“Our mission is to tell the broad story of California in all of its diversity, especially highlighting the story of everyday people, everyday life,” she told KQED. “We think of ourselves as stewards, not as owners, of that kind of cultural heritage.
“It feels like an attack on our community and on our cultural heritage, and for our staff who devote their full careers to caring for and preserving our collections, it’s truly heartbreaking,” she continued.
The theft occurred overnight on Oct. 15 at the museum’s off-site storage facility in Oakland, according to Oakland Police. Fogarty said that when museum staff arrived the following morning, it was evident there had been a break-in at the warehouse, where hundreds of thousands of its collection items are held when not on display.
An Oakland Police officer walks by patrol cars at the Oakland Police headquarters on Dec. 6, 2012, in Oakland, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“They saw right away that there had been an intrusion … and that a significant number of items were stolen,” Fogarty said.
In the weeks since, museum staff have been taking inventory to identify what’s missing and working with insurance brokers and the city of Oakland, which owns the collection, to determine the monetary value of the pieces.
The most valuable, and most likely to turn up at a pawn shop or flea market, are several baskets made by a Northern California Native tribe, a collection of metal and stone jewelry pieces from a California artist and a number of scrimshaw artifacts, according to Fogarty.
“We share a sense of responsibility for the public, but also for the Indigenous people of California for stewarding those collections,” Fogarty told KQED.