September 16, 2019: Author Lynn Downey presents the history of Marin’s Arequipa Sanatorium
by Laurie Thompson
We hope you will join us on Monday, September 16, 2019 at 6:30 pm to hear renowned author & historian Lynn Downey as she presents the history of Marin’s Arequipa Sanatorium: Life in California’s Lung Resort for Women. The event will be followed by a book-signing of Lynn’s new book just released by the eminent Oklahoma University Press.
Lynn will speak on how this pioneering sanatorium came to be founded in Marin County and what life was like for the working class women who went there to recover from tuberculosis.
In its early years, Arequipa also came to be known for its beautiful pottery which was crafted and decorated by the patients at Arequipa.
In fact, the pottery gained such a renown that it was featured at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition.
In a Feb. 4, 1915 article that the Marin Journal picked up from the Building and Engineering News, an in-depth description of the pottery enterprise at Arequipa is provided:
“In Marin County, California, not many miles from San Francisco, is located a pottery which is entirely unique, not only in its methods of making and burning, but in the very thought that gave it birth….”
“The Arequipa pottery was founded about three years ago by Dr. Philip King Brown, of San Francisco…. The object of this sanatorium was to give care and treatment to working women who were suffering from tuberculosis…and to have this care and treatment given at the lowest cost….”
“After successfully working out the problem of making an institution of this kind self-supporting, Dr. Brown conceived the idea of finding a form of employment whereby the patients could earn the $1.00 a day that was necessary for their maintenance….”
It was determined that pottery making might both aid the women in their recovery and also make them self-sufficient.
“After a few months Arequipa pottery was on sale at nearly all of the large art stores in San Francisco and orders grew larger and larger until it became imperative to build more kilns and to add the necessary facilities for doubling the output….”
The physicians in charge of monitoring the women’s health and recovery noticed that “the girls working in the pottery made steadier gains than those who were not given this employment.”
“Nearly all of the work is done by hand…. The body of the ware is composed of California clays for the most part, a certain percentage of foreign material being used in some mixtures where special glaze surfaces are desired….”
“A red body containing about 60 per cent of local clay is the one most generally used, this being found about 200 feet away from the pottery.”
“Boys are employed to do the heavier work, such as digging the clay and screening it….”
“A great deal of the ware is thrown, the wheel being the old-fashioned foot-power affair seen in all small potteries. The large pieces, such as garden urns, are pressed, while other shapes, irregular in form, are cast….”
“The finishing and decorating of the ware is done entirely by the women patients. The designs are sketched or traced on the damp clay and then carved or painted…. These designs are supplied by well-known artists…and a number of wealthy philanthropists have loaned priceless examples of old world porcelains, that they might be copied at Arequipa….”
“Considering the inexperience of the workers, it is surprising that the products of their hands should be of such merit as to find a ready sale when offered in competition with the largest concerns in this country….”
Please join the Anne T. Kent California Room on Monday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 pm at our Map & Special Collections Annex at 1600 Los Gamos, Suite 182, to learn more about the history of Marin’s Arequipa Sanatorium!
