Gold Rush Inspired Fashion Show

Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 7:30 p.m.

Gold Rush Inspired Fashion Show

$5 Suggested Donation, Free to California Historical Society Members

The City College of San Francisco Fashion Department and California Historical Society present Gold Rush on October 26. View Gold Rush inspired fashion from local designers. Reception begins at 7:30pm with fashion show to follow at 8:00pm. Please RSVP to rsvp@calhist.org. Event is at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco.

Downieville

            My husband and I spent last weekend in Downieville, a tiny old town set like a glittering gem high in the northern Sierras. Here, the Downie River flows into the north fork of the Yuba River, as delicate mists rise and fall from the surrounding mountains. The spirit of the place is one of overwhelming sublimity. The story of Downieville’s human presence, however, is marked by volatile transformations – ecological, economic, and demographic – much like the history of California itself.

View of the Downie River Bridge. It was here that a Mexican woman (Juanita or Josepha) was murdered by a Downieville lynch mob in 1851.

           Downieville was named after William Downie, a Scot who arrived at “The Forks” (where the two rivers converge) in November 1849. His diverse company included Jim Crow, a “Kanaka” or Hawaiian; seven African Americans; a Native American; and Michael Deverney, an Irish boy. At Durgan Flat, Jim Crow discovered gold in a pot in which he had a boiled a freshly caught salmon. (That this noble fish once swam so high into the Sierras is a sad reminder of the destruction of the California salmon runs.) By 1851, five thousand immigrants had descended on Downieville to mine its rivers and dry diggings for gold. Mining continued long after the Gold Rush came to an end, much of it conducted by Sierra County’s once-significant Chinese community.

            CHS’ library and archives has many photographs, ephemeral items, and other materials that document the changing history of the Downieville area. One of the most fascinating is a photograph album of Chinese men and women in Sierra County, dated between 1890 and 1930 and pictured here:

The album was kept by justice of the peace John T. Mason and includes 176 identification portraits of Chinese men and women, many of whom lived in Downieville. Presumably kept as an informational tool to aid in the enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act, this album now serves as a rich and precious source of historical and genealogical insight. The guide to this album, which includes the name, occupation, and place of residence of each person photographed, can be found on the Online Archive of California: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt1z09r929

Marie Silva

Archivist & Manuscripts Librarian

Sources consulted for this blog post include:

• James J. Sinnett, Downieville: Gold Town on the Yuba, Mountain House Books, 1983.

• Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch, and William N. Abeloe, Historic Spots in California, Stanford University Press, 2002.

• Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum, http://www.sierranevadavirtualmuseum.com/

The 6th-Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

Saturday, October 22, 2011, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The 6th-Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar

Look for the California Historical Society at the LA History Bazaar . The 6th-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar will take place in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University of Southern California campus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.  

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.

History comes alive once again on Saturday, October 22, 2011, as dozens of Southern California’s rare and archival materials come together at the 6th-annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar.

The daylong event is hosted by the USC Libraries and presented by L.A. as Subject, a research alliance of libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural institutions dedicated to preserving the region’s rich history.

Serious researchers, history buffs, and Californiana enthusiasts will be able to experience a number of Southern California exhibits, documentary film screenings, educational sessions, and other public programming. A distinguishing feature of the bazaar is that unique, private collections are represented alongside materials from large institutions, helping to tell a more complete story of Los Angeles history that includes less-visible archives.

More than 80 exhibitors will be part of this year’s event, including USC Warner Bros. Archives, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Film Archive, the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archive, the Wally G. Shidler Historical Collection of Southern California Ephemera, the Autry National Center Museum of the American West, the LA84 Foundation Sports Library, the Japanese American National Museum, the Gazin Image Archive, the Boyle Heights Historical Society, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, the Filipino American Library, the Los Angeles City Archives, and the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan Presidential libraries.

Women and the Everyday City: Public Space in San Francisco, 1890-1915

Women and the Everyday City: Public Space in San Francisco, 1890-1915

Monday, October 17, 2011, 6:00 p.m.

Book discussion with author Jessica Ellen Sewell

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

In Women and the Everyday City, Jessica Ellen Sewell explores the lives of women in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. A period of transformation of both gender roles and American cities, she shows how changes in the city affected women's ability to negotiate shifting gender norms as well as how women's increasing use of the city played a critical role in the campaign for women's suffrage. Focusing on women's everyday use of streetcars, shops, restaurants, and theaters, Sewell reveals the impact of women on these public places–what women did there, which women went there, and how these places were changed in response to women's presence. Book will be available for purchase at event. RSVP to 415.357.1848, ext. 229 or rsvp@calhist.org.

Century of Landscapes Closing Reception & Yerba Buena Gallery Walk

Tomales is Golden. J. Le Grue

Century of Landscapes Closing Reception & Yerba Buena Gallery Walk

Saturday, October 15, 2011, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Free Event at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco and the surrounding
neighborhood

Meet artists and enjoy the closing reception for A Century of Landscapes: Selections from the California Art Club. You may also take a walk around our gallery's Yerba Buena neighborhood and visit the many participating galleries during the Fall Yerba Buena Gallery Walk. The Gallery Walk will feature free admission and refreshments, along with ample opportunities to experience art. The participating galleries offer a diverse look at contemporary, emerging, and established artists working in a variety of mediums.

California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression

Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 6:00 p.m.

