Room.” We also have changing exhibits, and this year we plan to have four.

So who do you see as visitors?

Well, we have schools of course. Though it’s usually closed to the public, we open the train caboose for the students and let them go inside. We get tourists and many residents who have never visited here before. We offer lectures on various topics; that draws the public. And we also offer lectures at the Community Center.

Is there a role for local museums anymore?

Absolutely! In fact, most museum jobs are available in local museums. Local museums are repositories of history but also an educational resource and community gathering place. Our museum is very active; in fact, we need additional docents and volunteers and would love to have some younger ones join us. People get older and retire. We’ve been recruiting through articles in the media and at schools. We have a huge archiving project – digitizing files – with over 70,000 photographs that we want to put on our website. We have many objects to photograph as well, and we’re building a database for the public to access.

When is the museum open?

Currently we’re open to the public Friday-Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. If someone calls an arrangement can be made for other days and times. Our financial support comes from members, grants and other donors. In fact, we have a challenge grant happening right now for $135,000 over three years. We need to raise $45,000 each year to meet the challenge.

And how about you. What’s your story?

Growing up I traveled a lot; my father was in the foreign service. I’ve been all over the world, Thailand, Africa, Turkey, many places. I moved to Sonoma County twelve years ago from Fairfax. I have a bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Cultural Studies from Dominican University and I’m currently enrolled at JFK University in a dual Masters Degree program in Museum Studies and an MBA; just one more year to go. I live near Kenwood and hope to move to Sonoma. My daughter is currently in high school.

Have any specific plans as manager?

I want to see us establish a curatorial fund so that we can make our archives more accessible to the public. Attaining financial security for the museum is very important to me. I’d like us to expand our interpretative materials. I’m planning to stick around. This is my dream job!

Interview by Larry Barnett