Lake County >> Lake County education, both past and present, is always at the front of assistant museum curator Tony Pierucci’s mind. As a result, he’s working with Arcadia Publishing to print an Images of America book about the history of the community’s schoolhouses. Images of America is a popular series of books, which are “pictorial histories of a region or a county organized around a specific subject or a scene,” Pierucci explained. “The one that I’m going to be writing is on the schoolhouses and just education in Lake County.”
For the book, Pierucci will search through the archives of the Historic Schoolhouse Museum and the Historic Courthouse Museum for photos, but he’ll still need more. He’s asking that people send him old photos of schoolhouse events. “If people have stories or they want to get their stories told then bring their photographs and I’d love to get their permission to reproduce them,” he said. “It’s one of those things where this is their chance to share their history and their photographs and what better way to do it than in a book that could be distributed throughout California, certainly throughout Lake County?”
Pierucci plans to focus on photographs and stories from 1860-1960, but this is flexible, depending on the photos he receives. “That might change as people bring me photographs and there are interesting stories and histories,” he said. “If they go beyond the 60’s then I might expand the scope.”
As for the subject of these photographs, Pierucci says that they can feature a wide variety of events. “There’s such a variance and it doesn’t just have to be of the building itself,” he said. “More like, it’s at school or at a school event, like a parade or a field trip or sports. Or alternatively, events that took place at school … It doesn’t even have to be of students.”
Historically, schoolhouses acted as community centers, especially in small towns. The buildings would host parties and political events as well as school-related functions. “So it’s these other activities that I would like to get photographic evidence for,” Pierucci said. “One of the unique things about schoolhouses and schools in the late 19th and early 20th century was that they served as, yes educational institutions, but also as community centers … I want to tell that story, but in order to do that I need to have photographs of it.”
Pierucci said if people have photos that are not in a digital format, he’s happy to make the copies for both those who bring in pictures and for his book. “I’ll give them a digital copy themselves and with their permission I’ll use one for the book,” he said.
The Images of America books are highly visual volumes, featuring photos with captions and introductory pages for each section. Pierucci is “using photographs as the driving force. It’s got to have a photograph with it otherwise it’s a story I cant tell.”
With a deep-seated passion for history and education, it’s no surprise Pierucci wanted to tackle this project. “As an employee of the county museums one of our museums is the schoolhouse and it’s just a fantastic building,” he said. “That’s provided the inspiration into looking into other schoolhouses in the area … Photographs are an important part of our collections in the museums. I find the different stories that could be told and the history behind the photographs really compelling and I want to share them beyond people who can attend the presentations and speak to us directly.”
Pierucci hopes the book is not only enlightening but makes a name for the Historical Schoolhouse museum. “There’s a lot of different goals. I really want to get our schoolhouse on the map and having a published story, a history of it, would be a really important part of attaining that goal,” he said. “Secondly, in my research of schoolhouses and rural education in California, there’s a lack of resources on the history of schools and schoolhouses in California and having just a fantastic collection, I just want to share it with people who are interested.”
Those who have photographs for Pierucci can contact him at Antone.Pierucci@lakecountyca.gov or call the Historic Schoolhouse Museum at 707-995-3565 or the Historic Courthouse Museum at 707-263-4555. Pierucci also encouraged people to drop by the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum, open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. or the Lakeport Courthouse Museum, open Wednesday through Saruday, 11 a.m.-4p.m. and Sunday, 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
