The Douglas County Historical Society has had so many events and lectures going on this year, we haven't taken much time to look at what is inside the Carson Valley Museum in Gardnerville. Even though we still have a lot of events to talk about, I thought we might take a moment to look at the Main Street Bookstore.
In the past couple of years, the bookstore has been completely redone with new bookcases, new display cases and new art on the walls. There is even a new roll-top desk which was generously donated for our use. To go along with the theme of Highway 395 as Main Street, the store was renamed Main Street Bookstore.
Currently the art on the walls is original photography and paintings featuring wild mustangs. This ties right in with the mustang exhibit in the main gallery, however, the art is on loan and could change at any time.
On the main counter, bookstore manager Bernadine Whitmore has displayed our supply of books on horses. This book display will change as the art changes or to feature the current lecture series speaker. Bernadine is an expert in bookstores, having come to us from the museum in Laws, Calif.
Terri Geissinger will be the speaker in the next lecture of the Douglas County Historical Society's series, Thursday, Nov. 8. Terri is a historian who will tell us the story of Bodie, a ghost town near Bridgeport, Calif., which is being held in a state of arrested decay. It is a wonderful place to tour and catch a glimpse of a gold mining town in the 1880s.
The bookstore will be open after Terri's lecture for all to check out the books on Bodie as well as other gold rush and mining towns in Northern Nevada and California. There are books about Virginia City, the Comstock, Goldfield, Aurora and others. And there are books about those who inhabited these towns in their heyday, books about the leading citizens as well as about the ladies of the evening who entertained some of those gentlemen.
One particular favorite is about Julia Bulette, a famous red light lady during the early 1860s in Virginia City. She was so famous that the TV show "Bonanza" even had an episode about her in a romance with Little Joe. Because this episode first aired in 1959, Julia was given the job of saloon owner rather than her actual profession.
When you drop off your photo contest entry, take a moment to stop by the bookstore. And do drop by soon with your October entry as the contest ends Wednesday, Oct. 31. The good news is the next contest starts Nov. 1. We'll be looking for whatever November in Douglas County means to you. Plan on entering both if you can.
Next Saturday, Nov. 3, is Student Day where students get in free when accompanied by an adult. This time we are featuring Miss Clara Ritter from Genoa who will recount a story about DCHS historian, Billie Jean Rightmire. When she was a young girl, Billie Jean and Hans Meyer-Kassel, a world famous artist who lived in Genoa, were neighbors and friends. From that friendship comes quite a fish story and we have the Meyer-Kassel painting to prove it. Performance times are 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. with guided museum tours as 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.
If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, please call the Douglas County Historical Society at the Carson Valley Museum in Gardnerville at 782-2555. Visit our Web site at www.historicnevada.org. And if you have the time, the museum is always looking for interested volunteers.
-- Contact Ellen Caywood at in2my2cats@yahoo.com
or at 790-1565.
