Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This program explores the exceptional historical event captured by Jules Tavernier through the biographies of the participants and the moment in time chronicled in his painting, Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California. The painting depicts an exceptional cultural interaction between California Indians in their homelands and outsiders—settlers and business investors—on November 22, 1875. Among the more than one hundred Pomo community members of all ages taking part in the ceremony are three visitors: Mexican-born Tiburcio Parrott y Ochoa, a San Francisco banker and patron of Tavernier who commissioned the painting; his Parisian business partner, Baron Edmond de Rothschild; and French military officer Comte Gabriel Louis de Turenne d’Aynac, who was traveling with Rothschild. Parrott was the new owner and operator of the Sulphur Bank Quicksilver Mining Company on Elem ancestral lands. A panel of speakers will bring the biographies and stories together for a revealing view of the painting and California history.
Learn more about the "Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo" exhibition at the de Young museum: deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/jules-tavernier
Watch part two of the discussion: youtube.com/watch?v=0sq7bE-SbMc
Speakers
Dr. Barbara Berglund Sokolov is a native San Franciscan and historian who bridges the worlds of academic and public history. She’s the author of “Making San Francisco American: Cultural Frontiers in the American West,” 1846-1906. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Michigan, was a tenured history professor at the University of South Florida, and served as the historian at the Presidio of San Francisco. Now she consults on a range of historical projects for institutions and individuals.
Robert Geary is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians in Lake County, California. He is currently a Xaitsnoo language teacher, traditional ceremonial roundhouse leader, and founder and president of the Clear Lake Pomo Cultural Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit organization for the protection and preservation of tribal cultural resources. Geary has been a guest speaker at several academic institutions, including Purdue University, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis, on language revitalization and cultural awareness. Currently, Geary is employed with the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Cultural Resources Department as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer.
Keith Baker was born and raised in the Midwest, and spent his youth traveling extensively. He graduated from his master’s program in 1987 focusing his studies in language, international business, and law. He worked his way through his university years doing pediatric nephrology research until Wells Fargo Bank hired him to focus on mergers and acquisitions. A few years later he was recruited to work in Saudi Arabia while he was also running family businesses in the US. For the last seven years, he has worked and consulted with wineries in multiple regions in both the vineyard and in the tasting room. Keith was introduced to Spring Mountain in 2017 and joined the team the following year.
Joseph Baillio is senior vice president at Wildenstein & Company. He has published widely on 18th-century French painting, including “Vigée Le Brun” (2016) and contributions to “Renaissance to Rococo: Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art” (2004).
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For more Virtual Wednesdays content, explore the playlist here: https://dey.ng/Virtual-Wednesdays-Playlist
This program explores the exceptional historical event captured by Jules Tavernier through the biographies of the participants and the moment in time chronicled in his painting, Dance in a Subterranean Roundhouse at Clear Lake, California. The painting depicts an exceptional cultural interaction between California Indians in their homelands and outsiders—settlers and business investors—on November 22, 1875. Among the more than one hundred Pomo community members of all ages taking part in the ceremony are three visitors: Mexican-born Tiburcio Parrott y Ochoa, a San Francisco banker and patron of Tavernier who commissioned the painting; his Parisian business partner, Baron Edmond de Rothschild; and French military officer Comte Gabriel Louis de Turenne d’Aynac, who was traveling with Rothschild. Parrott was the new owner and operator of the Sulphur Bank Quicksilver Mining Company on Elem ancestral lands. A panel of speakers will bring the biographies and stories together for a revealing view of the painting and California history.
Learn more about the "Jules Tavernier and the Elem Pomo" exhibition at the de Young museum: deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/jules-tavernier
Watch part two of the discussion: youtube.com/watch?v=0sq7bE-SbMc
Speakers
Dr. Barbara Berglund Sokolov is a native San Franciscan and historian who bridges the worlds of academic and public history. She’s the author of “Making San Francisco American: Cultural Frontiers in the American West,” 1846-1906. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Michigan, was a tenured history professor at the University of South Florida, and served as the historian at the Presidio of San Francisco. Now she consults on a range of historical projects for institutions and individuals.
Robert Geary is an enrolled tribal citizen of the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians in Lake County, California. He is currently a Xaitsnoo language teacher, traditional ceremonial roundhouse leader, and founder and president of the Clear Lake Pomo Cultural Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit organization for the protection and preservation of tribal cultural resources. Geary has been a guest speaker at several academic institutions, including Purdue University, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis, on language revitalization and cultural awareness. Currently, Geary is employed with the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Cultural Resources Department as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer.
Keith Baker was born and raised in the Midwest, and spent his youth traveling extensively. He graduated from his master’s program in 1987 focusing his studies in language, international business, and law. He worked his way through his university years doing pediatric nephrology research until Wells Fargo Bank hired him to focus on mergers and acquisitions. A few years later he was recruited to work in Saudi Arabia while he was also running family businesses in the US. For the last seven years, he has worked and consulted with wineries in multiple regions in both the vineyard and in the tasting room. Keith was introduced to Spring Mountain in 2017 and joined the team the following year.
Joseph Baillio is senior vice president at Wildenstein & Company. He has published widely on 18th-century French painting, including “Vigée Le Brun” (2016) and contributions to “Renaissance to Rococo: Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art” (2004).
Subscribe to our channel: https://dey.ng/our-channel
Don’t miss our upcoming programs! Sign up for our newsletter: https://dey.ng/newsletter
For more Virtual Wednesdays content, explore the playlist here: https://dey.ng/Virtual-Wednesdays-Playlist










