Telling Stories of Mexican California
Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making,
On View: November 1, 2026 – January 24, 2027
Opening Reception & Open House: Sunday, November 1, 2026 | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location: Tomales Regional History Center | 26701 Highway 1, Tomales, CA 94971
Admission: Free & open to the public
About the Exhibition
The Tomales Regional History Center is pleased to present Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making, a revealing traveling exhibition that examines the true stories of California’s Mexican period (1822–1846) alongside the romanticized depictions crafted by early boosters and storytellers.
Though it lasted less than three decades, California’s Mexican period profoundly shaped the distribution of land, wealth, and power after California officially entered the Union in 1850. Telling Stories of Mexican California broadly outlines California’s path to statehood as a backdrop to the factual and fictional accounts that emerged after the U.S. takeover. It highlights nineteenth-century Mexican American individuals and families who fought to record their own histories against a rising tide of legal displacement, land loss, and social erasure.
When California became a U.S. state, regional promoters reconfigured a fear of the foreign into a charming "Spanish Fantasy Past"—an idyllic mythos of cattle ranchos, dons, and doñas that neglected Indigenous lives, mission labor, and the hard realities of early frontier life.
Bringing the Story Home to West Marin
Complementing the traveling exhibition, custom local companion exhibit panels curated by the Tomales Regional History Center bring this statewide narrative directly home to coastal Marin and southern Sonoma.
The local displays highlight ancestral Coast Miwok stewardship (Tamal-ko), regional secularization, expansive Mexican land grant ranchos—such as Rancho Bolsa de Tomales, Rancho Laguna de San Antonio, Rancho Estero de San Antonio, Rancho Tomales y Baulines, and Rancho Olómpali—and the interconnected Californio and Indigenous families who shaped the Tomales Bay region during this transformative era.
Visitor & Exhibition Information
Dates: November 1, 2026 – January 24, 2027
Hours: Weekends 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (or by appointment)
Venue: Tomales Regional History Center, 26701 Highway 1, Tomales, CA 94971
Cost: Free admission (donations gratefully accepted)
Contact: Cate Trujillo, Project Administrator | Email: cate@tomaleshistory.com
Exhibition Support & Acknowledgments
Telling Stories of Mexican California: Real Life & Myth Making was organized by the California Historical Society, features the CHS Collection at Stanford, and tours through Exhibit Envoy.
About the CHS Collection at Stanford
The Stanford University Libraries are a dynamic network of academic resources dedicated to supporting research, teaching, and learning at Stanford. Containing materials from the early eighteenth century to the most recent past, the California Historical Society (CHS) Collection at Stanford University Libraries encompasses more than 600,000 items and is renowned for its rare and diverse range of materials, making it one of the most significant collections of California state and local history. Learn more at the Stanford Libraries CHS Collection Page.
About Exhibit Envoy
Exhibit Envoy provides traveling exhibitions and professional services to museums throughout California. For more information, visit www.exhibitenvoy.org.
About the Tomales Regional History Center
Housed in the historic 1921 Tomales High School Auditorium, the Tomales Regional History Center preserves and inspires interest in the history of the region spanning from the Point Reyes Peninsula north to Bodega Bay, including the western reaches of Marin and Sonoma Counties. Through its archives, collections, exhibitions, and public programs, the Center fosters an understanding of local heritage and the diverse communities that have shaped the West Marin coastline. Learn more at www.tomaleshistory.com.