text: My journal is a little different than paper and pen story telling - I’m making a quilt block a day and jotting down thoughts on the quilt block, along with what was going on while I made it. Some I made while livestreaming on my Facebook. Some turned out wonky which may have been due to quilter error to be honest. The book I’m working from is of quilt blocks turned into pot holders, but I figure it’s a good chance to use up some fabric that I might not use otherwise, learn some new blocks, and keep myself busy during shelter in place. The book is structured in a way where you make a potholder a week for a whole year, so since I started this 6 days ago, I now have 46 days worth of blocks left. If all these blocks get made, it’ll make a quilt (roughly) 80 inches by 60 inches. With borders and all, that thing will be HUGE - but toasty warm and sure to keep me cozy in the fall when we may very well have to go into quarantine again with a resurgence of the virus (which happened in 1918 and very well might happen again). I’ll have to find another book of potholders a week if that’s the case, and stock up on fabric!
  I realize now that the comfort I’ve taken in making these blocks and sharing them through social media and with my mom’s group of quilters (many of whom weathered the 2008 fires at our house when they were evacuated and needed a place to go) is just bringing me full circle. Quilting has helped me before, and it continues to help me now. Part of that is the experience of making things, part is the feeling of holding fabric, and part is the community that comes from the act of making something.
  So break out some paper and jot down your thoughts in this crazy time, make some art, do some baking (I’d like to see a recipe book somehow come out of this) and we will hear from you as we trek through it together and on the other side when we can all get out in the streets and dance together- and get burritos from Los Giles at the Friday Night Market. YUM.
  I’ve been working from home per the shelter in place order since… last week? Time really seems to be blurring as my house is really quiet besides when my cat decides to sing to me at 3 am for no reason.
  I miss being at the museum and working with my coworkers, walking around Old Town on my breaks, and talking with visitors about the exhibits. I also miss the events we host, inviting people into the museum to learn, talk, and form friendships.
  However, for the good of our community, we’ve all been asked to stay home and find other ways to occupy our time. Museum work is never done, so we’re all keeping busy behind the scenes. Brittany has been posting Baskets of the Day on our Instagram, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Dana is working on Artifacts of the Day, Registrar Alex is studying up on professional standards for storage collection, and I'm researching for upcoming exhibits.
  Part of what I’ve been doing, is reading up on local history. Luckily, there is definitely no shortage of books on our region’s history! Here’s what I’ve been reading:
  I admit I started reading this before all the closures, but the closure time gave me a good boost in finishing it. I first heard about it when talking with Jim at the Historical Society, who read me part of the first page – it told a story of Hammond’s funeral, where rumor says that while his casket was being carried into the funeral, he sat up outraged at the pallbearers being paid- that two of them should be fired and the others have their wages cut. Talk about a hook!
  The book can look daunting and sometimes reading parts of it was, but it really revved back up as the author began discussing Hammond and his being at odds with organized labor, how Humboldt County’s organized labor situation was a bit different from most other places, and the start contrasts between Hammond and other lumber owners (like William Carson, the Falk family, etc). Chapter 15 on how the industry changed was notable, as most books talking about logging in the redwoods start out with the story of the redwood tree. Gordon introduces this and the evolution of the industry way late in the book (which was fine by me as I wasn’t really reading the book for the purpose of understanding that aspect) but it worked really, really well and moved perfectly into the discussion of labor in the following chapter.
  I’m about 40 some pages into this and it’s already a darn incredible book. The author has done a really great job in explaining how ideas around slave and immigrant labor transferred from African Americans to the Chinese, how popular and government responses to Mexican and South American immigrants as well as local Native people set up the structure for legal and legally encouraged discrimination and violence, and gives examples with details of different events where Chinese communities were driven away from their livelihoods and residences in California and the West. I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of the book. It does get graphic at times, but that was the nature of California in the Gold Rush era.
  Here are a few other books worth checking out in quarantine (you may be able to get them from Eureka Books if they are still open for deliveries. The Historical Society also has many of these books in their book store so contact them about possibilities for shipping. Some of these may also be available digitally through the library on Libby, Overdrive, etc). I have read many of these, but some have been recommended to me, some I have seen and heard good things about, etc.
  Falk: Company Town of the American West – Julie Clark. Mainly images, but also lots of good information in the captions
  Rio Dell – (Wildwood) As I saw it in the early Twenties by Julio Rovai – out of print and hard to find but this one, along with the sequel are fascinating, rambling stories of life in Rio Dell and its neighboring Wildwood during the Prohibition era.
  The Fight to Save the Redwoods: A History of Environmental Reform, 1917-1978 by Susan R. Schrepfer. Very high level academic-y but it is probably the most thorough resource out there to understand how the Redwood National and State Parks came to be
  Who Saved the Redwoods: The Unsung Heroine of the 1920s Who Fought for Our Redwood Forests- women who kickstarted and fueled the early movements to save the redwood forests in California. Includes many local names as some of the hardest hitting women in the fight lived in Humboldt County.