Imaging an Icon: Ted Huggins and the Golden Gate Bridge

Thursday, October 11, 2012, 6:00 p.m.

Imaging an Icon: Ted Huggins and the Golden Gate Bridge

Free event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco

RSVP at huggins.eventbrite.com

Using Ted Huggins’ images and recently discovered journals, historian John C. Harper will lead a discussion on Ted Huggins and his work to promote the Golden Gate Bridge and the West. Over three-and-a-half years, Ted Huggins took hundreds of photographs that captured the majestic beauty of the bridge and helped turn it into a world-famous tourist destination. He photographed construction from both shores, from airplanes and a blimp, from construction boats and ferries, from inside a caisson underneath the bay, and from atop the two towers. Join us this evening to view these wonderful photographs and hear about Ted Huggins.

Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey through the Hmong Diaspora

Thursday, October 4, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey through the Hmong Diaspora

Book signing and discussion with Joel Pickford

Free event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco

RSVP at soulcallingchs.eventbrite.com

In a lively and informative presentation, photographer and author Joel Pickford weaves the story of his personal journey through the Hmong Diaspora, showing photographs from his book, Soul Calling: A Photographic Journey through the Hmong Diaspora, and some that are not in the book. A Q&A session and book signing will follow his presentation. The result of five years of courageous and heartfelt commitment, Soul Calling opens our eyes to the beauty, resilience and daily lives of the Hmong people, so recently displaced from their traditional homeland by the traumas of the Vietnam War. From the rice harvests and funerals of remote Hmong villages in the mountains of Laos to the shamanic ceremonies and overflowing apartment-complex vegetable gardens of Hmong Americans living in Fresno, writer and photographer Joel Pickford leads us into a world of deep-rooted custom and the harsh realities of cultural adaptation. His exquisite photographs and intimate stories take us into living rooms and through the memories of a remarkable people.

San Francisco’s Chinatown: A History

Sunday, October 7, 2012, 1:00 p.m.

San Francisco’s Chinatown: A History

$5 suggested donation at the door, or free admission with LitQuake Museum Pass

Author and historian Philip P. Choy presents San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide to Its History and Architecture, an “insider’s guide” to one of America’s most celebrated ethnic enclaves. A history of America’s oldest Chinese community and a guide to its significant sites and architecture, the book traces development of the neighborhood from the city’s earliest days to its post-quake transformation into an “Oriental” tourist attraction as a pragmatic means of survival.

This is a part of LitQuake’s Words and Pictures: A Cultural Stroll through Yerba BuenaSan Francisco is a world-class city when it comes to literature…and cultural institutions. Litquake invites you to wander with us through an array of museums and galleries in the city’s Yerba Buena cultural neighborhood. We’ll explore art, language, culture, and all intersections between. Free entry to events at UC Berkeley Extension Art & Design Center and California Historical Society. $10 Litquake Museum Pass allows entry to events at CJM, MoAD, CHS, Cartoon Art Museum, and YBCA and can be purchased at litquake.org. This event is co-sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Yerba Buena Alliance Gallery Walk

Saturday, October 13, 2012, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Yerba Buena Alliance Gallery Walk

Free event at the California Historical Society and in the surrounding Yerba Buena neighborhood

The Gallery Walk is an exciting way to explore the Yerba Buena neighborhood and the artistic offerings within it. The participating galleries offer a diverse look at contemporary, emerging, and established artists working in a variety of mediums. Start with a kick-off champagne reception at Visual Aid, 57 Post Street, Suite 905 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. To see a full listing of participating galleries, visit www.yerbabuena.org/gallerywalk.

Chinatown Sketches & Book Club of California's Centennial Party

Friday, October 19, 2012, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Chinatown Sketches & Book Club of California's Centennial Party

Free event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco

RSVP at bccatchs.eventbrite.com

The Book Club of California and the California Historical Society invite you to a party celebrating the Centennial of The Book Club of California and the release of Book Club of California’s publication number two hundred and thirty: Paul Frenzeny's, Chinatown Sketches, by award winning author, Claudine Chalmers with a preface by Philip P. Choy. Evening program includes a short talk by Claudine Chalmers. Artifacts and original artwork from the book will be on display. Refreshments will be served. Bring your friends and fellow bibliophiles.

The 7th-Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

Saturday, October 27, 2012, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The 7th-Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

Free Event at Doheny Memorial Library, University of Southern California

3550 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089

Visit the California Historical Society at the LA History Bazaar at USC. Learn about our Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Collection and the Title Insurance and Trust Company (TICOR) Collection as well as ongoing California Historical Society projects and our archives.

