Type Tuesday - Des Buch Druckers Schatz Kästlein

Today we showcase Des Buch Druckers Schatz Kästlein, published by Bauerschen Gisserci  (also known as the Bauer Type Foundry) in 1928. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist
jhenderson@calhist.org

The “Nibbling Arts” at San Francisco’s 1915 World’s Fair

Postcard, Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915

California Historical Society, CHS2014.1791

The following account was written by fair historian Laura A. Ackley and is excerpted from her book San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 (Berkeley: Heyday/California Historical Society, 2014). San Francisco’s Jewel City is a companion publication to the California Historical Society’s exhibition City Rising: San Francisco and the 1915 World’s Fair and winner of the California Book Award, Gold Medal for Californiana.

THE PALACE OF FOOD PRODUCTS

Described as the “temple of the tin can and the food package,” the Palace of Food Products truly could have been nicknamed the “Castle of Cuisine,” the “Stronghold of Sustenance,” or, as a local humorist dubbed it, the “Palace of Nibbling Arts.” Patrons crowded the booths where they could fill up on a variety of free samples, many produced on-site. One young lady wrote to her grandmother, “There are all sorts of demonstrations of jello, shredded wheat, canned fish, crackers, and so on, so that if you had patience enough to wait for the talk and then nibble a thimbleful of food, you really could get quite a meal in time.” (1)

Carl Haber's Genius

On Thursday, December 5, physicist Carl Haber will visit the California Historical Society for the organization's final program in its 'Historic Techniques' series. And the series couldn't end on a higher note than by featuring Haber, a MacArthur 'Genius' award winner for his IRENE/3D project.

Last week, KQED discussed his work restoring the sounds of Native Americans in California.

Below is an excerpt from a piece by Haber in Physics Today that discusses his unique approach to his work.

With the help of techniques first used by particle physicists decades ago, scientists and archivists are preserving our precious aural heritage. Historic sound recordings of the late-19th and early-20th centuries represent a small but diverse snapshot of the world, taken as a great transition was under way. The age of information technology was arriving, and at the same time, traditional experiences and ways of life were being displaced, transformed, or eliminated. In the research sphere, first-generation anthropologists, linguists, and ethnographers—among the earliest researchers to adopt sound recording as a tool for scientific fieldwork—captured bits of that global transition. Instrumental and vocal performances that earlier could only be experienced live—in a theater, a church, a parlor, or by a campfire—could now be experienced over and over; the result was a huge increase in the appreciation and creation of musical and related performing arts. The heroic inventors of recording technology left us their experimental recordings, their apparatus, and their notes, documenting their creative process and the emergence of a modern technology. Early recorded sound is consequently a world treasure.

Nowadays most recorded sound is stored on digital media, but initially sound was stored analogously on a great variety of materials, including foil, lacquer, metal, paper, plastic, shellac, and wax, and in photosensitive emulsion. Recording formats included a variety of undulating grooves, latent images, and polarizations. Also wide ranging are the forms of degradation and damage, including abrasion, breakage, chemical decomposition, delamination, dirt, fading, mold, overplaying, oxidation, peeling, and warping.

The preservation and restoration of sound recordings must deal with all the factors described above and, not surprisingly, presents unique challenges. Several of us at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working in close collaboration with the Library of Congress and others, have studied the problem and developed some solutions. The work described in this Quick Study has allowed researchers and the public to listen to a variety of “unplayable” key historical documents. Still, many media and modes exist that remain to be addressed, and our work is far from done.

 To learn more about Haber and his work, register for the CHS event, HERE.

Type Tuesday - Miller and Richard's Le Naudin series

Today we showcase Le Naudin series from the letter foundry of Miller & Richard. 

Jaime Henderson

Archivist

jhenderson@calhist.org

Yes, Virginia, We Have Another Election Coming Up

First Women to Vote in California, 1912; California Historical Society, CHS2011.559

After a long battle, California finally granted women the right to vote in state elections in October 1911. In this photograph, three of the first women in the state to vote cast their ballots at a poll booth in March 1912. It was not until 1920, with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, that the national fight for women’s suffrage ended. Even then, women were slow to acquire the voting habit, taking about 60 years to equal or exceed the number of male voters casting ballots, according to the Pew Research.   

By Steve Swatt

Voters in many parts of California face another Election Day on November 3 that few are aware of and in which even fewer will participate. We won’t be electing a president or governor, but voters throughout California will be deciding local, nonpartisan issues—such as mayor and sheriff in San Francisco, school board members in Palos Verdes and El Segundo, and local taxes in Hermosa Beach and South Pasadena.

