LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Historical Society will meet at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 22, in the Historic Courthouse Museum, located at 255 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

The program will feature archaeologist Dr. John Parker’s presentation on an historic painting with Lake County roots and historian Kevin Engle’s presentation on historic preservation in Lake County.

Dr. Parker’s presentation explains how an 1878 painting ties Lake County’s American Indian culture to San Francisco high society and the Baron de Rothschild. Parker will talk about the strange sequence of events that led our knowledge of the painting.

In 1878, noted French artist Jules Tavernier was commissioned by Tiburcio Parrott, owner of Lake County’s Sulphur Bank Mine, to do a painting in Lake County.

This long-lost painting, once part of the Rothschild collection, recently turned up at an auction house and was purchased by the Wildenstein Gallery in New York. The gallery contacted Dr. Parker to authenticate the subject matter of the painting.

The painting can be seen online at http://www.wolfcreekarcheology.com/TavernierPainting.html .

Dr. Parker is a Registered Professional Archaeologist with a Ph.D. in archaeology from UCLA and more than 40 years of field, lab and research experience in all areas of California.

He has developed and run cultural and archaeological programs at all educational levels, for the general public and for federal, state and local agency officials.

Engle’s presentation will focus on historic preservation in Lake County, specifically, its history, past challenges and current nominees proposed for designation.

Engle, a freelance columnist, researcher and author, moved to Lake County from the Bay Area in 1998. He became interested in Lake County history while researching pioneer families buried in Lower Lake’s Herndon Pioneer cemetery.

Engle says he “became involved in historic preservation issues due to the obvious need to promote the designation of prehistoric sites and historic buildings in the county.”

He has served in several capacities with the Lake County Historical Society, and on the Cultural Resources Committee and the Lake County Heritage Commission.

The Lake County Historical Society invites the public to this free program and to learn more about the society which turns sixty in 2015.

For more information about the meeting or the society contact Voris Brumfield at 707-295-7174.

The group's Web site, www.lakecountyhistory.org , displays details about the society’s programs and projects around Lake County.