By Carol Acquaviva

Despite the obstacles, there have been some advancements made during wartime by marginalized groups within the United States military. Throughout World War II, the U.S. rallied available resources, and as in conflicts past, the Army realized the potential of women to contribute to the effort.

The California Room recently acquired a photograph depicting a group that includes Japanese American servicewomen at Hamilton Field in 1946, prior to their overseas deployment.

January 23, 1946: Hamilton Field, Calif. — Hopping off from Hamilton Field Today for Tokyo are these WACs who will serve as translators and office help at…

by Robert L. Harrison

Homelessness has been and continues to be a serious problem in California and Marin County. Estimates for 2019 were set at more than 150,000 statewide with at least 1,000 people without a home in Marin. The winter 2020/2021 totals are expected to be even greater, perhaps far greater, than the 2019 estimates. Many agencies are working on solutions but the homeless problem endures.

In 1871, 150 years ago, the Congressman representing Marin County proposed a public policy to house the poor. John Maxwell Coghlan, a Republican representing California’s 3rd Congressional district, proposed two constitutional amendments to…

By Carol Acquaviva

One of Phil Arnot’s many gifts was his ability to articulate his own philosophies about life, specifically, his connection to the natural world. Phil said that “human beings everywhere have an innate affinity, even a need, to be with wilderness — not just once or twice but on an ongoing basis.”

On April 6, 2021, our community lost Phil. During his 96 years, he covered a lot of ground, both literally and figuratively. A resident of Lagunitas, Phil was a veteran of the Army Air Corps. He was a teacher, an activist, a trail leader, an expert…

By Robert L. Harrison

Today it is unusual for a local Marin County newspaper to advocate for significant growth. The current public sentiment seems solidly behind slow or no growth policies. This was not the case some 130 years ago.

In the mid to late 19th century, the press enthusiastically promoted the County’s growth. The front page of the Marin Journal’s April 7, 1887 edition offers a prominent example of the desire for continued development. The Journal dedicated five of its seven front page columns -occupying about three-quarters of the page- to the promotion of the newspaper’s hometown, San Rafael.

By Dewey Livingston

While Ross Landing grew into an important town in Marin with significant commerce and large estates in the 1870s and beyond—it would later become Kentfield — there remained many aspects of the rural life. William Barry had a dairy ranch and milk route in the valley, selling fresh milk for eight cents a quart in 1874. Even the younger James Ross had a large dairy ranch at Greenbrae, where, for a short time he lived the life of a gentleman farmer, until leasing it to a Swiss dairyman.

A fascinating tale comes with the arrival of Giovanni…

By Carol Acquaviva

Today, many of us are lining up (or attempting to line up) to receive a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, a critical step to suppress a deadly communicable virus that has so far taken 2.7 million lives worldwide.

In the 1950s, a dreaded common enemy was poliomyelitis, or polio, a disease that, at its worst, can cause infection of the spinal cord and brain, rapid paralysis, and death. Like COVID-19, there is no cure for polio, although its eradication is largely attributed to prevention by vaccine.

Although it has existed for thousands of years, polio began to be…

By Robert L. Harrison

Women gained the right to vote in California on October 11, 1911, some nine years before the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. That day the voters passed the women’s suffrage amendment to the California Constitution by a narrow 1.4% margin. The Marin County electorate and much of the Bay Area rejected the measure by significant margins.

The campaign for women’s suffrage greatly advanced in the last half of the 19th century. In 1848 a gathering of abolitionists in Seneca Falls, New York, including reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia…

By Robert L. Harrison

Marge Macris is perhaps the woman most responsible for the way Marin County looks today. In the early 1970s she was a principal author of the Marin Countywide Plan and later, as the County Planning Director, led its implementation. For nearly 50 years, the county and all of its cities have relied on the plan, which restricts new urban development to the Highway 101 Corridor and reserves the county’s central and western areas for small villages, agriculture and recreation. Her work was pioneering not only for its substance, but also because she was among the few…