(Elected April 2023)
President: Ann Harlow served as Berkeley Historical Society president from April 2017 to September 2019 and then Secretary until again becoming president. She has also been the editor of the newsletter and chair, co-chair or member of several committees. Ann is a retired museum professional and independent scholar, now specializing in California art and culture from 1850 to 1950. She curated the exhibit Art Capital of the West: Real and Imagined Art Museums and Galleries in Berkeley and coordinated the exhibit Berkeley’s Fascination with Food at the Center and online. She has lived in Berkeley or Kensington since 1974.
1st Vice President: Jeanine Castello-Lin served as co-president of Berkeley Historical Society from 2013 to 2017 and co-chairs the Program Committee and the Oral History Committee. A third-generation Berkeleyan, she holds BAs in History and English from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. With Tonya Staros, Jeanine co-authored an oral history of the International House after WWII and co-curated the exhibit Early Days of Dance in the East Bay.
2nd Vice President: Charles (Chuck) Wollenberg joined the Board by appointment in January 2019 and serves on the Program and Publications Committees and the planning teams for recent and upcoming exhibits. He is a former History Instructor and Social Science Chair at Berkeley City College and current convener of the California Studies Seminar at UC Berkeley. He has a Ph.D. from UCB and has served as an exhibit consultant at the Oakland Museum. He’s the author of several works, including Berkeley: A City in History and Rebel Lawyer: Wayne Collins and the Defense of Japanese American Rights.
Secretary: George O. Petty has served as a member of the Board since May 2018, as Secretary until September 2019 and thereafter until present as President. He has been a resident of Berkeley since 1947 and is a graduate solely from Berkeley public schools, from Thousand Oaks Grammar School through the University of California School of Law. He has retired from a career in corporate law.
Treasurer: John (Andy) Hammond became treasurer upon Phil Gale’s retirement in 2016. He has also served as the walks registrar and the webmaster for the Historical Society website. He moved to Berkeley in 2004 from Bonita in San Diego County, where he was very involved with community planning issues. He is a retired computer systems engineer from what was the Naval Electronics Lab in San Diego.
Membership Secretary: Candice Schott managed the FileMaker databases for the UC Botanical Garden, including membership, rentals, volunteers, etc. and retired in 2015 from an administrative position with the City of Berkeley. She has family roots dating back to the 1870s in San Francisco. She has lived in the Bay Area since 1973 and in Berkeley since 1988.
John Aronovici is the manager of the Berkeley History Center. He traces his family members back to his great-grandmother, who lived in Berkeley before 1900. His grandmother was the first woman dentist in Berkeley, his paternal grandfather was Berkeley’s city planner in the 1920s, and his cousin, John Noyes, played the Campanile bells for 39 years. John has held a number of positions on the Board including secretary, vice president and co-president. John lends his talents for graphic design, producing our newsletters and as Publications Committee co-chair.
Tom Edwards joined the Society in 1995 and the Board in 1999, was elected first vice president in 2001, and served as president from 2003 to 2005. He was chair of the Walking Tour Committee from 2000 until 2003, and continues to serve on that committee, as well as the House and Finance Committees. Tom is retired from a career in finance.
Phil Gale was born in Berkeley with a certificate of birth signed by Alta Bates herself. His family has lived in Berkeley since the late 1880s. He served as Berkeley Historical Society treasurer from 1982 to 2016. A historical transportation devotee, his specialty is street railroads, the Key System in particular. He curated Berkeley on the Move: 100 Years of Public Transportation, The Decade of Change: 1900-1910, and, with wife Phyllis, Vanished: Berkeley’s Lost Businesses and Institutions.
Ed Herny is a founding board member, having been here at the beginning of the Society in 1978. He has been a partner in the creation of several exhibits, including Soundtrack to the 60s, and co-authored the Berkeley Bohemia book. He is an archivist, historian and ephemerist. He enjoys uncovering unusual bits of Berkeley ephemera and donating them to the Berkeley Historical Society Archive.
Linda Keilch served as BHS president from 2001 to 2003 and was welcomed back onto the Board by appointment in 2023. She has been a teacher, UC Berkeley event coordinator, and real estate agent as well as a BHS docent.
Tim Lundgren is a docent, researcher and co-chair of the Walking Tour Committee. He is a second-generation Berkeley born and raised native son. Tim is a retired Albany firefighter with a longtime interest in the history of Berkeley and California.
William (Bill) Roberts is a past BHSM president and is currently our chief archivist, after a distinguished career as university archivist at UC Berkeley. He is on duty on Fridays and puts in many other hours working with acquisitions to our collection, training and supervising archives volunteers, and helping researchers find the information they need.
Tonya Staros served as co-president of BHSM from 2013 to 2017 and co-chairs the Program Committee and the Oral History Committee. Her strong interest in oral history stems from working as a sociologist and interviewing individuals for various social science projects. She has worked on several exhibits, publications, events, videos, online exhibits and this website.