Click the link to go to our main History Presentations page. Click 2024 or 2025 to see presentations from that year.
Past Presentations
Monday, December 8, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be our Holiday Party and Installation of Officers.
Monday, November 10, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Her Domenigoni Family History. The presentation will be by Angela Domenigoni Little.
The great-great-granddaughter of Swiss-born California settlers Angelo and Maria Domenigoni, Angela Domenigoni Little (born Angela Marie Domenigoni) will share her Domenigoni family history. The focus of her presentation will follow her direct lineage, and include details from the extended family’s lives. She’ll share rarely seen family photos and candidly share about her family’s successes and tragedies. No family is perfect, and the Domenigoni family is no exception.
Born Angela Marie Domenigoni in 1964 at Hemet Valley Hospital, woman of faith Angela Domenigoni Little is the daughter of Bob and Evelyn Domenigoni. A Hemet Unified School District student K-12, Hemet High School Bulldog class of 1982, she was a dance and theater student of Cindy Kinney, who fostered her interest in the tech aspects of theater. She’s an alumna of both MSJC and Biola University, majoring in communications. Like her grandmother Marie and mother Evelyn, she married, had children and became a Winchester School parent organization president and an advocate for parental involvement in education. A 25-year full-time mom, she is proud to call the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley, and especially Winchester, her forever home. These days her energies are directed to self-care, becoming a better and more persuasive public speaker with the help of her Toastmasters club, enjoying friends, family, and volunteering with several civic organizations including the American Red Cross and the Diamond Valley Writers Guild. The success of her children and advocating for the development of the downtown core of Winchester are among her highest earthly priorities.
Monday, October 13, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Remembering Edward Hyatt of San Jacinto. The presentation will be by historian, speaker, and author Rebecca Farnbach.
Rebecca will present the life of self-educated luminary Edward Hyatt of San Jacinto, who first became a beloved educator in the region and eventually an acclaimed California State Superintendent of Schools. Rebecca will tell about Hyatt’s unusual life, his innovative teaching methods, and the few touch points that remain to tell his story.
Rebecca Marshall Farnbach is a historian, speaker, and author who shares inspirational stories of characters and events from the past. Rebecca is a founding member of the Temecula Valley Historical Society and is one of the handful of people who saved the Vail Headquarters in Temecula from demolition and initiated its present status on the National Register of Historic Places. Rebecca has authored and coauthored multiple books including Flavors of the Temecula Valley Wineries, Dancing with Prayer in My Feet, and six titles in the Images of America series.
Monday, September 8, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Hemet’s Forgotten Silent Movie Star: Monroe Salisbury. The presentation will be by antique collector Terral Metheny.
The idea for this presentation came about in an interesting way. Our speaker for the evening, Terral Metheny, was at a Hemet estate sale when he found some old tickets to a show at the Hemet Theater featuring silent film actor Monroe Salisbury in The Blinding Trail (1919).
Terral was curious about Salisbury and did some research on him. Salisbury was a stage actor on Broadway before coming to California and was becoming a famous silent screen movie star. When he arrived in Hemet in 1910, he became involved with a charity production at the Hemet Opera House called The School Mistress.
Salisbury bought a 40-acre citrus ranch in San Jacinto near the Soboba Indian Reservation, and between pictures, it was his habit to drive out from Hollywood and drop in unexpectedly on the Native American overseer and his family who lived on the property and worked in the groves.
Salisbury later appeared in the first full-length version of Ramona (1916). He made friends with the Soboba Indians who helped him authentically portray the lead character “Alessandro Assis, Son of Chief Pablo Assis”.
Terral Metheny has lived in Hemet for the past five years and frequents local estate and garage sales searching for memorabilia and antiques that he collects and resells. He is also a volunteer at the Historic Hemet Theater.
Monday, May 12, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Arts Connects. The presentation will be by Tina Batchelder-Schwab and Malcolm Lilienthal.
Tina Batchelder-Schwab will share with us how local arts organizations connect with the Hemet Unified School District and the community and how arts in general connect to people. The arts have a unique power to connect people and bring communities together through music, visual arts, dance, and theater. Individuals can see their own experiences mirrored and gain insight into the lives of others. In community settings, the arts often serve as a bridge across cultural, social, and generational divides, strengthening bonds and inspiring collective growth. Come learn about some of the ways the arts connect people in Hemet or the Hemet Unified School District. She is also the Artistic Director for the Hemet Concert Association. She taught music to students in grades TK-12 for nearly thirty years, conducting a variety of ensembles, and directing musical productions in four countries. She has a Masters in Music Education and Bachelors in Music Education and Opera Performance from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. In April 2025, Ms. Batchelder-Schwab received the BEST Administrator Award for the Hemet Unified School District. The BEST Award, Bilingual Educators Succeeding Together, recognizes the dedication and impact of educators who support English learners and multilingual students.
