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The salons, held from 1911 to 1926, were extravagant gatherings that lasted for days. The guests included patrons and artists as well as thespians who sometimes performed on the stage off the grand living room. I found original music scores, poetry, and prose pasted into the scrapbook. The guests were given pages on which they could draw or paint, write poetry or limericks. Some just signed their names.
There are signatures of such dignitaries as Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lee Henry Hoover; John McLaren, the landscape architect for Golden Gate Park and for the grounds at Pino Alto; and of foreign dignitaries visiting during San Francisco's 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. (My great-grandmother was on the women's committee for the exposition, and my great-grandfather was instrumental in arranging for a number of foreign dignitaries to attend.)
It was enlightening to learn that Dave and I were doing something so similar to what my great-grandparents did almost a century ago.
My great-grandmother's spirit is alive in me.
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Above: This page, from Molly's great-grandmother's scrapbook, is of the entrance gate at Pino Alto, looking back toward the road. The watercolor was painted by noted early California artist Ferdinand Burgdorff during a days-long 1914 summer salon.
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