Who Tells Our Story: Acknowledging Multiple Perspectives

Who tells our story and how is important. In today’s quest for social justice having multiple perspectives of the same event is essential to battling injustice. The mere acknowledgement that there are different versions of history is key to changing bigoted and bias behaviors. Thus it is important to amass multiple perspectives and acknowledge their role in history, encouraging men, women, and youth to examine and present varying histories.

Wild in the Valley, When Elvis left Napa

by Kilian Fitzgerald A happy belated birthday to Elvis Presley, the King of rock and roll, born January 8th, 1935. Forgetting to honor the King’s birthday is understandable given the events of these past few months. Throughout his career, the Tennessee native, actor, and fried peanut butter and banana sandwich enthusiast, crossed racial barriers while […]

Posted in Fun

Announcing the 2021 Photography Competition

Announcing an inaugural photography competition held by the Napa County Historical Society, set to be on public display in Spring 2021 in downtown Napa at the Goodman Library exhibit hall. Registration opens Monday, February 22 — take a look at our competition webpage for more information on the guidelines, judging rubric, and building categories. You […]

On This Day 1978, Opening of the French Laundry

In 1979, Carolee Luper reported on the success of the local Yountville restaurant the French Laundry in the Napa Valley Magazine. This is an excerpt describing the original owners, the Schmitt family. Print copies of the entire article are available in the NCHS archives. Napa Valley residents have watched the Schmitt family children grow up. The […]

Korematsu, a Symbol of Civil Rights in Northern California

by Kilian Fitzgerald On this day in 1983, Fred Korematsu’s conviction for treason was overturned, rectifying the infamous ruling of Korematsu v United States of 1944. Korematsu v The United States upheld Korematsu’s criminal arrest for defying Executive Order 9066. Under Order 9066, Japanese Americans, both immigrants, and naturalized citizens were interned under suspicion of treason. […]

Coming Soon | Fall 2020 Exhibit

“Who Tells Our Story” By guest curator Dr. Monica Hunter October 2, 2020-January 25, 2021 Napa county is a rich tapestry of stories. It takes many voices and various perspectives to capture all the stories about different places, people, livelihoods, leisure activities, and politics. NCHS is partnering with Arcadia Publishing and Valley organizations to highlight […]

Introducing and Nominating Sheli Smith as Board Vice President

A Napa native, Sheli graduated from Justin-Siena High School and went on to study Anthropology at the University of Arizona, eventually specializing in Maritime Archaeology at Texas A&M University and receiving a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. For almost three decades Sheli worked in museums in maritime research and curation. From Maine to Australia, […]