Malcolm Lilienthal’s presentation will highlight the essential role that arts and culture play in cultivating a vibrant, inclusive city. Arts and cultural initiatives go far beyond aesthetics—they serve as tools for connection, healing, and mutual understanding. When embraced fully, they become powerful bridges between communities, honoring both heritage and innovation. He’ll speak on the value of establishing an Arts and Culture Committee to help unify residents, celebrate diverse traditions, and strengthen civic pride in Hemet for generations to come. Malcolm Lilienthal is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT141065) registered in the state of California and currently practicing at New Hope Christian Counseling in Hemet. He is a community mental health advocate and the current President of the Human Relations Council. Malcolm served on the Hemet City Council from 2020 to 2024. During his time on the Council, he and Councilmember Linda Krupa co-founded the City’s Ad Hoc Committee for Arts and Culture, recognizing the need to foster civic engagement through cultural initiatives. The committee, which began over a year before the end of his term, continues today with Malcolm still serving alongside Councilmember Krupa and the current Mayor. He also holds the position of Adjutant for the Sons of the American Legion Post 53. Malcolm is married and the proud father of four children.
Monday, April 14, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Juan Bautista de Anza’s 1775–1776 Expedition from Mexico to San Francisco—250 Year Anniversary. The presentation will be by local author and historian Steve Lech.
Please join us as our presenter, Steve Lech, shares the story of Juan Bautista de Anza’s overland exploration and colonization journeys of 1774 and 1775–76, the principal and original efforts to settle Alta California from the interior of Mexico. Steve will focus on the section of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail of the inland valley areas of Southern California. Following Steve’s presentation, Hemet Jeep Club’s Carol Ledbetter will share the section of the trail from what is now Borrego Springs through Coyote Canyon, Anza, Bautista Canyon, and the San Jacinto Valley which led to the Hemet Jeep Cavalcade which started in 1949.
Steve Lech is a native Riversider who has been interested in the local history of Riverside County for more than 40 years. He has written or co-written 18 books on various subjects of Riverside County history, is the past chair of the Riverside County Historical Commission, and co-authors the weekly “Back in the Day” column for the Press-Enterprise newspaper.
Monday, March 10, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Ramona 2025: What’s Happening at the Amphitheater—Transitioning into the Next One Hundred Years. The presentation will be by Duane Minard.
Monday, February 10, 2025. The Hemet Heritage Foundation and Hemet Museum presentation will be Over 100 Years of San Jacinto Memories of the Robinson, Peebles, Haslam, and Dunham Families, Part II. The presentation will be by Jerry Peebles.
Jerry Peebles, a lifelong resident of the San Jacinto Valley presents the story of San Jacinto from the perspective of the interactions of his family in the actual events that have shaped its history:
- San Jacinto’s Old Town and Helen Hunt Jackson
- The coming of the California Central Railroad
- The San Jacinto Livery Stable
- The Peebles Garage
- The San Jacinto Register vs. the Hemet News
- The arrival of Edward Hyatt and the formation of the San Jacinto School system
- Riverside County and the 1899 and 1918 earthquakes
- The Farmer House/Vosburg Hotel and the San Jacinto Theatre
- The Hemacinto Drive-In and the San Jacinto Museum
- The history of the “S” and the “H” and Tigers vs. Bulldogs and the Battle for the Bell
January 13, 2025. The presentation was The Harvey Girls: Civilizers of the Wild West. The presenter was Lynne Miller of the Harvey Girl Historical Society.
In the beginning the Harvey Girls defined hospitality in the Wild West of the 1880s. They were young, single, intelligent women who were also of “good character,” and had the sort of sense of adventure that propelled them to unknown territory to work as waitresses. The Harvey Girls were described as one of the first workforces made up of all women in the Southwest, serving as most of the staff employed at the Fred Harvey Company’s hotels and railroad restaurants along the route of the Santa Fe Railway.
The Harvey Girls were famous for their impeccable service. Training was meticulous, and there were strict rules to guide them. The Fred Harvey Company provided room and board, but the women always had to follow strict curfews and protocols.
Their legacy helped to make travel in the West a lot more enjoyable by serving tasty meals in pleasant surroundings and bringing a touch of graciousness to a mostly unsettled land.
This legacy inspired a 1946 Technicolor musical film, The Harvey Girls, based on the 1942 novel of the same name. The film featured Judy Garland and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe”.
Our speakers will be Ellen Fishburn and Lynne Miller of the Harvey Girl Historical Society, located at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris.
Ellen is a great railway fan and serves as the Secretary of the Heritage Railway Association. Lynne’s interest in the Harvey Girls is the result of her involvement in the California Historic Route 66 Association.
Click the link to go to our main History Presentations page. Click 2024 or 2025 to see presentations from that year.