It was like a pub crawl for history buffs – without the crawl. Saturday was the first ever Archives Crawl in Sacramento, an event where four leading historical research facilities highlighted their offerings to the general public. For five hours the California State Archives, the California State Library, the Sacramento Central Library and the Center for Sacramento History opened their doors, their files and their secret vaults to the general public. All of the information on display Saturday, can be seen for free but other than serious historians few people ever take advantage of the resources. For those who missed the crawl, here were some of the highlights: Mugshots: One of the popu

On Wednesday, May 4th, the Center for Sacramento History, in association with the Sacramento History Foundation, will host a panel discussion with the authors of the recent book, Remaking California: Reclaiming the Public Good. The panel will delve into the causes of California’s governmental gridlock, the effects on its citizens and environment, and prospects for restoring a healthy democracy. The event, Remaking California: Breaking Political Gridlock, will be held at the Jean Runyon Little Theater in Memorial Auditorium (1515 J Street, Sacramento); doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. The event is open to the public; a $5.00 donation is requested at the door.

On Thursday, October 21st, the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) and California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) will unveil a new self-guided walking tour of Central Oak Park. The brochure highlights the community’s architectural and historical significance. The evening will include an address by the brochure’s author, Dr. Robin Datel, a professor in CSUS’ Geography Department. The lecture will be held at the historic Guild Theater in Oak Park (2828 35th Street at Broadway); doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The 32-page walking tour brochure includes historic photographs of nearly forty selected locations with

Throwing a Fourth of July celebration? Your fellow Americans have some tips, ranging from home-grown parades and potlucks to Elvis impersonators, dunk tanks and old-school amusements. This week, a handful of Sacramentans offered ideas on how to have fun and maybe even save a little cash this holiday with celebrations as diverse as the country. Organizing your own Independence Day parade topped the list of suggestions. Processions can be as small and impromptu as a clanging pots-and-pans parade of kids and adults moseying around the block or as big as a community parade with marching bands and dozens of floats closing down streets. Jeff Dominguez, who owns Exit Realty West in Midtown, i

The largest storm in California's recorded history peaked in January 1862, turning the Sacramento Valley into a 250- to 300-mile-long inland sea. Since the previous winter, Sacramento had received 400 percent of its annual average rainfall. The storm moved as far inland as Tennessee, slowing down troop movements in the Civil War. After 10 inches of rain in December 1861, Sacramento newspapers declared Christmas canceled. By January 1862, steamboats sailed through what is now Old Sacramento, rescuing people from their homes, and boat-makers charged inflated prices to capitalize on the new demand. On Jan. 10, newly elected Governor Leland Stanford had to travel to the Capitol via boat for

A local foundation wants to create a program to allow public guided tours of Old Sacramento’s underground sidewalks. The Historic Old Sacramento Foundation is pitching the idea to the City Council Tuesday. The City Council will decide whether the city should loan the foundation $185,000 to start the program. “The tours will be high-quality presentations drawn from extensive original historic research,” according to a report from the Center for Sacramento History. “No two tours will be identical.” The tour program, which would be held on summer weekends, would be a tourist attraction and a boon for Old Sacramento, the report says. Read the proposal for the tour program here.   Kathlee

The story of Sacramento's rapid development from remote frontier city to hub of the modern Central Valley is rich and storied. It's easy to forget that 65 years ago trolley cars criss-crossed Sacramento's bustling streets. Not too long before that, areas such as East Sacramento and Land Park were unincorporated farmland. Since 1953, the Center for Sacramento History, the city and county's official archive, has collected and preserved artifacts that tell Sacramento's colorful story. But it's not just a repository. The center allows researchers to duplicate its vast collection of video, photographs and documents for a modest fee. Recently it partnered with Zazzle, an Internet company, to

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 callin