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Historical Records Commission
County Of Sonoma › Administrative Support & Fiscal Services › Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters › Historical Records Commission › Collections and Archives Recognition Award
Historical Records Commission

Collections and Archives Recognition Award

The Collections and Archives Recognition Award is an annual program of the Sonoma County Historical Records Commission (HRC) to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of individuals, groups, agencies, collections, and archives located within Sonoma County. The award focuses on existing collections, including individuals and organizations using existing archives in the county to create new historical and cultural work. It is also intended to recognize special efforts to preserve and use both new and existing archival material in promoting history and cultural preservation.

The HRC will accept nominations as well as actively seek out individuals and organizations worthy of recognition under established criteria.

Eligibility

Nominees using Sonoma County historical records who collect, preserve, research, write about, disseminate historical records and/or information, or create cultural works will qualify for the award, such as:

  • Any individual (professional or non-professional)
  • private group
  • local, county, state, federal, and/or tribal governmental agency
  • private or public collection or archive

Categories

Broadly, recognition will be awarded for activities such as:

  • Ongoing development and preservation of an archival collection
  • Special exhibits, publications, partnerships, and programs using archival records
  • Public education and advocacy work to promote historical records preservation
  • Innovative or creative technical advancements in digitization or preservation of archival materials
  • Successful government archives and records management programs
  • Response to emergencies and disasters relevant to historical recordkeeping

While preferable, the recognized contribution or achievement will not necessarily have to have occurred during the award year. The Sonoma County HRC will have the flexibility to use the award to recognize individual and organizations in their ongoing efforts to preserve and promote historical records.

Award

The award is non-monetary. The issuance of the award will be accompanied by a press release and mention on the Sonoma County HRC’s website as well as in other profession-related media. It will be presented by the Sonoma County HRC at the Sonoma County Historical Society’s annual meeting.

Selection Committee

The members of the Sonoma County HRC will select the awardees.

Submit a Nomination

The Application for the 2025 Nominations will be released in late-2025.  Please check back on October 1, 2025.

Awardees

2024 Awardees

Presented at Iron and Vine in Santa Rosa on March 16, 2025, in conjunction with the Sonoma County Historical Society's annual meeting, the following awardees received the fourth annual Collections and Archives Recognition Awards:

  • Michael Acker, in the category of Preservation, will be honored for his many diverse and ongoing projects documenting and preserving the history of the Sonoma Valley.
  • Eowyn Medieros, in the category of Special Projects, will be recognized for her work leading a project centered on the Sonoma Mountain Cemetery; geo-locating grave sites and digitizing cemetery records.
  • Charlie Siebenthal, in the category of Individual Excellence, will be awarded for his long service with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society, which has included collecting, preserving, and publishing on the railroad history of the North Bay and Coast.

2023 Awardees

Presented at the Holiday Inn in Windsor on March 10, 2024, in conjunction with the Sonoma County Historical Society's annual meeting, the following awardees received the third annual Collections and Archives Recognition Awards:

  • Tim Danesi, in the category of Individual Excellence, was nominated by the Rohnert Park Archives Working Group for preserving the history of Rohnert Park through gathering, exhibiting, protecting, and storing irreplaceable materials relevant to the history of Rohnert Park.
  • Irene Hilsendager, in the category of Individual Excellence, was nominated by the Rohnert Park Archives Working Group for working with the City Facilities staff to move historical materials relevant to the history of Rohnert Park into a small private storage unit, which allows for the next phase of cataloguing and preservation to begin.
  • Paula Freund and Amy Hogan, in the category of Special Projects, were nominated by Katherine J. Rinehart for their creation and work on the Petaluma Pioneers website, which allows access to images that would be hidden from the public otherwise.
  • Steve Lehmann, in the category of Special Projects, was nominated by Karen Alves of the Windsor Historical Society, for his project honoring the deaths of WWII Airmen who died as a result of pilot and mechanical error while training at air bases in the Bay Area.
  • Playback Memory Lab and the Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library, in the category of Special Projects, were nominated by Library Director Erika Thibault for the creation of a free, easy way to protect and preserve personal, family, and community histories through a do-it-yourself space providing professional-grade tools to support personal preservation and archiving.
  • Lesbian Archives of Sonoma County (LASC), in the category of Preservation, was nominated by Library Commissioner Eve Goldberg for their work recording oral history video interviews of Lesbians who were activists in Sonoma County between 1965-1995.
  • Glen Ellen Historical Society, in the category of Modernization, was nominated by Board Member Bean Anderson to spotlight the online historical database of documents and the work of tagging, organizing, and cataloguing all of the items in storage, including a large trove of historical material rescued from the Sonoma Development Center when it was shut down.

2022 Awardees

Presented at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa on March 12, 2023, in conjunction with the Sonoma County Historical Society's annual meeting, the following awardees received the second annual Collections and Archives Recognition Awards:

  • Betsy Penn, in the category of Individual Excellence, was honored for ten-and-a-half years of public service preserving the records of the Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder’s office.
  • Ed Gilardi, in the category of Individual Excellence, was recognized for his fourteen years of dedicated service to the Cotati Historical Society.
  • Roberto Esteves, in the category of Individual Excellence, was honored honored for twelve years of dedicated volunteer service to the Russian River Historical Society.
  • Solange Russek, in the category of Individual Excellence, was recognized for four years of work to preserve and maintain the records of the 125-plus-year-old Petaluma Women’s Club.
  • Sonoma County Library, in the category of Special Projects, was honored for its year-long efforts to move the documents of the Sonoma County Archives from Los Guilicos, under repeated threat of wildfires, to a safer location, its ongoing efforts to improve discoverability and access to these records.

2021 Awardees 

Awarded on March 20, 2022, the following awardees received the inaugural Collections and Archives Recognition Awards:

  • Judy Gustafson, in the category of Individual Excellence, was honored for more than 10 years of dedicated volunteer service to the Cotati Historical Society.
  • Office of Cultural Resource Studies, Cal Trans District 4 and Special Collections Archive, Sonoma State University Library, in the category of Special Projects, were honored for their partnership in rescuing and preserving historical records relating to Highway  101 construction in Sonoma County from the early 1940s through the late 1960s.
  • Santa Rosa High School Foundation, in the category of Education, was honored for its ongoing work with the Santa Rosa High School Museum to document the history of that nearly 150-year-old institution.
  • Sonoma Valley Historical Society, Inc., in the category of Collaborative Partnerships, was honored for its ongoing work to document and preserve the valley's historical record.