Los Angeles history comes alive at the 7th-annual Los Angeles ArchivesBazaar. Organized by L.A. as Subject and presented by the USC Libraries, the annual event celebrates the diversity of Southern California’s history. For scholarly researchers, journalists, history buffs, and those simply interested in exploring the stories of Los Angeles, discovery awaits everyone at the Archives Bazaar. This event is free and open to the public.

The Archives Bazaar draws its strength from the breadth and variety of its participants’ collections. Large institutions such as the Autry National Center of the American West and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County will be represented at the bazaar along with smaller organizations and private collections whose materials fill the gaps left in the city’s official history. Other participating organizations include the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, the California African American Museum, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, and the Japanese American National Museum. In all, more than 70 archives are expected to be represented.

Golden Gate Bridge History First Hand

Wednesday, October 3, 2012, 6:00 p.m.

Golden Gate Bridge History First Hand

Free event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco

RSVP at ggbhistory.eventbrite.com

Come hear Bob David, an architect and photographer and a long time Bridge District employee, informal historian and archivist of the Bridge. He began working for the Bridge 39 years ago, during which time he has photo documented various construction projects including the Bridge redecking project in the 1980s and the still ongoing Seismic Retrofit project. He will also describe his personal journey to meet the architects and artists of the bridge and uncover their work, some of which is manifest in the current exhibit, for which he acted as curatorial advisor. Bob David will be in conversation with Jessica Hough, curator of A Wild Flight of the Imagination.

California Wool Growers Association finding aid

Cheryl Ann Holt, Miss Wool California, ca. 1968. California Wool Growers Association photograph collection (PC 014), PC 014.002.tif.

The California Historical Society is pleased to announce the completion of the processing of the California Wool Growers Association photography collection and the publication of its finding aid on the Online Archive of California.  The sheep industry has long been an integral part of California’s rich agricultural history and the photographs in this collection demonstrate the California Wool Growers Association’s (CWGA) active role in the industry as advocates for sheep ranchers, proud sponsors of agricultural events such as livestock shows and symposiums, and promoters of wool and lamb products. 

The collection, dating from the early 1900s to the mid-1980s, contains photographs, negatives, slides, contact sheets, banquet camera photographs, transparencies, ephemera, correspondence, promotional materials, press releases, and newsletters collected by the CWGA for use in publication or possible publication in the association's journal California Livestock News.

The collection was processed in conjunction with the California Historical Society’s upcoming exhibit I See Beauty in this Life: A Photographer Looks at 100 Years of Rural California.  Featuring roughly 150 photographs, I See Beauty in This Life brings together writer and photographer Lisa M. Hamilton’s large-scale color prints and her selections from California Historical Society’s vast photography collections, including many images culled from the California Wool Growers Association photography collection.

I See Beauty in this Life: A Photographer Looks at 100 Years of Rural California will run from October 28, 2012 until March 24, 2013 in the California Historical Society galleries.  The finding aid for the California Wool Growers Association photography collection can be accessed through the Online Archive of California (http://www.oac.cdlib.org/) or you may search the California Historical Society’s online catalog (http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/).

African-American man sweeping wool, undated. California Wool Growers Association photograph collection (PC 014), PC 014.015.tif.

  

Slim Pickens, guest auctioneer at Red Bluff bull sale, 1960. California Wool Growers Association photograph collection (PC 014), PC 014.015.tif.

Les Bruhn, Bodega Bay, with “Queen”, won 2^nd place, 26^th annual Fox Western International Sheep Dog Trials at California Ram Sale, Sacramento, 1964. California Wool Growers Association photograph collection (PC 014), PC 014.002.tif.

--- Jaime Henderson, Project Archivist

The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds

September 26, 2012,  6:00 PM

The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds

Book Signing and Discussion with John Muir Laws

Free event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street,San Francisco

RSVP at drawingbirds.eventbrite.com/.

Drawing is a way of training yourself to see. Drawing birds helps you to slow down and observe nature more carefully. In his book, The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds, John Muir Laws demonstrates step by step techniques to help you quickly sketch birds in the field or to accurately depict them in the studio. Join us for a book signing and discussion of nature study, birding, and improving your observation skills. Laws will demonstrate his approach to drawing birds and give tips to help you in your own sketching.

Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

Saturday, September 29, 2012, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

California Historical Society is proud to partner with Smithsonian Magazine for this yearly promotion offering free admission to two adults to our gallery when presenting a Museum Day Ticket.  Other neighborhood participating museums include the Museum of Craft of Folk Art, the Society of California Pioneers, the Cartoon Art Museum and many more.  For more information, and to sign up for your ticket visit smithsonianmag.com/museumday.