Sacramento, CA – On Friday, December 4, 2009, the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) will unveil a new photographic exhibition, Red Menace! The Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935. The exhibition documents Communist farm labor organizers on trial in Sacramento for attempting to “overthrow the government.” The evening will include an address about the trial by Dr. Kathryn Olmstead, a professor in the History Department at the University of California, Davis. The exhibition reception with light refreshments begins at 6:00 p.m., while the lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. at CSH (551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd, Sacramento). Tickets are $10.00 a person and must be purchased in advance at CSH or by calling (916) 264-7072.

The evening event will also include three behind the scenes tours of the CSH vault or storage area. The storage area is normally closed to the public, however CSH staff will give a guided tour to event ticket holders on a first-come-first served basis. Those wishing to take the tour should indicate this when purchasing tickets.

In 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, seventeen farm labor organizers appeared in a Sacramento courtroom accused of Criminal Syndicalism – the attempt to overthrow the government by violent means. Red Menace! The Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935 depicts the proceedings through Sacramento Bee images, original police arrest photographs, courtroom documents, and Communist literature. The trial captivated Americans from Sacramento to Washington D.C. as it exposed a perceived threat to the American way of life.

Dr. Olmstead is an expert on 20th century U.S. cultural and political history and the author of, Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11 by Oxford University Press. She has written two previous books on secrecy in the U.S. government. Her lecture that evening is entitled, “Blood and Sunshine: Farm workers, Unions, and the Great Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935.” Dr. Olmstead will sign copies of her book, Real Enemies, which will be available for purchase that evening.

For more information please visit www.centerforsacramentohistory.org, or call (916) 264-7072.

CSH’s mission is to foster, stimulate, and promote the study and appreciation of Sacramento’s regional history. Since 1953, it has served the community by acquiring, preserving, exhibiting, and enabling access to the documentary and material culture of the region. CSH is administered by the City of Sacramento and is jointly funded by the City and County of Sacramento.