Happy Women's History Month!
We celebrate the lasting legacies of pioneer women.
Five women, including Nellie Gail Moulton who was a teacher and principal in the Seattle area in Washington. Nellie is second to the left with fellow teachers circa 1900. (2018.39.29) The backside is labeled “E. C. COLLIER PHOTOGRAPHER. WENATCHEE, WASH.”
Exhibition | City of Laguna Hills
The Laguna Hills Civic Center has an ongoing exhibit honoring Nellie Gail Moulton. This display is located in the lobby. Visit it at 24035 El Toro Road, Laguna Hills, CA 92653.
The Nellie Gail Display Case contains aspects of her life such as original passports, photographs, sketches, and a copy of Saddleback Pastoral Scene painting.
Nellie Gail Moulton (American, 1878-1972)
Saddleback Pastoral Scene, c. 1930, Oil on board, Collection of Moulton Museum, Gift from Saddleback Area Historical Society.
National Ag Week
The L. F. Moulton & Co. produced dry farming crops which included beans, barley, grains and occasionally watermelon. Agriculture Day is celebrated on March 23, 2021. National Ag Day falls during National Ag Week.
From the Archive
In March 1933- Nellie Gail Moulton, “volunteered as a chaperon with my friend, Mrs. Clara Mason Fox, for an upper grades trip to Long Beach to see the wooden ship, USS Constitution on a national tour. The students had donated their pennies to contribute to saving “Old Ironsides”. There is a photograph of the group in front of the black school bus that we had rented from Tustin Unified School District.”
Clara Mason, before she married George Fox, is shown around the time she was a schoolmarm in Silverado Canyon. She wrote “A History of El Toro” in 1939. It was compiled by the El Toro Women’s Club with whom she was members with Nellie. Read the OC Register article on Clara or her biography available on Amazon.
Jane Barnes, granddaughter of Nellie Gail Moulton, was photographed for an OC Register article. She is holding a watercolor she painted of her husband, Franklin “Woody” Barnes, outside her home in Julian, CA. We celebrate her work as an accomplished watercolorist. She shared her work at the retrospective exhibition at Laguna Woods History Center in 2017. Barnes spent her childhood living in Villa Park and on the Moulton Ranch. She will be celebrating her birthday on March 22nd.
