Went to today's opening of the yearly exhibit of two mummies, and most of the tomb artifacts, from the Sutro Egyptian Collection, which are now at San Francisco State University.

Is it known where exactly these mummies were in the old Sutro Baths; are there any floor plans of the museum tract, or construction drawings anywhere? Are there still photos of the interior of the collection areas?

Any information on how many mummies there were, before George K. Whitney Jr., the then-owner of the baths, donated them to the university?

By the way, it is a great exhibition, if you have the time, to see at the Humanities Building, Room 510!

-- Wolfgang Schubert (chouby@aol.com), April 24, 2000

Answers

Thanks Wolfgang. I saw the mummy exhibit as a boy at the Baths. They were on the second floor down the stairs from the front entrance. The stairs were quite Victorian with palms along the sides. I remember the Tom Thumb display the most.It had his furniture and personal carriage. I wonder where these are now? Also there was the sculpture of the Japanese man who used his own nails and hair to make an exact copy of his own body. It was made of thousands of small pieces of wood. It was extremely lifelike. It was at Ripley's on the wharf after that for many yrs and was damaged by fire or something. Does anyone know more about this and the Colonel Tom Thumb col

-- Craig Smith (palmedo@aol.com), April 23, 2001.

My grandfather was the financial editor, and then the social editor at the San Francisco Chronicle during the 30's and 40's. He used to play Emperor Norton during the annual parade, wearing a tophat and carrying a shelalie. . . does anyone remember the name Harry Walker Hall?

-- Micki M. Brejska (jauch@twinwolf.net), May 24, 2002.

I remember seeing the Japanese man's double at the Ripley's Museum at Fishermen's Wharf (or at least it was something very, very similar).

-- Miz Rosa to You (rosadebon@yahoo.com), May 26, 2002.

Sutro's (what the place was known as after the pools closed in 1952) was several stories in height, The uppermost level was reserved for the entrance. In the entrance pavilion were a couple of old carriages. You walked down the "grand staircase" to the first level, where admission was paid, and the level where the "Sutro Museum" was located containing the mummies, Mr. Ito (the Japanese statue mentioned in other letters), the "General" Tom Thumb collection, and a life size 3D rendering of the "Last Supper" against the rear wall, along with other exhibits. Before entering the museum, there were twin staircases down to the baths. In the 50s the staircases were lined with old photos of San Francisco. At the bottom of the stairs was the Promanade, which was the upper part of the baths area proper. If you looked sharp, as you came down to the baths, you saw the black appearing frame on the wall in the center. This was the bottom of the "well of Enchantment", which was a periscope like arrangement ahat allowed visiters to look into the baths before paying admission as an inticement to "come on in"

Great place with lots of personal memories.

As the place was demolished, I recovered glass panes, tickets and posters before the place burned. I watched it burn but had no camera --Emiliano Echeverria

-- emiliano echeverria (emiliano 47@comcast.net), August 11, 2004.