The Grand Opening of this Exhibit: ‘History Comes Alive as Never Before” will be on Sunday November 11 from 5-7pm in the Museum. Wine and appetizers will be served as you enjoy the fans. A luncheon honoring Betty will be held the next day, Monday November 12, 2012 at noon at the Hotel Healdsburg Carriage House. Betty will give a talk on her fans and how she became a fan collector. Cost is $25. Please RSVP to Liz Keeley at 707 431-2500. There are reduced room rates available at h2hotel and Hotel Healdsburg. More lodging options can be found at www.healdsburg.org

Betty inherited her fan collection from her mother, but it was her grandmother, Jessie Otten, who collected the fans. For her birthday, Jessie’s future husband, Theodore, bought her a fan, her first. It came from the White House, a fashionable store in San Francisco. She was hooked! She began collecting in 1917, and had some good finds in thrift shops, and an auction at the De Young Museum, but the best fans came in the 40’s -60’s. At auction in Los Angeles in 1941, Jessie bid on many fans that had been sent over to the US as part of the British War /Relief efforts. British ladies donated family heirlooms and with the fans came written verification of their historic value. She attended estate sales of the well know n and always kept a keen eye out for the ‘best’ fans.

This handfan collection has real depth; from Japanese fan leaves from the Monoyama and Edo periods, a solid jade fan, filigree fans, royal fans, Vernis Martin style fans, lace, ivory and tortoiseshell, this collection has something for every fan collector to marvel at and enjoy!