The Sonoma County Archives: An endangered treasure
The campaign to find a new home for historical records that date back 150 years.
By Lynn Downey | Special to The Sun
One of our most valuable treasures is just a 20-minute drive down Hwy. 12 from the Plaza: the Sonoma County Archives. Located at the Los Guilicos facility near Kenwood, this precious resource came close to being burned to the ground in the Nuns Fire of 2017 and the Glass Fire of 2020. The collection of irreplaceable documents, books, photographs, maps, and architectural records is vulnerable with every fire season.
A group called Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives formed in December of 2020 to address this problem and work with the county and the Library to find a new home for these the historical records, which date back 150 years.
In 2019 an Archives Space Plan recommended that the most fragile items in the Archives be moved to the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library at 725 Third Street, and the remainder to the Central Santa Rosa Library basement. Not only would this protect our Archives, but it would make the records more accessible to the public and to those who manage them. At this writing, the Library is conducting an inventory of the records with the goal of moving them someday, but with fires starting earlier each year, action is need now.
The Library isn’t keen on moving the materials to the basement in downtown Santa Rosa. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best one we have. And if this isn’t an option, what is the alternative? The Archives is a Library collection, and any costs associated with its relocation, improved care and accessibility can be paid for with Measure Y funds. According to the Measure Y Oversight Committee 2019/2020 Report, the Library has set aside $11 million for future capital projects.
Legislators frequently consult historical records at the National Archives in D.C. The Sonoma County Archives are no less important to the people of our county, who need them to settle lawsuits, find ancestors, and just tell the stories which are locked within its cement walls. The Archives has architectural records for many Sonoma buildings: the Veterans’ Building, Duggan’s Mission Chapel, and the old A&D Market on Broadway, once owned by members of my family. These records serve all of us. They belong to all of us.
If you’d like to help, or if you want more information, please visit the Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives website, http://www.socoarchives.org. You can also send an email to [email protected].
Lynn Downey, a Sonoma based author and historian, is the co-chair Advocates for the Sonoma County Archives.
Photos by Katherine J. Rinehart
