GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM VISIT

THE GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM WAS OPEN IN 1986. I VISITED IT IN LAST WEEKEND. IT IS AN IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE AND HAS OVER 30,000 OBJECTS OF HISTORIC AND PREHISTORIC VALUE. THEIR FOCUS IS ON THE HISTORY OF THE POMO INDIANS. JOHN HUDSON WAS A HOMEOPATHIC DOCTOR TURNED ETNOGRAPHER. BOTH HE AND GRACE BECAME WITH THE POMO AND HE BOUGHT A NUMBER OF BASKETS. SOME OF THESE ARE IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, THIS MUSEUM, AND THE SMITHSONIAN. HE AND GRACE PHOTOGRAPHED MANY OF THE INDIANS WHERE THEY LIVED IN THE LATE 1800'S.

THEY HAD AN ARCHITECT DESIGN THEIR CHARMING HOUSE IN 1911. IT WAS A CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW HOUSE OF REDWOOD AND HAD ABOUT 5 ROOMS. IT IS ON THE HISTORIC REGISTER. A DOCENT GAVE US A TOUR OF THE HOUSE. I HAD NOT BEEN THERE FOR YEARS. THEY HAD FRIENDS SUCH AS LUTHER BURBANK.

GRACE LIVED UNTIL 1937 AND WAS FROM A WELL EDUCATED PIONEER FAMILY. SHE HAD AN EARLY TALENT FOR PORTRAITURE AND WAS TRAINED IN ART AT A SAN FRANCISCO COLLEGE. MOST OF HER PAINTINGS WERE OF THE POMO AND SOME HAWAIIANS. SHE BECAME NATIONALLY FAMOUS AND
'THE PAINTER LADY
' BOOK DESCRIBES HER LIFE AND THE LIFE OF THE POMO SHE PAINTED.

JOHN WAS FROM NASHVILLE. HE PRACTICED HOMEOPATHIC MEDICE THERE FOR A FEW YEARS BEFORE MOVING TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IN 1889. HE BECAME INTERESTED IN THE POMO . HE SPENT THE REST OF HIS LIFE AS A COLLECTOR AND SCHOLAR. HE RESEARCHED THEIR LIFESTYLE AS WELL AND BECAME AN ETHNOGRAPHER.

THE MUSEUM HAS COLLECTED ENOUGH MONEY TO BUILD A NEW WING ON THE MUSEUM. THEIR IS A KWAIKIUTL TOTEM POLE AT THE ENTRANCE. THE SUN HOUSE WAS NAMED FROM A HOPI SUN SIGN, A SYMBOL OF ETERNAL LIFE. THE HUDSON'S USED IT AS THEIR FAMILY EMBLEM.

THEIR ARE NUMEROUS HISTORIC BASKETS THAT WERE MADE AS WELL AS DESCRIPTIONS OF HER PAINTINGS. I USED TO DO YOGA CLASSES HERE IN ONE WING WHEN WE LIVED HER. THEY ARE PLANNING A $400,000 WING.

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