Professor Alexis Boutin, Department of Anthropology, Shares Research on Sonoma Developmental Center
Faculty, students, staff and community partners collaborate to share the stories of the nearly 2000 buried in its “Home Cemetery” between 1892 and 1960.
Since 2022, Professor Alexis Boutin from the Department of Anthropology has been conducting research on the historic cemetery at the Sonoma Developmental Center, with the permission and support of multiple community groups and state agencies. During Professor Boutin's recently completed (Spring 2025) sabbatical, this project was mentioned in local news media three times:
- Salcedo, Tracy. “Saving the historical Eldridge Library.” Kenwood Press 1 February 2025.
- Johnson, Dan. “Historical society urgently seeks storage area for Sonoma Developmental Center artifacts.” The Press Democrat 10 May 2025.
- Johnson, Dan. “Eleventh-hour effort rescues historic items from Sonoma Developmental Center”. The Press Democrat 20 May 2025.
Professor Boutin worked with faculty and students in three courses: ANTH 328 and ANTH 591 for application of digital archaeological methods to the cemetery and campus, and HIST 500 for the collection of oral history interviews. I also collaborated with students, colleagues, and community members to give two conference presentations:
- Alexis T. Boutin, Samantha F. Dollinger, Michael Konzak, Tristan Niles, Christian Pease, Benjamin Smith, Thomas G. Whitley. “Collaborative approaches to restoring agency for residents of the Sonoma Developmental Center’s ‘Home Cemetery’”. Paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology annual meeting, Denver, April 2025.
- Ursula Senghas-Poles, Fernando Pimentel, Emily Nightingale, Marina Scanagatta, Sveva Dal Pont, Ryan Reynolds, Alexis T. Boutin. “Diagnosis, Education, & Productivity: Medicalized Life & Death at the Sonoma Developmental Center (1914-1920)”. Poster presented at the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting, Burlingame, March 2025.
These efforts culminated in an ArcGIS StoryMap created by Professor Boutin called, “The Sonoma Developmental Center’s ‘Home Cemetery’: Recognizing and Remembering Lives and Deaths, 1892-1960”. You can also learn more about the student reseatchers by visiting "Research at the Sonoma Developmental Center's Home Cemetery."
Meet the Research Team:
The interdisciplinary Home Cemetery research team is led by Professor Alexis Boutin (Anthropology). SSU faculty and staff collaborators include Professor Benjamin Smith (Human Development), Samantha Dollinger, Michael Konzak, and Professor Thomas Whitley (Anthropological Studies Center), Professor Steve Estes (History), and Hilary Smith (Library). More than two dozen Anthropology and Human Development undergraduates and Master’s students in the Cultural Heritage and Resources Management program have participated so far in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting evidence from the cemetery using non-invasive archaeological methods, historical methods, and digital technologies.