2024 Exhibition-Schedule
2024-01-01 00:00 - 2025-01-01 00:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 20 4th St, Petaluma, CA, United States
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE ARTS
February 9 -March 31
Presented in partnership with Petaluma Blacks for Community Development, the exhibition will celebrate Black History Month through the lens of African Americans in the arts.
CORNERSTONE: BUILDING COMMUNITY IN PETALUMA
April 25-June 16
In commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the setting of the building’s cornerstone, this exhibition will include photographs, documents, and ephemera related to the founding and construction of Petaluma’s Carnegie Library. The exhibit will emphasize how community enthusiasm and support was instrumental in bringing the library to Petaluma in 1904, and later was key to the building’s evolution into the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum.
HER SIDE OF THE STORY: TALES OF CALIFORNIA PIONEER WOMEN

July 5-August 25
Illuminating the hardships, joys, and lives of female pioneers, Her Side of the Story: Tales of California Pioneer Women highlights first-person stories from the women who traveled by land or sea to settle in California prior to statehood. In 1900, The Association of Pioneer Women of California formed and collected the reminiscences of women who arrived in California before 1854 in a single ledger. This incredible document, filled with over 800 handwritten stories of California pioneer women, is the basis for this exhibition. Organized by The Society of California Pioneers, the exhibition will feature first-person quote panels, maps, photographs, and other materials. The Museum will concurrently display artifacts from Petaluma’s early women residents, including journals and other personal objects.
Her Side of the Story: Tales of California Pioneer Women was developed by The Society of California Pioneers and travels through Exhibit Envoy.
TELLING STORIES OF MEXICAN CALIFORNIA: REAL LIFE & MYTH MAKING

September 12-November 3
Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making broadly outlines California’s history leading up to statehood as a backdrop to the factual and fictional stories that emerged after the US takeover. It considers nineteenth-century Mexican American individuals and families who told their stories and looks at some of the early narratives that helped create an enduring California mythos, as well as the stories that were ignored in favor of this new, often exaggerated or fictionalized lore. The exhibition is developed by the California Historical Society, drawing extensively from the their collections and consisting of 10 to 11 free-standing pop-up banners. The Petaluma Historical Library & Museum was one of three institutions selected through a competitive process as a sponsored host, generously funded by the Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation. The Museum will concurrently display artifacts from our own collection related to early Mexican-American history in our region.
Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making was developed and organized by the California Historical Society and tours through Exhibit Envoy. Institutional support provided by San Francisco Grants for the Arts and Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. The Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation supported the first 3 bookings of this exhibition.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
October 3-November 3
The Museum will once again partner with El Dia De Los Muertos Petaluma to host an exhibition of ofrendas and artworks in celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, the annual holiday in honor of the deceased that is traditionally observed in parts of Mexico and in other Latin America communities.
VINTAGE TOYS
November 14-January 5
To celebrate the holiday season, the Museum will display a selection of vintage and antique toys from our collections.
