Suzi at the Haggin

The Tomato Queen, Tillie of the Valley, The First Lady of the Larder, The Duchess of Diet – were nicknames that newspapers and magazines such as Time, Life and National Geographic had given Tillie Lewis by the time her career reached its pinnacle. She was an exemplary businesswoman who made history in the 1930s during the Great Depression. She fundamentally changed the culture of food processing with her company Flotill Products, later Tillie Lewis Foods, right here in Stockton. Tillie was born Myrtle Ehrlich in a Brooklyn tenement. She changed her name, calling herself Tillie – a peppier version of Myrtle which better suited her drive and ambition. She lost her mother at a young age and reportedly disliked her stepmother so much that she dropped out of high school and got married at age 16. She had worked at various jobs since the age of 12 and now as Tillie Weisberg she worked as a clerk in her husband’s grocery store. Their grocery store sold canned goods and the Italia...

Ralph Yardley, like many of his generation whose lives bridged the 19th and 20th centuries, witnessed many momentous social and technological changes in his world. He bid farewell to the horse and buggy and said "hello" to the automobile and airplane; he listened to the birth of the radio and watched the development of television; he looked on as the United States survived the Great Depression and four wars to become a global superpower; and he watched with great interest the growth and changes that time brought to Stockton - his hometown. And as an illustrator and newspaper artist for over 50 years, he complied a wonderful chronicle of his world and a fascinating legacy for succeeding generations. The son of John and Caroline Yardley, Ralph Oswald Yardley was born in his parents' home on East Sonora Street on September 2, 1878. Young Yardley attended local grammar schools where his penchant for drawing was first recognized, but it was his design of the title head for...

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? This is the second blog in a series to answer one of the most common questions we are asked as museum staff - where is a specific item that a visitor once saw on display at the Haggin Museum currently located. THE ALTAR OF THE GREEN JADE PAGODA In 1939, the Haggin Museum displayed the magnificent Altar of the Green Jade Pagoda.  It was lent to the museum by Chang Wen-ti, proprietor of the Chinese Jade Company in Los Angeles.  The display was part of a fund raising drive by Stockton’s Chinese community for the hungry and homeless children of China who had been affected by Japan’s invasion of their country in 1937. Produced by some 150 artisans working over a ten year period in Shanghai, the pagoda stood 51” high, was 13” at its base and weighed over 75 pounds.  It rested upon an alter of three terraces, each surrounded by a grilled balustrade and connected by a series of stair cases. The entire display was made up of over 700 separate pieces....