California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression

Book Event with editors Robert Cherny and Mary Ann Irwin and contributor Susan Englander

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

Robert Cherny, Mary Ann Irwin, and Susan Englander discuss their book, California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression. In 1911, as progressivism moved toward its zenith, California granted women the right to vote. However, women’s political involvement in California’s public life did not begin with suffrage, nor did it end there. Across the state, women had been deeply involved in politics long before suffrage, and—although their tactics and objectives changed—they remained deeply involved thereafter. The contributors consider not only white middle-class women’s organizing but also the politics of working-class women and women of color, emphasizing that there was not one monolithic “women’s agenda,” but rather a multiplicity of women’s voices demanding recognition for a variety of causes. Book will be available for purchase at event. RSVP to 415.357.1848, ext. 229 or rsvp@calhist.org.

San Francisco Schuetzen Verein

I have just completed the online finding aid for a wonderful – and oddly lovely – collection, the San Francisco Schuetzen Verein records, which were donated to CHS by Carolyn Kuri (whose grandfather was a member of the Schuetzen Verein) in 1998. CHS would like to thank Tierney Haupt for processing this collection during her enormously productive internship here this summer.

            The San Francisco Schuetzen Verein was founded in August 1859 by Jacob Knell, H. Millemann, and John Reinhart as a militia and shooting society for the city’s new German American residents. In its early days, the organization held shooting tournaments, parades, and eagle-king shoots, as well as regular target practice in Hayes Park. After President Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the Schuetzen Verein patrolled the streets of San Francisco for two days and two nights until they were relieved by federal troops. The organization later evolved into a social and athletic club, sponsoring festivals and events around the Bay Area, with headquarters at the corner of Polk and Turk Streets.

            Dated between 1860 and 1946, the collection contains a wide variety of materials: administrative records, ephemera, publications, and surprisingly ornate artifacts, including a silk badge with gold brocade, embroidered silk sashes, a leather belt, targets with bullet holes, stamps, and an embossed seal press for the San Francisco International Shooting Festival Association. Like other nineteenth-century San Franciscans, members of the Schuetzen Verein had a passion for regalia, parades, and colorful ephemera – perhaps only to be surpassed by their love of the prize shoot.

            This image shows the cover of the San Francisco Schuetzen Verein’s 1909 Golden Jubilee souvenir:

            I love the armed cherub astride a grizzly bear. He squints as he takes aim at a target affixed to a column emblazoned with grape vines. Meanwhile, the sun is setting on the Pacific.

            The link to the online finding aid for the collection can be found here: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt696nf4s4

Marie Silva

Archivist & Manuscripts Librarian

History's Anteroom: Photography in San Francisco 1906 - 1909

Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 5:30 p.m.

History's Anteroom: Photography in San Francisco 1906 - 1909

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

The California Historical Society and William Stout Architecture Annex present authors Rodger Birt and Marvin R. Nathan. They will present and discuss the historical context of History's Anteroom, a collection of vintage photographs made in San Francisco, California, during the years 1906-1909. In April 1906 the San Francisco Bay Area fell victim to a powerful earthquake, and in October 1909 the city hosted a "regional rebirth" with a celebration named the Portola Festival. The photographs and illustrations reproduced here - some only rarely shown or seen now for the first time - have been given a close reading and placed within the specific historical context. The result is a journey back into the early history of the twentieth century and its first great urban catastrophe. Book will be available for purchase at event. Space still available, please RSVP to 415.357.1848, ext. 229 or email rsvp@calhist.org.

Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics

Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics
Book Event with author Steven J. Ross

Thursday, September 15, 2011, 6:00 p.m. at the Lummis Home, 200 E. Avenue 43, Los Angeles,CA
RSVP required, email rsvp@calhist.org or call 415.357.1848, ext. 229.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 6:00 p.m. at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco
RSVP required, email rsvp@calhist.org or call 415.357.1848, ext. 229.


On September 15, 2011, the California Historical Society in partnership with the Historical Society of Southern California presents a lecture and reception with author Steven Ross featuring a discussion of his newly released Hollywood Left and Right:How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics.We hope you can join us for this special event at the Lummis Home in Los Angeles.


If you are in northern California, we hope you can attend this event at the California Historical Society in San Francisco on September 21, 2011 when author Steven J. Ross will also discuss Hollywood Left and Right:How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics.

In Hollywood Left and Right, Steven J. Ross tells a story that has escaped public attention: the emergence of Hollywood as a vital center of political life and the important role that movie stars have played in shaping the course of American politics.  Through compelling larger-than-life figures in American cinema, Hollywood Left and Right reveals how the film industry's engagement in politics has been longer, deeper, and more varied than most people would imagine.  Hollywood Left and Right challenges the commonly held belief that Hollywood has always been a bastion of liberalism. The real story, as Ross shows in this passionate and entertaining work, is far more complicated. An eminent historian of film, Steven J. Ross is recipient of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Scholars Award and author of the prize-winning book, Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America.Hollywood Left and Right will be available for purchase at event.RSVP required, contact 415.357.1848, ext. 229 or email rsvp@calhist.org.

Bernard Maybeck: Architect of Elegance

Thursday, September 8, 2011, 6:00 p.m.
Book Launch with author Mark A. Wilson

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

Architectural historian Mark A. Wilson will present a slide lecture on the life and work of Bernard Maybeck, and sign copies of his new book Bernard Maybeck: Architect of Elegance. The author's 22-year friendship with Maybeck's daughter-in-law, Jacomena Maybeck, gave him unique insights into the life and work of one of America's most important architects. The book includes personal letters and drawings by Maybeck, as well as family photos, many of which have never been seen by the general public. Maybeck's granddaughter, Cherry Maybeck Nittler, wrote the foreword, and there are over 220 color photos of Maybeck's buildings by Joel Puliatti, who did the interior photos for Wilson's previous book Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty.