The Carla Ehat Oral History Program for the Anne T. Kent California Room In the early 1970s, recognizing the need to capture Marin County's unrecorded history, Civic Center Librarian, Virginia Borland, set out to create an oral history program. She was fortunate to secure the services of her longtime friend, Anne T. Kent, who, in turn, enlisted Carla Ehat of the Moya Library in Ross. Anne Kent had married into the family that established Kentfield and which had given Muir Woods to the National Park Service. The California Room Oral History Program evolved from a Kent family tradition known as Old Settler's Day.

Anne Kent (right) at the 2nd Oral History reception in her Kentfield garden, August 27, 1977

Old Settler's Day had been an annual event held at the 29-acre Tamalpais Centre given by the Kent family to Kentfield at the turn-of-the-century. It was a day of reminiscences when long-time Marin residents would share their history and partake of refreshments and entertainment. Anne Kent and Carla Ehat modernized this tradition by using the model set forth by the Regional Oral History Office of the Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley. With Anne's connections and Carla's interviewing skills, over 200 oral histories were conducted between 1974 and 1981. When Anne Kent died in 1981, Genevieve Martinelli, widow of former Superior Court Judge, Jordan Martinelli, became Carla's new partner; their joint effort resulted in 100 additional oral histories. Dedicated volunteer, Marjorie Hoffman painstakingly transcribed all of the interviews and California Room volunteers have subsequently digitized most of these transcripts.

Carla Ehat interviewing a guest at the 5th Oral History Reception held at the home of Anne T. Kent on August 24, 1980

In 1999, a project was undertaken to catalog, preserve, and provide access to this valuable oral history collection. A grant from the California State Library has assisted us in providing full cataloging records for each interview. We are now in the process of digitizing the audio versions of the tapes to WAV format and copying them onto archival CDs. We are also working to make a selection of these historical interviews available on our webpage in both audio and transcript versions. Volunteers are being sought to assist in correcting the transcripts. Please contact California Room Librarian, Laurie Thompson, at (415) 499-3661, if you'd like to help.

CONTACT: Laurie Thompson at ljthompson@co.marin.ca.us
COPYRIGHT 2003, Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Free Library