2021 FIRST FRIDAY FORENOON PROGRAM
For the 2021 season, The First Friday Forenoon lectures are held via Zoom Webinars, with registration links to sign up.
The programs begin at 11:00 a.m. and last for about one hour.
March 5 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ Shipwrecks of Marin. Marin County is the graveyard of many ships. Local historian Brian K. Crawford has done extensive research fleshing out the details of famous wrecks and has identified more than a hundred wrecks not documented elsewhere. He published the results of his findings in his definitive book, Shipwrecks of Marin. In this illustrated lecture, Crawford tells the stories of seven of the most significant wrecks on our coasts.
April 2 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire In the aftermath of the Earthquake and Fire, U S Army Surgeon Lt. Col. George Henry Torney was ordered to become San Francisco’s Chief Sanitary Officer. His creation and enforcement of health and safety regulations will be explained. Lt. Col. Torney’s 26 year old son “Ned” photographed the devastation, the raging fire, and the City’s residents. Richard G. Torney, a great grandson of George Henry Torney, illustrated these two efforts.
May 7 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ The Mt. Tamalpais “Crookedest Railroad” received Heisler Locomotive #9 on April 18, 1921. This 100 year old steam engine is the only surviving piece of equipment that worked on the mountain. It has been found, purchased and efforts to restore #9 are active and ongoing. The project’s leader Fred Runner discussed this historic masterpiece. For more information, please visit: www.friendsofno9.org
June 4 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ Julia Flynn Siler, a longtime Ross resident and New York Times bestselling author discussed her latest nonfiction book, The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She discussed the local connections to the story and presented historic images from the book. For more information, please visit: www.juliaflynnsiler.com.
September 10 (via Zoom Webinar) ~The Marin IJ’s Barfly columnist Jeff Burkhart (Barfly Podcast host and author of the books Twenty Years Behind Bars Volume I and II) talked about Marin cocktail history and showed the crafting of three cocktails. Also, visit our Marin Cocktails page for recipes and more information about Jeff.
THURSDAY, October 7 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ Marin County Dairies have played an important role since the 1800’s when Marin supplied more dairy products than any other county in the state. In 2019, local historians Dewey Livingston and Mike Moyle set out to identify the sites of every dairy that ever operated in Marin. So far, they have found more than 380. Mike will be sharing with us the results of this project, with a particular focus on the dairies located around Ross Valley.
November 5 (via Zoom Webinar) ~ Much is known about (the namesake of our library) Jose Moya del Pino’s life in California (1925-1969), where he became a well-known painter and muralist, but until now little was known about his previous life in Spain (1890-1925). Paola Coda, his granddaughter, will present her new book Jose Moya del Pino – Two Lives of an Artist, the result of extensive research on both continents.
Your support is greatly appreciated and donations can be made through our web site, www.moya-rhs.org