WELCOME TO PETALUMAPIONEERS.ORG

This website serves primarily as an archive of the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum’s (PHL&M) “Petaluma Pioneer Portrait Collection”. This collection is one of the PHL&M’s most comprehensive; consequently, this website has been created as a separated subset of the PHL&M’s main digital archive.

The “Petaluma Pioneer Portrait Collection” contains cased daguerreotype and ambrotype, carte de visite and cabinet card portraits depicting the individuals who settled or were born in Petaluma, California, during the second half of the nineteenth century. Many Petaluma pioneers were initially drawn to California by the 1848 Gold Rush but eventually sailed out of San Francisco Bay up the Petaluma River to seek a permanent home. Finding an idyllic location replete with abundant wildlife, rich soil, and a temperate climate, these adventurous souls quickly established and developed Petaluma into a booming frontier river town.

Soon after the arrival of the first pioneers, Petaluma became a favorite location for entrepreneurial photographers. During the second half of the nineteenth century, Petaluma was home to over 20 portrait photography studios. Petaluma’s pioneers took full advantage of the services offered, preserving for us the opportunity to observe their faces and demeanor in rich, intimate detail and to connect the stories of their accomplishments and failures to the history of Petaluma.

This website’s information is divided into several sections, all accessible by clicking on the links in the gray navigation box above or on the links written in bold blue text in the explanatory paragraphs below.

By clicking on either the PORTRAIT ARCHIVE BY PHOTOGRAPHER or the PORTRAIT ARCHIVE BY SITTER link in the navigation bar above, you can easily view the 500 + portraits in the PHL&M collection. This collection includes originals owned by the PHL&M and high-resolution digital scans donated to the PHL&M of which the donor owns the originals. If you possess any portraits of Petaluma pioneers and would like to donate your originals or scans of your originals, please refer to the CREDITS & CONTACTS section.

When the “Petaluma pioneers” began to arrive in the 1850s, they encountered a land previously settled by the Coast Miwok Native American Tribe (see sidebar) and colonized by the Hispanic, Spanish-speaking Californios. Furthermore, from the earliest days of its history, the Petaluma community included a significant number of Black and Chinese members. Lamentably, there are very few portraits in this archive representing individuals from these ethnic groups. The PORTRAITLESS PETALUMA PIONEERS section is a repository of biographies and bibliographies corresponding to these individuals. This section has been created to provide a fuller and more accurate representation of Petaluma’s early population. The participation of the members of these underrepresented groups was vital to the community’s early development. Acknowledgment and documentation of their contributions will expand the veracity and richness of Petaluma’s history. Additionally, there were several early prominent European Petaluma pioneers for whom no portrait has been found.  These individuals are also listed in this section of the website.

The OTHER PORTRAIT COLLECTIONS section lists URLs to other institutions’ collections containing portraits of Petaluma’s pioneers.

The EXHIBITS section provides access to information on three Petaluma Historical Library & Museum exhibits that pertain to Petaluma’s pioneers: Portraits of Petaluma Pioneers, Personal Images & Public Stories of a California Rivertown; The Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, A Story of Civic Progress & Pride; and Petaluma’s Participation in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

The FOR FURTHER RESEARCH section contains an extensive bibliography on each of the following areas: The History of Early Portrait Photography; The History of Early California Photographers; The History of Sonoma County; The History of Petaluma; Evaluation and Dating of Early Portrait Photography; Conservation, Restoration, and Preservation of Vintage Photographs; and Sonoma County Genealogical Research.

Read the information provided in the TERMS OF USE section to ensure your utilization of any image on this website is legal, or to purchase high-resolution copies of portraits in this archive.

The last section, CREDITS & CONTACTS, lists the individuals responsible for creating this website and provides email addresses where you can send questions and share pertinent information.

pjgf, 2023