Illuminating a Long History of 4-H Clubs

Tomales 4-H Club 1931

 

THIS PHOTO was taken in November of 1931 by Marett Burridge Boissevain, popularly known as M.B. It features Tomales 4-H Club members who have just cleaned up their meeting room in the Northwestern Pacific Railroad’s Tomales depot. In the preceding meeting, it was announced that the two boys who made up the Apiary Club had netted $113.71 on sales of honey from their 34 hives. From 1920 to 1950, M.B. Boissevain was Marin’s first University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor (one of 64 problem-solving centers across the state). According to the extension’s website, Boissevain was “an agronomist, community leader and photographer” who helped organize 4-H Clubs throughout Marin County. More of his deft photos are in collections at the Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History in Inverness and at the Tomales Regional History Center in Tomales. The current Marin Farm Advisor is David J. Lewis, who reports that there are now 14 active 4-H Clubs in Marin.

This article originally appeared in Marin Magazine’s print edition with the headline: “Join the Club”.