The main job of the newspaper and any columnist, if they're local, is to … foster a sense of community.
— Smith, Chris. Interview with Gaye LeBaron. Santa Rosa Press Democrat, March 18, 2001.
Today, Gaye LeBaron continues to expand the North Bay’s knowledge of its history through her teaching, writing, speaking, and community engagement. She remains a senior columnist for the Press Democrat, and her research materials continue to be added to the Sonoma State University Gaye LeBaron Collection and digitized for easy public access.
What makes Gaye LeBaron’s research collection unique? It’s the combination of research and unique primary source material with community responses, the shared exchange over issues, history, and identities. Gaye engages with the community, its land and people, and weaves their stories, their perspectives, into her columns.
Many of the national and community issues Gaye has addressed over the decades, and continues to discuss, are still with us, and thousands of people in the North Bay community value Gaye’s perspectives on past and present issues.