Remarkable Women of Mendocino

maidensAn exhibit of the remarkable women who shaped helped shape the Mendocino Coast

  • Starting April 24 and continuing through July 16, 2015
  • The museum is open Friday through Monday, 11AM – 3PM

The women of Mendocino were true pioneers. They were a force to be reckoned with, even before getting the right to vote. This exhibit features some of the remarkable women who shaped helped shape the Mendocino Coast.

Writing women back into history is no easy matter. The evidence of how they lived, what they thought and felt, what they cared about, is minimal—their accomplishments often discounted or ignored. And yet, Mendocino boasts some strong and remarkable women in its past. The Naughty Aughts, for example, the graduating class of 1901 sent a number of young women out into the world who broke the glass ceilings of their day. These women emerged from the same background, born and raised on the Mendocino Coast. Mendocino women became landowners and business professionals. Some were world travelers; others became schoolteachers, hotel proprietors, historians, newspaper editors, artists, and even environmental activists. Some of these women just plain survived, lifting themselves and their children from poverty. Some withstood the harsh realities of discrimination. All of these women helped shape the Mendocino Coast of today. For anyone who loves Mendocino, who lives here or claims some piece of it for themselves, here then are our mothers, our roots, the soil in which we plant our feet and live and thrive and grow.

The Kelley House invites you to take some time to consider these remarkable women, and recognize their achievements by visiting the museum between April 24 and June 22. We believe it’s high time they were honored and remembered, and yes, written back into history.

Join us on May 17 for our Sunday Afternoon speaker series. Local historian Molly Dwyer will present insight on the rich history of women on the Mendocino Coast.