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Wednesday's Internet Edition, 12:54 AM, March 17, 2010.
Rae House has new curator
Stigelmayer on board at Galt’s museum of local history
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New Rae House Museum curator Nancy Stiglemayer was raised in Galt and now takes great pride in safeguarding the history of the city where she grew up.
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By Joann Forbing
Staff Writer
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Did you ever wonder how Galt, Herald and other local area towns came into existence? What was Galt High School before it became a high school? Why is the Rae House historical?
You can get the answers to these and other questions by stopping by the Rae House Museum and talking to its newest curator, Nancy Stigelmayer.
Stigelmayer was raised in the Galt area and, after moving away to work in the Bay area for 35 years, she retired and returned to Galt in 2006. She then joined the Galt Area Historical Society, which runs the Rae House Museum.
When Barbara Payne, former curator of the Rae House Museum, decided to step down, Nancy stepped into the position as the museum Curator in August of this year.
“My dad was really involved with the Galt Area Historical Society quite a few years ago,” said Stigelmayer. “He did a lot of work on the Rae House when he was alive ... (I am) trying to carry on the family tradition.”
Payne, who turned over the reins in order to pursue more community goals as a city council member, said the people of Galt are lucky to have Stigelmayer on board at the Rae House.
“We are lucky to have Nancy Stigelmayer as the new curator,” said Payne. “She is a hard worker, and the community and the historical society should support her whenever possible.”
John Rae built the Rae House in 1868. According to the Rae House Museum souvenir booklet, Rae “came from Scotland to seek his fortune in the gold fields in the mother lode of California. Like many others, he soon learned that the true fortune was to be found in the fertile land of the Sacramento Valley.” It was the Rae family residence until Rae’s daughter Alice died in 1987.
“The Rae House is a wonderful historical house that guides you through the development of our town,” said Payne. “It should continue to have information about Galt up to today. Yesterday’s events will be tomorrow’s history. The community has underutilized it. There should be more events, but it takes more help and volunteers from the community. By being a volunteer at the Rae House, I learned more about the founding of Galt than I would have known otherwise.”
Stigelmayer echoes Payne’s sentiments of getting more volunteers from the community to help with the Rae House Museum not only through volunteering, but also through monetary donations to help with the upkeep, and to encourage the general public to get interested in the museum and come see it.
“We have two ladies that basically do a lot of the cataloguing here, Bonnie Fisher and Dolores Jacobson,” says Stigelmayer. “The townspeople of Galt have been very generous in donating items of historical value. Items can either be donated or they can be on loan, so if anybody has any historical items that they want to put on loan, we would be more than happy to take donations.”
The curator also says she would like to have more historical items to display, so they can change things around “to get the public to revisit the Rae House”.
Aderian Hutson is one of the volunteers on the grounds of the Rae House property.
“I belong to Galt Area Historical Society (and) have been in charge of the rose gardens at the Rae house for about eight or nine years,” she said, “along with Wanda Bouchey, Andrea Myrick, and several other members who have helped keep it looking beautiful. It takes (a lot) of work but the results are worth it, especially in spring and early summer when the whole place is in bloom. We really need our community to come and visit the Rae House and the gardens.”
She also wants it known that the caretakers are “always looking for rose lovers to help us with pruning, deadheading, weeding” and other tasks. Applicants need no previous experience in gardening, as they will receive training onsite.
Among the garden’s attractions are more than 200 memorial roses donated by family members, in the memory of loved ones who have died.
The Rae House has also sponsored many community events, such as tea parties, ice cream socials, Christmas open houses, and special tours.
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