Artifacts, including strings of clamshell and olivella shell beads, used as currency, from the collection on view in our exhibit “Before the Pioneers: the Coast Miwoks.”

Trade beads, usually glass or ceramic, were obtained by native peoples as gifts from — or through trade with — European and Russian explorers.

William (Bill) Smith was the patriarch of the modern Smith family, and founder of the Bodega Bay fishing industry.

Packing seine, large fishing nets with sinkers that hang vertically in the water, used to enclose and catch fish. Photo courtesy Young Ernest Smith, Jr.

Two of the Smith brothers’ boats were named Six Brothers and Five Sisters, in honor of the eleven children of Bill and Rosalie Charles Smith. Photo courtesy Young Ernest Smith, Jr.

One of a pair of 50-foot diesel trawlers — christened Smith Bros. No. 1 and Smith Bros. No. 2 — that the Bodega Bay-based Smith Brothers Fishery commissioned from Sausalito ship builders in the early 20th century. Theirs was the first commercial fishing operation in Sonoma County. (l‒r) Eddy Smith, Bill Orr, Harold Ames, Bill Smith, Jr.

Smith Brothers Fishery’s warehouse, circa 1915. Brothers back row l-r Angelo, Young Ernest, Stephen Smith; at right Bill Smith, Jr. (two men in front unknown). Courtesy Young Ernest Smith, Jr.

The Marshall School was attended by many Coast Miwok children who lived at nearby Fisherman’s Village in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.