A secretive society exists in Monterey County, one that meets once a month, in different locations, collaborating on how to be better arbiters of our local treasures. They don’t have a board of directors, don’t keep minutes or post their meetings publicly and no one is in charge.
They call themselves the Monterey Regional Collections Roundtable. And despite the bland name, low profile and informal structure (as well as an obsession for minutiae), they are influential.
They are archivists, curators, historians, registrars, museum professionals, archaeologists and librarians. Members come from the Big Sur Historical Society, Monterey Museum of Art, Naval Postgraduate School, Bureau of Land Management, Carmel Mission and more.
They are the caretakers of our history.
Monterey historian and archivist Dennis Copeland co-founded it in 2002 with archivist and librarian Denise Salle and Catholic Archdiocese archivist Brother Lawrence Scrivani.
The purpose, Copeland writes, is to “assist students, scholars, researchers and the public in their quest to uncover the Monterey region’s rich heritage.”
They do that by exchanging information, hosting experts, sharing projects, and teaching best practices. All this happens at their meetings at member venues like Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Hartnell College Library in Salinas and Monterey’s Colton Hall.
Recently they convened at Asilomar Conference Center, where Brother Larry (as Scrivani is called) gave a presentation on archiving basics. Last May, at the Royal Presidio Chapel in Monterey, CSUMB Prof. Ruben Mendoza spoke to the group about his symposium with Pope Francis on the canonization of Father Junipero Serra.
On Aug. 4 about 16 of them met at the Mayo-Hayes O’Donnell Library tucked away near the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. Round-robin style, the members talk about issues and news from their respective organizations – about technology making history more accessible, about what young people want out of art. Someone brings up Col. Roger Fitch.
Cameron Binkley, deputy command historian for the Defense Language Institute, breaks it down: Fitch fought in the Spanish-American War, commanded Fort Ord in the 1940s, and established the History Walk in Monterey.
“We still use his sword to cut the cake every Merienda,” he says, referring to Monterey’s annual birthday celebration.
Debra Silguero, former Steinbeck Center curator, adds, “We have to make sure the cake doesn’t eat the sword.”
Chalet Booker, cultural arts assistant for the city of Monterey, responds, “Which it does. I just cleaned it.”
Booker goes on to talk about how the renovated Monterey Conference Center is slated to have an art exhibit space to replace the current Alvarado Gallery. Silguero talks about art shows in the Veterans Clinic being built in Marina.
Someone brings up the Chamberlain Library on Fort Ord, which had been serving local military families until sequestration shuttered it. Steven Bradford of Fort Ord Alumni Association says CSU Monterey Bay is reportedly interested in the building.
“CSUMB can’t purchase the Chamberlain,” Silguero says.
“Monterey leases the Presidio Park from the Army,” Booker suggests.
“It’s a 50-year lease,” Binkley adds. “A very cooperative arrangement called the Monterey Model.”
Another member asks Binkley for more details, but he replies, “It’s being discussed at higher levels than me.”
John Sanders, special collections manager at Naval Postgraduate School, proudly talks about the school library’s historic Hotel Del Monte tour guide website. He pulls it up on his phone and holds it up in the air for all to witness.
New member Wellington Lee is a former Salinas Chinatown resident who’s now co-chair of the Asian Cultural Experience, a Salinas nonprofit trying to revitalize Chinatown. He says he’s frustrated at the pace of preservation and archiving historical objects.
“My family’s artifacts – where do they go? In Salinas, where do we put things?” he asks. “The big problem is the homeless on Lake Street. [The city] is coming up with homeless services, but history preservation is at a standstill.”
Binkley says the Roundtable can help. Wildgoose wonders if the public should know more about it. He says families have thrown military materials into dumpsters, unaware of their potential historical value.
“Maybe we can have a place for people to dump it,” Silguero says. “And we’ll pick through it. You know we will.”
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