Grace Hudson Museum & Sun House has been
chosen to be featured on the NCWHS site.

Read below to learn about this great women's history site.

Grace Hudson in her studio, circa 1895.

Born to well-educated, socially-conscious pioneer parents in California’s rural Mendocino County, Grace Carpenter (1865-1937) showed an early talent for portraiture that was developed by professional training in San Francisco in the 1880s. In 1891, soon after her marriage, she painted a portrait of a sleeping California Indian child, “National Thorn,” that was the first in a numbered series of over 684 oils, the last completed in 1935. Nearly all of her subjects were local Pomo Indian peoples. Hudson’s reputation as a painter was national during her lifetime; today her work enjoys renewed interest and recognition for its culturally accurate and sympathetic portrayals of native peoples.

"National Thorn," 1892, oil portrait by Grace Hudson

Grace Carpenter’s husband was Nashville-born and raised John W. Hudson (1857-1936). Hudson went to medical school and became a practicing physican before emigrating to Northern California in 1880. But a young man’s interest in Tennessee archaeology soon grew into a doctor’s fascination with the living American Indian peoples of Mendocino County. Within five years of his marriage to Grace Carpenter, Hudson gave up his medical practice and spent the rest of his life as a collector-ethnographer, amassing significant collections of California Indian basketry that are in the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution, Chicago’s Field Museum, and Arizona’s Heard Museum.

Pomo Indian baskets collected by John and Grace Hudson, circa 1895

Grace Carpenter Hudson belonged to a family whose interests and talents, particularly those of the female members, involved them in notable historical and cultural events of 19th and early 20th centuries. The Carpenter-Hudson family left a legacy that encompasses California art, Pomo Indian culture, regional history, the women’s suffrage movement and the American Arts and Crafts period. The Grace Hudson Museum displays and interprets objects from the multi-faceted estate of this distinguished family, using them as a springboard for contemporary examinations of a variety of cultural and artistic themes. The Museum, with its four exhibition galleries, provides opportunities for art appreciation, historical reflection, cultural enrichment, guided tours and special events.

Grace Hudson Museum, 2006

Grace and John Hudson built their redwood Craftsman bungalow home, Sun House, on a large lot in central Ukiah in 1911, where they spent the remainder of their lives. The six room home retains the flavor of the Hudson’s bohemian lifestyle, furnished with items from their eclectic collection.

Sun House, circa 1945

A California Historical Landmark, the museum is open the following days:
Wednesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p. m.
Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Sun House is available for docent-led tours from noon to 3:00 p.m. during the Museum’s regular open hours.
Closed for major holidays.

It is located at 431 S. Main St., Ukiah, some 110 miles north of San Francisco off of Hwy. 101. For more information visit the Museum’s website at www.gracehudsonmuseum.org or call (707) 467-2836.