California history museum apologizes for selling racist towels tied to trustee’s wife

The Clarke Historical Museum in Eureka, California, apologized last week after a Reddit user posted photos of “Black Americana” tea towels for sale in its gift shop that trace to an antiques business run by the wife of a trustee.

Days after the apology, that business, Annex 39 Antiques, announced it had relocated into the museum.

“New location at the Clarke Historical Museum, 240 E Street, in Old Town Eureka! Come visit and see what’s new…and old!” the shop posted on Facebook on July 29.

The trustee, Chuck Petty, signed the museum’s most recent federal tax return and its annual report to the California Attorney General as treasurer in November. Both filings reported no financial transactions between the museum and any officer, director, or trustee, or any business in which one held a financial interest, during 2024.

Photographs posted to the r/Humboldt subreddit show a stack of white flour-sack towels in a plastic sleeve, hand-embroidered in cross-stitch. The top towel, labeled “SUNDAY,” depicts a caricature of a Black woman in a white hoop skirt, red hair bows and a yellow necklace, fanning herself with a black fan.

A handwritten tag identifies the stack as “Seven Days of the Week” towels, priced at $58.

A second photograph shows a towel of a barefoot Black figure in patched red overalls and a red head wrap, drawn with exaggerated red lips, stuffing cotton into a sack in front of a red farmhouse. Its tag reads “Black Americana Cotton Picker Towel,” priced at $24.

“I would understand if these were part of a museum somewhere with proper education and respect, but the intent here is pretty clear,” the original poster wrote.

The poster wrote in a comment that they moved the towels to the front of a display rack inside the shop, only for staff to return them to the back.

“I put it right in front and people were extremely bothered, the curator walked over and switched it back,” the poster wrote.

Another Redditor said they contacted the museum directly.

“I reached out to the Museum and they appreciate being informed and are taking action. This is not something they were aware of or approved,” the user SequoiaSiren wrote, adding that the gift shop operates on consignment and that vendors “are in charge of our own stock.”

The museum posted an apology to its Facebook and Instagram accounts on July 25. The Facebook post had drawn more than 700 reactions and 145 comments as of August 1.

“It was recently brought to our attention that there were items being sold in the Museum gift shop that were racially insensitive,” the statement reads. “We are deeply mortified as this does not reflect the mission statement or views of the Clarke organization or its staff.”

The museum said its gift store “is a consignment shop, allowing local artists and small businesses to sell at a brick-and-mortar without rental fees,” and that consignees “have autonomy over their own inventory and track their own stock.”

“However, this is not an excuse, and we take full ownership of this incident,” the statement reads.

The museum said its director and gift store manager “promptly removed any of these items from the gift shop,” reviewed the rest of the consignees’ stock, and are “reshaping our consignment agreements to include that the Museum has the right to remove any product that doesn’t align with our mission statement.”

“Our organization has been adapting over the years to include all Humboldt County history and not just the history of a select few,” the statement concludes. “There is always room for growth and accountability, and we apologize for the hurt this incident has caused.”

The statement did not name the vendor. Reddit users did.

One photo posted to the thread shows a placard on the side of the display rack for a company called Vintage Home Antiques, with a Eureka address and phone number. The user HoneyTheyTriedIt wrote that the company is no longer active but its phone number was most recently associated with Annex 39 Antiques.

"Wendy is the wife of a man named Chuck. And Chuck is the treasurer for the museum itself - as well as the Executive Director of the Humboldt County Historical Society," HoneyTheyTriedIt wrote.

Chuck and Wendy Petty are the owners of Vintage Home Antiques. A Times-Standard index maintained by Cal Poly Humboldt's library lists a March 25, 2001, article headlined "Chuck and Wendy Petty have opened their Vintage Home Antiques store."

In a comment to Annex 39's new location post on Facebook, one user wrote, "Lovely displays as always! Great job, Wendy!"

Neither entity is registered as a corporation or LLC with the California Secretary of State, which is standard for sole proprietorships or local partnerships filing locally at the county level.

Chuck Petty is listed as treasurer on the museum’s 2024 tax return. The museum’s website currently lists him as board secretary and trustee. At the same time, his biography on the same page describes him as “treasurer and trustee of the Clarke Historical Museum” and executive director of the Humboldt County Historical Society.

The biography says he and “his wife Wendy share a love of local history.”

Petty signed the museum’s IRS tax form for 2024 on November 14, 2025, documents show. On that return, the museum answered “No” to whether it was a party to a business transaction with a current or former officer, director or trustee, or with a family member of one.

Petty signed the museum’s annual renewal report to the Attorney General’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers the same day.

That report answered “No” to whether there were “any contracts, loans, leases or other financial transactions between the organization and any officer, director or trustee thereof, either directly or with an entity in which any such officer, director or trustee had any financial interest” during 2024.

The filings cover calendar year 2024 and do not show when Annex 39 Antiques began consigning goods in the museum’s gift shop. The museum’s charity registration is current, with its latest renewal on November 17, 2025, records show.

The museum told the IRS it has a written conflict-of-interest policy requiring board members, trustees, committees and staff to declare “any potential conflict of interest in any transaction undertaken by the museum,” with the board — minus the member in question — deciding whether a significant conflict exists.

The return reports the gift shop grossed $21,299 in inventory sales in 2024, netting $14,328 after the cost of goods sold. The museum reported $281,406 in total revenue, five employees, 15 volunteers and an unpaid 15-member board.

The vendor connection drew museum workers into the story. A second thread appeared this week on r/MuseumPros, a subreddit for gallery, library, archive and museum professionals.

Commenters raised legal exposure alongside the ethics.

“Aside from the disrespectful racial implications, if your state Attorney General finds out about a board member profiting from the organization’s activities your org is in trouble,” one wrote. “That is unless she’s donating the items for sale to benefit the museum.”

“Does the board view the museum store as just a little piggy bank for their spouses’ little racist Etsy shoppes?” another wrote.

Commenters in both threads also disputed whether the towels are vintage at all. Some argued genuine midcentury pieces are collected as artifacts of how the country depicted Black people, while others said the embroidery floss looked too new.

“I suppose someone could have made racist tea towels, given them a kiss, and put them in a drawer for 50 years,” wrote a user identifying as an archivist. “But the odds are low.”

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