Back to School

Take a look at some of our favorite school photos from the collections of the California Historical Society.

AAA Junior Safety Patrol student members, California, 1947

Photographer: Duke Downey

California Historical Society, San Francisco Chron Coll., CHS2011.618

Students on first Antelope Valley Union High School bus, which ran between Palmdale and  Lancaster, ca. 1909.
California Historical Society at USC Special Collections. chs-m5348.

Arcadia City School bus, ca. 1922.
California Historical Society at USC Special Collections. chs-m5375

Group portrait of the students at Cahuenga Township School, ca. 1890
California Historical Society at USC Special Collections, chs-m3336

Teacher Alice Robinson Bennett and her class in 1915.
California Historical Society TVP17

Chinese Primary Public School, 920 Clay St., Chinatown, San Francisco
California Historical Society, FN-23272

School Recess, San Jose, CA ca. 1931
California Historical Society, CHS2011.619

Kindergarteners working on projects in front of a school on City Terrace Drive  north of Boyle Heights
California Historical Society at USC Special Collections, chs-m4692

Four children using wooden blocks, 1932
California Historical Society at USC Special Collections,  chs-m7132

Bounty of the Golden State

Thursday, August 18, 2011, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Evening with the Collection 

$4 Suggested Donation
Free for California Historical Society members

Please RSVP to 415.357.1848, ext. 229 or rsvp@calhist.org.

Ah, the bounty of the Golden State! California boasts the widest variety of crops and livestock of any state.  The California Historical Society is celebrating the fall harvest season during our August Evening with the Collection. During this special one night reception, take a special peek into the California Historical Society’s permanent collection of harvest- and agriculture-themed items. View colorful and creative fruit crate labels: Jewel Oranges, Blue Mountain Pears, Old Mission Olives, and more. Take a gander at lovely promotional brochures that counties produced to proclaim that their land is the best, the most fertile, the most pleasant.  From apples to vineyards, pigs to peaches to poultry, we’ve got it in California! At this Evening with the Collection, you will be able to enjoy light refreshments while perusing the fascinating harvest items as well as our current exhibition, A Century of Landscapes: Selections from the California Art Club.

This event continues the California Historical Society’s introduction of the California Ephemera Project, which provides access to the finding aids of ephemera collections at California institutions. The ephemera collections span from 1850 to the present, and contain advertisements, announcements, brochures, catalogs, menus, pamphlets, billheads, theater programs, clippings, bylaws, flyers, tickets, travel guides, and more. Collections represent California businesses, associations, schools, institutions, and clubs; events ranging from world’s fairs and earthquakes to parades and protests; buildings and structures, including the construction of Bay Area bridges; and extensive biographical files on both well-known and little-known Californians.

I Always Pay My Debts

Check out this World War I era photo from the San Francisco Parades collection of the California Historical Society. On this grand float, Uncle Sam assures us, "I always pay my debts."