Type Tuesday - Halloween Cuts from Empire Type Foundry

Happy Halloween!

featuring cuts from Empire Type Foundry

Jaime Henderson

Archivist/Digital Archivist

jhenderson@calhist.org

This Day in History: The End of the Pony Express

George M. Ottinger, The Last Ride of the Pony Express, 1874; courtesy of Denver Art Museum
In Ottinger’s painting, a Pony Express rider passes a work crew installing lines for the transcontinental telegraph, which initiated the demise of an icon of the Western frontier.

Like today, in 1860 communications mattered. California’s population had reached about 380,000, and with this growth came the demand for faster ways to get news and letters to and from the state. From April 3, 1860 to October 26, 1861, the Pony Express was the West’s fastest means of communication. And as with today’s advances in technology, it soon became obsolete.

Type Tuesday - Fonts for your Halloween Needs!

On the lookout for exceptionally spooky or strange type fonts for your Halloween party invitations or decorations? Look no further than these spectacular fonts showcased in Hazeltine Typesetting Inc.'s 1959 catalog, Library of Type. 

These ornate fonts, dating from the 8th to the 16th century, include German Arabesque and Old English Riband - along with just enough creep factor to suit your Halloween ghosts, goblins, ghouls and guests!

The Hazeltine Typesetting Inc. catalog, Library of Type, has just recently been cataloged.
Drop by the California Historical Society's research library to take a look for yourself. Library hours are Wednesday through Friday, 1:00 to 5:00. 

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist/Digital Archivist
jhenderson@calhist.org

Anton Wagner's Images of Los Angeles

The California Historical Society is pleased to offer a sneak preview of images from our inaugural digitization project - the photographs of Anton Wagner, a PhD candidate at the University of Kiel, Germany, who came to Los Angeles to conduct research on the city’s growth from a dusty town into a metropolis. Wagner's photographs of Los Angeles between the years of 1932-1933 depict the Depression's impact on the rapidly growing urban landscape and demonstrate the socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural diversities of the Los Angeles region. 

We share only five of Wagner's images of Los Angeles, but stay tuned! The culmination of our pilot digitization project, scheduled in March 2016, will include all of Wagner's 438 photographs of Los Angeles' streets, neighborhoods, businesses, industries and landscapes and inhabitants. 

Looking west from Wall St. between 8th and 9th Sts., Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society. 

 Looking north on Wall St. from between 8th and 9th Sts., Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Drive-in market, northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Hamilton Dr.,  Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Looking northwest from west of Mission Rd., pipe yard in foreground, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

Buddhist temple, Terminal Way, Terminal Island, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

N. Bunkerhill St. from Boston, looking north at rooming houses where Mexicans live, Los Angeles: 1932-1933 by Anton Wagner, PC17, California Historical Society.  

If you would like to know more about Anton Wagner and his photographs take a look at an earlier blog post written CHS' own, Shelly Kale.

Jaime Henderson,
Archivist/Digital Archivist
jhenderson@calhist.org

Moments in Time

[Jim Jones preaching before congregation], circa 1973-1977, Photographs from Peoples Temple records, California Historical Society, MSP 3800.01.0019

by Eugene Smith

Eugene Smith joined Peoples Temple in 1973 and lived in the Temple’s San Francisco commune before leaving for Jonestown in fall 1977. He was in Georgetown on November 18 clearing items from customs. Numerous members of his family – including his mother, wife, and infant son – died in Jonestown.

Learn more about People's Temple from and view items from CHS's Peoples Temple Records Collection on October 21, 2015 at 3:30 PM as we welcome David Talbot, author of Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love; Marshall Kilduff, San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Writer: Eugene Smith, author of a forthcoming book about Peoples Temple, Jonestown, and Jim Jones from a young Black man's point of view; and John Cobb, an author who was born into Peoples Temple and was a member until it's end on 11/18/78. This event is part of the 11th annual One City One Book event; this year's selection is David Talbot's Season of the Witch. 

Tickets to the event can be purchased from: OneCityOneBookPeoplesTemple.eventbrite.com/.

The piece below is an excerpt from a book by Mr. Smith.

When we were not working, we were swimming, running, going to meetings, loading and unloading the buses, seeing to the Seniors, playing with the kids, and this all started at around 0600 hours and lasted to about 2300, depending on whether the meeting was in San Francisco, LA, or Redwood Valley.