Museum in Williams depicts valley life in early 1900s

The Sacramento Valley Museum preserves thousands of pieces of regional history that depict life in the valley from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, according to Kathy Manor, the museum's curator.

Manor guides a tour group on a Friday afternoon through the halls of the historic, nearly century-old building in downtown Williams. It's surprisingly quiet at the museum for this time of day, she says.

Manor first became involved with the museum 10 years ago as a volunteer and was named curator in 2002.

She and her husband, Dave, are Williams natives whose families have homestead roots in the area.

"This building was originally the city's high school when it was built in 1911," Manor explains as she walks around the museum's Alumni Room, a large exhibit featuring hundreds of different pieces of Williams High School memorabilia.

Visitors can gently examine scores of delicate black and white yearbooks from the earliest days of Williams High to 1956, when the school moved. One wall is covered with quiet, gray photographs of dozens of graduating classes.

"This is a fairly popular exhibit," Manor says as she directs attention to a glass display case containing the old black and gold cheerleader and band uniforms. The case also holds old trumpets, clarinets and drums of the band.

Across the room from the senior class photographs, five or six student desks are arranged in front of a wooden teacher's desk and an old European map. A glass case next to the map displays a championship banner from 1926 for men's tennis and other athletic accolades from that era.

Dixie LaGrande, a museum volunteer, said alumni include Kenneth Zumwalt, who was the editor of the military publication Stars & Stripes during World War II.

Turk Murphy, a jazz band leader credited by The New York Times as "a founding father of the traditional jazz revival that exploded in the San Francisco area in the 1940s," also graduated from Williams High, LaGrande said.

"We are currently working through our archives," Manor says. "It's still under construction, but when we're ready, the public will be able to view the archives by appointment."

The archives room houses an extensive collection of historic Colusa County newspapers. Bound and grouped according to year, visitors will be able to examine the fragile pages of the Maxwell Tribune, the Arbuckle American, the Williams Farmer and other newspapers from across the state.

Manor appeared enthusiastic about the new museum season and she said she hopes the community will support some of the museum's upcoming events such as the June ice cream social and the rummage sale in October.

Last week, the museum hosted an antique show, and Manor says she is hoping to participate in the history fair at the Yuba Sutter Mall again this summer.

The museum is hosting the quilt show, "Stitches from Our Past," a display featuring more than two dozen historical quilts.

The show, which opened late last month and runs through the end of May, features the 100th anniversary of the First Grimes Ladies Aid signature quilt from 1908.

The quilt features the embroidered signatures of leaders and dignitaries from around the world, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Each paid the ladies 10 cents to have their names stitched into a piece of Colusa County history.

Marilyn Ornbaun, a museum volunteer, said each quilt is historically significant and "has a story that is rich and important here."

The Sacramento Valley Museum will close its seasonal doors again in mid-November.

Contact reporter Robert Parsons at 458-2121 or rparsons@tcnpress.com

Sacramento Valley Museum info

• Hours of operation: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, March through November

• Address: 1491 E St. Williams

• Admission: $3 adults; $2 children (ages 4-17)

• Phone: 473-2978

• Web site: www.sacvalleymuseum.com