Entering the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond CA you are immediately greeted by their friendly volunteer staff. The staff is mostly older, enthusiastic volunteers who are happy to tell you about their personal connection to the shipyards and their reason for volunteering at the museum. One volunteer told us about the regular talks that women who worked in the shipyards give to the community.
I first heard about the Rosie the Riveter Museum after hearing an interview on NPR with the oldest full time park ranger, Betty Reid Soskin. The article "Oldest National Park Ranger Shares 'What Gets Remembered'" has some details about Soskin's life and her involvement with planning the museum. Soskin worked as a clerk for the all-black auxiliary of the segregated boilermakers union. The part I found most interesting about Soskin's interview was her comment that she "never saw herself as a "Rosie the Riveter"". She says, "That really is a white woman's story"(Oldest National Park Ranger Shares 'What Gets Remembered).  It is true that the traditional narrative about the 'Rosie the Riveter' women ignores the fact that for many black women, working outside the home was nothing new. I was hoping to see Soskin at the museum, but unfortunately, she was not volunteering at the time of our visit. But a volunteer told us that it is possible to see her speak at the museum several times a month.

Here is a link to the NPR article "Oldest National Park Ranger Shares 'What Gets Remembered'. The article includes an important reminder that history is remembered by those who have a platform to tell their stories!

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/15/312707926/oldest-national-park-ranger-shares-what-gets-remembered

A second reason for my interest in visiting the Rosie the Riveter Museum was that my great-grandmother and great-grandfather worked in the Richmond shipyards. I was close to my great-grandma Carrie when I was little, and so I was interested in visiting a place that she spent time at. While I was at the museum, I asked the volunteers whether they had any records of the people that worked at the shipyards so I could find some more information about my grandparents, but they told me that unfortunately, the records no longer exist.

Here is a picture of my great-grandparents and my grandfather. Both my great-grandparents worked in the shipyard. My great-grandfather was not drafted because he had been crippled by polio as a child. I was hoping to find more information about what he was able to do in the shipyards given his condition but unfortunately, I was not able to find any.

The museum exhibit, housed in a sunny brick building next to the waterfront, was made up of pictures, plaques, and maps talking about the shipyards. 

Here is a photo of myself at the entrance to the museum. 

Here are some of the images I took of the beautiful photos the museum displayed. These show people working on the shipyards. 

One of the aspects of the museum I found most interesting was their inclusion of stories about the segregation and racism that many workers encountered at the shipyards. Probably in part due to the efforts of Soskin to have her story, and the stories of other people of color, included in the shipyard, the museum does not tell a one sided account of what it was like to be a 'Rosie the Riveter'. While the museum does certainly highlight the narrative of the many women who identified with the traditional 'Rosie' story, the information makes it clear that this was not the experience of all workers. Here is one of the plaques that exemplifies this:

The museum included photographs with some wartime propaganda that I found very interesting. The image below that says "Do the job HE left behind" tried to encourage women to join the workforce. The image that says "When you ride along you ride with Hitler" intended to encourage people to carpool to conserve energy resources.

After looking around the museum, I drove to a site a few minutes away where one of the ships built in the shipyards was docked. The SS Red Oak Victory was huge! The bottom of the crane that is seen in the first photo can give you a sense of the size. After viewing the ship in person, I have a greater appreciation for the speed at which these ships were constructed at the shipyards. At peak pace, ships were turned out in only a few weeks!

My experience at the Rosie the Riveter museum was very positive. I encourage others to visit the museum and learn about the shipyards that were essential to the war effort, changed employment trends in the United States, and completely changed the he history of the Bay Area. 

Here are a few more images of myself in the museum.