From the Collection of the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum
JOSEPH WAYNE, Wayne was a Petaluma photographer in the early 1900’s. He owned the GEM Theater in Petaluma where he displayed magic lantern images. It has been asserted that he named the GEM Theater after his children. It has also been asserted that Wayne was a red headed child who came across the plains in a covered wagon. His descendants are the Poehlmann & Wayne families currently living in Petaluma.
RUPERT HENRY WHELDON, (b. 1883 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, d. 1960 Salinas, California, active in Petaluma c. 1926 to 1942) Sometime before 1926 Wheldon traveled to California, and was listed in the Petaluma Directory as the proprietor and photographer of Sunset Studios located at 23 Western Avenue. Rupert maintained his studio until about 1942 when he retired and moved to Santa Barbara, California. He died in in Salinas, California on June 6, 1960.
Unfortunately, the PHL&M owns no portraits by this important, early photographer.
