The Collections

• Current Projects
• Boyd Gate House
• Library and Archives
• Artifact Collection
• Photography Collection
• Recent Gifts to the Collection
• Brady Collection

Current Projects
The Museum’s collection continues to grow, thanks to the support and donations of community members and local historical organizations.  Our new collections facility includes enhanced climate-controlled storage as well as more space to house our Artifact, Photography, Library and Archive Collections.  The Museum staff actively works with the community to expand its collections and to represent all aspects of Marin County’s history and diverse population.

Current Collections Department projects include:

• Photographing and digitizing the Artifact Collection
• Scanning the Photography Collection
• Cataloging new acquisitions
• Improving storage conditions
• Assessing objects’ conservation needs

Implementing these projects will make our holdings more accessible to researchers and the staff.  Maintaining and updating our collections and records with cutting-edge technological improvements will help the museum exceed current professional conservation standards.

The Boyd Gate House
The Museum is currently located in the Boyd Gate House in Boyd Park, San Rafael, California.  This historic landmark was built in 1879 and was the former guesthouse of John and Louise Boyd.  Their family home was Maple Lawn, the much larger estate to the west of the Museum.  The Gate House was given to the city of San Rafael in 1905 by the Boyd family in memory of their two young sons, Seth and John, who died as children.  The Boyd Gate House has served as the Museum’s home since 1959 and eventually will be restored as a period home.  
Click here for more on the history of the Boyd Gate House.

Library and Archives
The Museum’s library and archives contain rare books, published and unpublished manuscripts, ephemera, documents and maps related to (or descriptive of) the county’s land, cultural and historical experiences of the people of Marin County.

Additionally, the Library and Archives maintains county phone directories, magazines, County Assessor and mortgage records dating from 1851, bound newspapers dating from 1861, school records and maps, personal archives of Marin County residents, business accounts, and the Marin History Museum’s Oral History collection.  The Library also keeps a reference library of more than 300 books related to the county’s history.  The library and archives collections are open to researchers, scholars and community members.  Jocelyn Moss, the museum librarian, is available for assisted access to these materials.   Click here for more information about using the Museum’s library and archives.

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Artifact Collection

The Museum’s artifact collection represents the cultural and historical experiences of the people, communities and land use of Marin County, past and present.  The collection’s scope ranges through time and is representative of the many phases of Marin’s social, political and cultural development.  The range of the collection includes utilitarian items to fine arts.  Examples include maps, paintings, furniture, tools, household objects and clothing.  Although there is a strong emphasis on 19th and 20th century history, the museum holds items related to the age of the Miwoks, the Spanish Mission period and the Mexican Land Grants era.  The museum collection also has contemporary pieces related to modern-day Marin.  Objects in the Artifact Collection are maintained for their historical relevance, educational value, and represent the cornerstone of our exhibits.

Decorative and Fine Arts Collection
The Museum’s Decorative and Fine Arts Collection includes a rare assemblage of 18th century portraits of land grant recipients, their family members and early land owners.  Portraits include Ignacio Pacheco (1808 – 1864) of the Rancho de San Jose land grant (now the city of Ignacio), John Joseph Reed (1837 – 1899) of the Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio land grant (now the city of Corte Madera) and John Lucas (1820 – 1897) of the Rancho Santa Margarita land grant (now Lucas Valley).  The Decorative and Fine Arts Collection also includes early renderings of the original Spanish Mission San Rafael Arcángel, a rare Bard Brothers painting of the Steamship Saucelito, 1877, and a collection of Wedgwood and Victorian furniture.

Clothing and Textile Collection
The Museum’s Clothing and Textile Collection ranges from mid-1800s pioneer clothing to contemporary fashions.  This collection also includes a variety of handmade quilts, military uniforms and wedding dresses from 1870’s through the 1960’s.  Also in the collection are men’s and children’s clothing and women’s accessories from the 19th and 20th centuries, such as hats, jackets, bathing suits, baptismal dresses, shoes, handbags, fans and gloves.  They are made from a variety of materials, including wool, feathers, leather, etc.

Business, Industry and Transportation Collection
The Museum’s Business, Industry and Transportation Collection is an important part of the larger history collection and is representative of the growth of Marin County up to the present day.  Items related to early business in Marin include silverware and a tea service from the Hotel Rafael and a 1860s safe from the Short Ranch.  Industries highlighted within the collection include the U.S. military presence at the Marin Headlands, the Marinship shipyard, the McNear Brickyard, the Northwest Pacific Railroad & Ferry Company, the Mount Tamalpais “Gravity” Railroad, and numerous local businesses that were pivotal in the county’s development, and many of which still exist today.

Domestic and Household Collection
Home and family life in Marin continues to be as rich and diverse as the history of the county’s population, industry and land use.  The Domestic and Household Collection has a strong emphasis on turn of the century ranching, pioneering, and dairy farming; but it also represents Victorian urban living.  This collection ranges in scope from well-used washboards and spinning wheels to precious phonographs, silver serving pieces and china dolls. The Collection explores ever-changing household technology from butter churns to butter boxes; from spinning wheels to sewing machines; from gas lamps to electric chandeliers; and includes cast-iron clothing irons to more modern electric travel irons.

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Photography Collection
The Museum’s Photography Collection includes more than 70,000 prints, negatives, glass plate negatives, daguerreotypes, film and digital images of people, landscape, structures and events related to Marin County.

Within the Photography Collection are several individual collections; and the largest is the Brady Collection.  This significant collection includes approximately 55,000 9.5 inch by 9.5 inch negatives and prints showing aerial views of Marin County, the San Francisco Bay Area and California.  All of these images were captured by pilot Ed Brady while flying a small, single-engine aircraft.  Click here for more information about the Brady Collection.

The Photography Collection also includes five decades of select prints and negatives from local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal.  Additionally the collection includes 3,000 rolls of 35 millimeter film from the Marin Optimists Club, more than 350 prints of the Northwest Pacific Railroad, and thousands of individual prints from families and businesses in the community.

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Bicyclist at Mt. Tamalpais Tavern, c. 1900.