Sac History Happenings

The California State Library Foundation, though its membership fees and outside contributions, helps support the programs, services, and collections of the State Library. One of the benefits of foundation membership is receipt of its California State Library Foundation Bulletin, which is "published when [they] are able," usually two or three times a year. Copies are available to the public for purchase in the library's California History Room, but past and present issues can also be viewed online at http://www.cslfdn.org/pub.html

The current issue of the Bulletin available online is number #99 which, like the rest, features numerous articles of historical interest tied in to the library and its collections. The lead feature is on Gold Rush era San Francisco musicians Stephen C. Massett and Joseph F. Atwill, and includes contemporary sheet music from the California collection. Following is an article on Jack London's White Fang by former Talisman Press proprietor Robert Greenwood, whose analysis of the novel is complemented by stunning photographs from the library's collection depicting its 1898 Klondike Gold Rush setting. And not only does the library own a presentation copy of the book signed by London, but its special collections also contain the Talisman Press archives.

Another article in Bulletin #99 highlights trade card and citrus crate labels donated to the State Library from the collection of the late Dean L. Mawdsley, dating back to a pre-computer era when advertising and commercial art was hand-created by skilled artists (an amazing Sunkist California Dream orange crate label is featured on the Bulletin's cover). The donation of former State Librarian Gary E. Strong's California mystery book collection is highlighted, and in an article on the October 4, 2010 "Snapshot Day" to gather State Library usage data, library regulars will recognize some of the smiling faces depicted.

Many will find interesting the article in Bulletin #99 which relates the successful efforts of library staff members Vincent Beiderbecke and Matthew Bartok to photograph the Maynard Dixon mural Pageant of Tradition, on the wall of Gillis Hall in the old Library and Courts Building at 914 Capitol Mall, undertaken at a time when the room had been cleared prior to the structure's renovation. This is a fascinating story about the challenges involved in building a tracking, dolly, and lighting setup addressing the specific circumstances of this project. 

Shown here are photos of Gillis Hall in the old Library and Courts Building showing Dixon's mural and the system developed to photograph it, the Sunkist label on the cover of California State Library Foundation Bulletin #99, and a photo of Jack London from the California History Room collection.