Photo album a treasure trove of Sonoma County history

The current history exhibit at the Sonoma County Museum has "Stories from the Archives" as part of its title. Some may consider that misleading since the show is like a giant photo album, crowded with images. It could be called "Pictures from the Archives" - family pictures, famous pictures, motion pictures.

The motion pictures are ones that were made in Sonoma County, starting with early Cecil B. DeMille and proceeding through Hitchcock and beyond. Some are represented by still photos made on location. Several are being shown at the Rialto Theater as part of the exhibition.

The famous pictures are those made, mostly for Life magazine, by Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel, who lived on a 550-acre ranch on a hill above Mark West Springs.

Claude Sanborn's photo album is a lot more than family pictures. It is at least three stories all by itself.

First, there's Sanborn's story - who he was, what he did, what happened to him - which is something of a mystery, although we know portions of it.

Second, there's the historical record he left us, of life in the early years of the 20th century.

Third, and perhaps the most important, is his place in the history of photography. He was among the earliest of amateur photographers at a time when technology was threatening to allow eager amateurs an opportunity to eclipse the professionals.

Claude Sanborn, born in Healdsburg in 1887, was just 1 year old when George Eastman developed the first Kodak camera, which made images on a 20-foot roll of coated paper.

By the time Sanborn was 13, Eastman had perfected roll film - in a workable size, that is - and his box Brownie, which would revolutionize photography, was on the market.

The Brownie and other new "easy" Kodaks took photography out of the studio and into the hands of amateurs.

Claude Sanborn may have started with a box Brownie. From his teen years, he was obviously fascinated by the possibilities of photography. He progressed to more sophisticated equipment. His self-portrait shows him with a folding camera that made postcard-sized photos.

His album was donated to the Sonoma County Historical Society in 1940 by Mrs. W.E. Frieze. Sanborn's aunt, Ella Frieze, is mentioned in his obituary in 1914, so we can assume the donor was a member of his family. The historical society collection is now part of the museum archives.

For all of us who are curious about what Santa Rosa looked like in the first years of the 20th century, what life was like, what people did for fun, what captured a young man's fancy, the album is a treasure.

We are grateful to the donor and even more grateful to Sanborn, who seemed to understand what would be important to posterity. He took pictures of the 1906 earthquake, and of every sporting event within his range, including track meets, baseball and football games and a harrowing contest called "auto polo."

He grew up in Santa Rosa, in a home at 858 Second St. He was, apparently, an only child. His mother, Rose, and his Aunt Ella were "teachers of embroidery."

His profession was that of a cement and brick contractor. He joined Company E of the National Guard and advanced through the ranks to a captaincy. He was an Elk, a Native Son and a member of the Woodmen of the World.

But his passion, from all indications, was the camera and what it saw. His travels to places like Yellowstone and Catalina and Mexico, unusual for the time, produced photographs that would be welcome additions to museums in those places today. He was extraordinarily successful in "stopping" the action in sports photos, a skill that photojournalists would not master for a decade or more. His street scenes, his photos of excursions to the Russian River, his views of the inside of a pool hall comprise, in their way, a history of the time.

He must have been a friend of Santa Rosa's pioneer aviator, Fred Wiseman. His photos of Wiseman and his homemade airplane, taken at the Cloverdale Fair, are labeled with the pilot's nickname - "Fat" Wiseman. He shows more respect for Luther Burbank, shown walking into his new house across Sonoma Avenue from his gardens.

Sanborn's faithful record of life in Santa Rosa ends in 1914, when he died at age 27. His obituary in The Press Democrat does not tell us the cause of death, only that he had been ill for several months. He was lauded as "one of the best-liked young men, one who enjoyed the esteem of a legion of friends and acquaintances, upright and honest in all of his dealings, always ready to do a good friend or fellow a good turn, pleased to be making others about him happy."

The story of his death tells of his work and his military service. There is no mention of his photography. One can only assume that no one, not the family nor the reporter, thought it important.

How wrong they were.

THERE WAS no question about the importance of the photographs made by the pair of intrepid German immigrants who ran away together as teenagers from their home in Fellbach, a suburb of Stutt-gart, in the early days of the Hitler era and became internationally known for their work.

Hansel Mieth and Otto

Hagel, whose photographs are an important part of the museum's collection, "found" Sonoma County in 1941 and their ranch off Porter Creek Road became home base as they traveled the world on assignments.

Hansel was the second woman, after Margaret Bourke-White, to join the staff of Life. Otto was a freelancer, although he often worked for the magazine and they often worked together.

The visitors to the ranch, which Hansel called Horse Hill and Otto liked to call Jackass Flats, read like an artistic and photographic Who's Who. I suppose now it can be told that photojournalist Robert Capa once had a secret rendezvous with Ingrid Bergman at the Mieth-Hagel home.

There are many stories of Hansel and Otto and their adventures. But no matter how many stories you tell, there's always another to be told.

Last month, The Press Democrat's senior editor for design, George Millener, was in Paris and paid a visit to 88-year-old John G. Morris, a former Life staffer, a one-time picture editor of the New York Times, and author of a volume called Get the Picture, A Personal History of Photojournalism.

Morris told Millener of visits he has made to Santa Rosa to see his good friends and former colleagues. He had, coincidentally, just returned from Fellbach, where he had been invited to speak at a program honoring this year's recipient of the Hansel Mieth Prize, an award for photojournalism sponsored by the city where Hansel was born. The prize is among the prestigious awards for European photography and winning entries are published. It is a fine tribute to Hansel and her dedication to her art.

Otto Hagel died in 1973. Hansel was in Fellbach in 1992 for a retrospective exhibit of her work. She died in 1998. But the honors continue, in both of her hometowns.

THERE ARE literally hundreds of photographs illustrating a dozen or more stories in the exhibit. But it's just a peek into the museum's extensive collection, which includes some 4,000 photographs. As the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary, this show is a promise of more of come.