THE TREASURE ISLAND MUSEUM ASSOCIATION

The Treasure Island Museum Association is a group of volunteers who supported the beautiful Treasure Island Museum beginning in 1976, when it was established by the U.S. Navy as an official naval history museum. 

In 1993, the movement toward base closures eliminated Navy support for the Museum, and the collection was slated to be shipped back to Washington, D.C.  The Association took on the task of keeping the museum open.  It began managing the museum, and raised the additional funds and volunteer help required.  Much of the museum collection and its archives was acquired by the Association.

The Association now creates temporary historical exhibits, conducts events including walking tours and an annual History Day, acquires and preserves artifacts and ephemera relating to the island's history, and plans and advocates for the eventual return of the collection to a new Treasure Island Museum.

The members of our Board are residents of the Bay Area, and include individuals experienced in museum law, finance and operation, and active and retired military officers.

 

Contributions to the Association are tax-deductible.

Contact the Association

Meet Our Board:

Claire Isaacs Wahrhaftig, President:  During her distinguished 30 year career of public service in arts and museum education, Mrs. Wahrhaftig held numerous positions including Executive Director of the San Francisco Arts Commission, Director of the Junior Arts Center of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Dept., and Supervisor of Education, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  At the Arts Commission she developed grants funding the restoration of the Coit Tower murals and the City's public statues, and founded the City's Youth Arts Festival.  In Los Angeles she founded Heart to Heart, a city-wide arts program integrating disabled chlden with the general population.  She holds degrees in History of Art and in Speech and Drama, and held a fellowship at the Harvard University Arts Administration Program.

Walt Bilofsky, Vice President:  Founder of the software publishing company The Software Toolworks (later renamed Mindscape), Mr. Bilofsky was co-author of the pioneering software products Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and The Chessmaster.  He has worked at the Institute for Defense Analyses in Princeton, N.J., and the Rand Corporation.  A 30-year Board member of the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation and its past President, he received a 2003 Bay Area Clean Air Champion award from the Bay Area AQMD.  Mr. Bilofsky is a U.S. Coast Guard licensed Master and a past Commodore of the Tiburon Yacht Club, and his travel photographs have been published professionally.  A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University, he holds graduate degrees in mathematics and electrical engineering from M.I.T.

Anne Schnoebelen, Vice President:  Author of the illustrated booklet Treasures, Splendid Survivors of the Golden Gate International Exposition, Ms. Schnoebelen has worked for decades to preserve the remaining exposition art works on Treasure Island.  She prepared and submitted the application which gained California State Historic Landmark status for the island, and wrote the language on the monument which stands on the causeway.  She has lectured throughout the Bay Area and has published articles about the art treasures of the Exposition in Art in California, Image Magazine, and other publications.  She holds an M.A. degree from Brown University.

Mimi M. Manning, Archivist is a museum exhibitions professional.  As Exhibitions Coordinator at the Museum of Performance & Design (formerly The Performing Arts Library & Museum) in San Francisco, she has directed the installation of exhibitions such as Harlem of the West: San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era (2005) and Enrico Balducci’s hungry i: San Francisco’s Legendary Nightclub (2007).  As a free-lance curator, Ms. Manning created exhibitions including Art Deco in San Francisco and Julia Morgan: Architecture Rendered Beautifulfor the Museum of Craft and Folk Art.   She holds a B.A. in Art History from Russell Sage College and an M.A. in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University.

Bernard W. Nebenzahl, CPA, Treasurer: is a CPA and an attorney.  A retired Tax Partner of KPMG, he practices as a consultant with Delagnes, Mitchell & Linder.   He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and has served on the Executive Committee of the Tax Division and chaired the Estate and Gift Tax Committee. He is a member of the California Society of CPAs and has served on the San Francisco Chapter Board of Directors.  He is a member and a past president of San Francisco Tax Club and San Francisco Estate Planning Council.  Mr. Nebenzahl was a Supply Officer in the United States Naval Reserve, performing active duty in Japan and reserve duty on Treasure Island.  He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Hastings College of Law.

Maureen Bourbin is a museum professional with administrative and exhibit experience and the founder and President of the Mission Dolores Scholars.  She has written a docent training manual for the Mission Dolores Museum , an oral history program for the Treasure Island Development Authority, and surveyed historic buildings for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  Ms. Bourbin curated the exhibition The Saints of Mission Santa Clara:  Discovering the Meaning Behind the Art at the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University (2010), and was the co-creator of The Society of California Pioneers exhibition Incompletely Visible: the Legacy of the Bay Area Missions (2009).  She graduated cum laude from San Francisco State University and has a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University . 

Randall Ramian, CAPT USN is the CEO of the USS Hornet Museum.  He has an extensive management background in the banking industry and several successful start-up ventures. Currently a Captain in the Naval Reserve, he has held numerous leadership positions, including commanding and executive officer, and currently commands the Defense Finance and Accounting Service 209, Columbus, OH (Department of Defense). Recalled to active duty in 2004-5, CAPT Ramian served as deputy commander/chief of staff of the 595th Transportation Group, Kuwait with unit locations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and Djibouti and Officer in Charge – Operations of a transportation group in Hawaii. He holds a B.S. from San Jose State University, M.P.A. from the University of Southern California and M.S.S. from the U.S. Army War College.

George Reilly has over 35 years experience in land use planning and economic development in commercial, nonprofit, government and legal organizations.  He has served on numerous advisory committees on general plan revisions for Santa Clara County and the city of San Jose.  He is a licensed Real Estate Broker and Agent, and for the past 13 years has been the principal of Reilly Commercial Real Estate.  A retired colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, Mr. Reilly holds graduate degrees in law and business administration.

Rebecca Lilienthal Schnier, AIA has over 25 years experience as an architect working in Paris, Zurich, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Since 1991 she has been the principal of Rebecca Schnier Architecture, with a range of clients concentrated in Piedmont, the Oakland Hills, Hillsborough and San Francisco.  Her projects are frequently exhibited in numerous publications including "Small Firms, Great Projects," sponsored by the American Institute of Architects.  She serves on the board of the San Francisco Heritage Association.  The daughter of Golden Gate International Exposition sculptor Jacques Schnier, she holds a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University and BA from Dartmouth. 

Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter, Honorary Member:  Ms. Nutter was the Official Hostess of the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, and remains active in the preservation of the island's history.  She traveled more than 100,000 miles by air to promote the Exposition and later became a pilot.  She is a past President of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, a member of the San Francisco Aeronautical Society and the 99's, the International Organization of Licensed Women Pilots.  Ms. Nutter is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., and a charter member of the Friends of the First Ladies of the Smithsonian Museum.