Speaking Events
November 13, 2026 – Presenting “Enhance Family History with Vintage Postcards” to Root Cellar – Sacramento Genealogical Society, a discussion that includes identifying and dating postcards, as well as buying, storing, and using them.
January 9, 2027 – Invited to speak on “Finding Family History in Vintage Postcards” at the Petaluma Regional Library from 10am -noon. Discover how old postcards can bring your family history to life by revealing where they lived and worked.
February 27, 2027 – Presenting “Pioneer Photographers of Yosemite Postcards” at the San Francisco Bay Area Postcard Club. Discover the story behind early Yosemite postcards through three pioneering photographers—George Fiske, J. T. Boysen, and Arthur C. Pillsbury.
April 4, 2027 – Selected to talk about “The Old Yosemite Village and Its Mariposa Connections” as part of the monthly Fireside Chats at the Mariposa Museum and History Center.
May 20, 2027 – Presenting “Enhance Family History with Vintage Postcards” to the Napa Valley Genealogical Society, a discussion that includes identifying and dating postcards, as well as buying, storing, and using them.
September 4, 2027 – Presenting “Enhance Family History with Vintage Postcards” to the Solano Genealogical Society, a discussion that includes identifying and dating postcards, as well as buying, storing, and using them.
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September 12, 2026 – Presented “The Legacy of the Old Yosemite Village” as part of the Sierra Club’s evening lecture series at the Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center in Yosemite National Park.
September 2026 – Wrote “Preserving a Legacy: Petaluma Woman’s Club on the National Register of Historic Places” for West Petaluma Living, an article on the club’s national recognition in both women’s history and architectural design.
May 2026 – Presented “Enhance Family History with Vintage Postcards” to the Sonoma County Genealogical Society. The discussion included identifying and dating postcards, as well as buying, storing, and using them.
May 2026 – Coordinated Petaluma’s fifth annual National Historic Preservation Month, including leading a tour of the newly listed Petaluma Woman’s Club, the city’s ninth property on the National Register of Historic Places.
April 2026 – Published “Petaluma’s Lachman & Jacoby Winery: Innovators of the California Wine Industry” in Sonoma Historian: the Journal of the Sonoma County Historical Society (Spring 2026, Vol. 64, No. 2).
March 2026 – Presented “10 Ways to Use AI in Postcard Collecting” for the Wichita Postcard Club.
June 2025 – Interviewed by the Dutch newspaper, De Gelderlander, about the research on my grandfather, Christinus van Ommeren. Article “‘Opa Tinus’ vocht in 1940 op de Grebbeberg: ‘Hij overleed vier dagen na geboorte van zoon’”was published on June 18, 2025.
January 2025 – Presented “Enhance Family History with Vintage Postcards” to the San Joaquin County Historical Society. The discussion included identifying and dating postcards, as well as buying, storing, and using them.
July 2024 – Completed three years of service on the City of Petaluma Historic & Cultural Preservation Committee, an advisory body to the Planning Commission and City Council on historic preservation projects and policies.
June 2023 – Presented “Paul Masson Winery from the Historic Hilltop to the Vast Valley Floor: A Postcard History” to the Saratoga Historical Society.
Fall/Spring 2021-22 – Taught a short continuing education course at Santa Rosa Junior College called “Vintage American Postcards for Historians, Genealogists, Collectors, and the Curious.”
November 2021 – Published “Postcards from the Italian Swiss Colony Winery Helped Popularize Wine in America” in Sonoma Historian: The Journal of the Sonoma County Historical Society (2021, Vol. 2).
June 2020 – Merged two Stockton postcard collections, including my own, and created descriptive metadata for 2,000 images. The project became Stockton in Vintage Postcards, a searchable digital archive at the Holt-Atherton Special Collections at the University of the Pacific.
