One of the pack, a street reporter and simple storyteller.
— McConahay, Meg. Interview with Gaye LeBaron. Santa Rosa Press Democrat, March 18, 2001.
All history is local.
— Amato, Joseph A. Rethinking Home: A Case for Writing Local History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. p. 191.
A respected community voice, Gaye LeBaron has written thousands of columns in her 60+ years with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat newspaper. Each column, chronicling the history and local issues of California’s North Bay region, demonstrates her extraordinary skills as a journalist and historian. Gaye engages with the community through her columns, and weaves community responses and personal experiences into her work.
To preserve and share decades’ worth of research notes and primary source materials, Gaye LeBaron donated her collection to the University Library’s Special Collections in 2001 for use by Sonoma State students, faculty, and community researchers.