Sac History Happenings: Sacramento Public Library shares history through Flickr

Sac History Happenings

News and developments in Sacramento and California history

March 3, 2011

Sacramento Public Library shares history through Flickr

The Sacramento Public Library joined Flickr this week with a fun selection of photographs spanning eight decades of the Library's history. The featured images capture library life from 1908 through 1988, and include views of early reading rooms, card catalogs, librarians, library programs and community events. Visitors to the Library's Flickr photostream can revisit library branches no longer in operation and see a few examples of obsolete library technology.

All of the images featured on the Sacramento Public Library Flickr page were selected from the Sacramento Public Library records, which is comprised blueprints, clippings, reports, minutes, scrapbooks, newsletters, photographs, and more - about 150 linear ft. of material covering past and present library branches and dating back to the founding of the Sacramento Library Association in 1857.

PHOTO CREDIT: Girls in Japanese dress celebrate the Japanese Feast of Girls in the Children's Room at the Main Library, 1929 (Top right); Irma Grimshaw mans the Information Desk at the Main Library, 1964 (Bottom right). Both photographs are courtesy of the Sacramento Public Library.

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California and Sacramento have a long, rich, vibrant history. And our region is blessed with an abundance of historical resources maintained by museums, libraries, archives and societies. This blog aims to alert readers to the latest developments in local/state historical education and research.

Send tips concerning upcoming exhibits, tours, lectures and meetings, as well as new books, magazine articles and online collections to the blog's contributors.

The Contributors:

Michael Dolgushkin

Michael Dolgushkin is Manuscript Librarian at the California State Library History Section. He is co-author of San Francisco's California Street Cable Cars and is a frequent contributor to the California State Library Foundation Bulletin. Contact him at mdolgushkin@library.ca.gov.

Amanda Graham is a Certified Archivist working in the Sacramento Room of the Sacramento Public Library. She earned a BS in History from Southern Oregon University and a MS in Information Studies with an emphasis in archives from The University of Texas at Austin. Contact her at agraham@saclibrary.org.

Pete Basofin is Director of Editorial Research at The Sacramento Bee. He previously worked at The St. Petersburg Times and Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune. Contact him at pbasofin@sacbee.com.

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