Gaye LeBaron: I’m a Journalist

I’m not comfortable with the word ‘historian.’ I’m not a social scientist. I’m a journalist with an interest in local history, not a storyteller.

Taylor, Dan. “Museum Celebrates Sonoma County Stories.” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, July 14, 2021.

Although Gaye notes firmly that she is not a storyteller, one of her significant contributions to the Sonoma County community has been her collection of more than 70 recorded video interviews conducted over 30 years with important local figures. As she said in an interview with Chris Smith of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat at the Sonoma County Museum on July 22, 2021, “I began to think, ‘let’s let people tell their stories themselves.’”

As of 2021, fewer than a dozen of those Gaye interviewed are still alive, and their community stories have been invaluable to the historical record. The interviews have been supported and collected by the Sonoma County Museum, and more than 50 of them to date are available in streaming format in our own Gaye LeBaron Digital Collection.