Sac History Happenings

California Mission Studies Association, a group "dedicated to the study and preservation of the California Missions, presidios, pueblos, ranchos and their Native American, Hispanic and Early American past," is holding its annual conference in San Rafael this year.

The three-day program consists of presentation of scholarly papers and tours of nearby historic sites.

The conference site is Mission San Rafael Arcangel, the 20th California Mission founded in 1817 by Father Vicente de Sarria.

What: California Mission Studies Association 29th Annual Conference
Where: Mission San Rafael Arcángel, 1104 Fifth Ave. San Rafael
When: Feb. 17-19
Cost: registration fee $85; students $30.
For more info: conference web site

PHOTO CREDIT: A view of Mission San Rafael in downtown San Rafael from Albert Park. 2008 Sacramento Bee photograph by Michael Allen Jones

The next general meeting of the Elk Grove Historical Society includes a presentation by local historian William Burg speaking on streetcars and electric railroads that served Sacramento, its suburbs and nearby Northern California cities.

Burg will illustrate his lecture with historic photos and postcards documenting the golden age of intraurban and interurban mass transit that lasted from 1870 to 1947.

An expert in the history of urban development and transportation, William Burg is author of Sacramento's Streetcars, Sacramento's Southside Park and Then and Now: Sacramento, and is a staff writer for Midtown Monthly magazine.

What: "Sacramento's Streetcars," a lecture by William Burg
Where: Elk Grove Farm Bureau, 8970 Elk Grove Blvd #A.
When: Jan. 16, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Cost: free
For more info: (916) 686-8336 or Elk Grove Historical Society

Event flyer

PHOTO CREDIT: A streetcar on K St., looking east from 10th St. Sacramento Bee file photograph

If you're the type of person that enjoys wrenching on classic autos, then the California Automobile Museum (CAM) has an upcoming workshop for you! This Saturday, June 11, 2011, CAM is offering a six-hour course is muscle car maintenance.

According to the sacramento365.com event calendar, the class "teaches tune up for '60s and '70s era muscle cars...reviews include the cranking system, engine condition, ignition and advance, base timing, fuel system performance tests, and service tests."

The course is certain to offer plenty of helpful tips for souping up your vehicle, plus it's a great way to meet like-minded car buffs and to support your local history museum community.

The California Auto Museum is located at 2200 Front Street, Sacramento, 95818. The class takes place on Saturday, June 11, 2011 from 9am to 3pm. Tickets are $85 for non-members, $75 for members. For additional information call: (916) 442-6802 or visit the museum website at: http://calautomuseum.org/

All aboard the Volunteer Express!

Both the California State Railroad Museum and Old Sacramento State Historic Park are looking for folks 18 and older to give of their time this summer sharing tales of California's railroading and Gold Rush past with tourists.

Applications are due May 31, and all volunteer candidates will be screened.

Orientation begins June 25.

Volunteers are expected to spend 84 hours a year "on the job." Hours are flexible.

To learn more about the program, call the Railroad Museum's volunteer training coordinator at (916) 324-7593 or go to www.csrmf.org

-- Dixie Reid

Last night the Old Sacramento State Historic Park unveiled its long-term development plan. As The Bee's Cathy Locke reported today, this "Draft Preferred Alternative" emphasizes the Gold Rush Era when thousands of fortune-seekers descended on the city.

This ambitious proposal includes a two-tiered exhibit displaying buried buildings of the 1840s-50s below ground, as well as structures of the 1870s at street level. In addition it envisions an excursion train running 17 miles to Hood.

A copy of the Draft Preferred Alternative -- PowerPoint Presentation and Graphics -- has just been posted on the OSSHP website. The public may submit comments about the plan in writing by May 6. These may be mailed to California State Parks, Capital District, 111 I St., Sacramento, CA 95814, or emailed to osshp@parks.ca.gov. Please use the online Comment Card form.

A draft general plan and environmental impact report will be prepared and released next spring for a 45-day comment period. The general plan and environmental report will then be submitted to the California Park and Recreation Commission for approval.

PHOTO CREDIT: The open space next to the California State Railroad Museum would be the site of the two-tiered historic street display. 2011 Sacramento Bee photo by Randy Pench.

The Southern Pacific shops at Sacramento, the oldest and largest of the railroad, are the focus of this month's general membership meeting of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

Historian Bob Pecotich, author of Southern Pacific's Sacramento Shops: Incubator of Innovation, will lecture on the enormously productive facility which "built or rebuilt hundreds of steam and diesel locomotives, and thousands of freight and passenger cars, along with extensive work on passenger and official cars, in its history from 1868 to 1990."

Pecotich is also co-author of Southern Pacific Steam Pictorial, Vols. 1 & 2, which are heavily illustrated with photographs and statistics on dozens of vintage steam locomotives.

What: Sacramento's SP Railroad Shops
When: Tuesday, April 26, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Building, 5380 Elvas Ave., Sacramento.
Cost: Free for SCHS members and the general public.
For more information: 916-443-6265 or www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Here's a compelling example of when scientists look to history for insights on a present problem.

The U.S. Geological Survey just released the results of a two-year study which assesses the impact of a "worst-case" storm on California. To build their disaster scenario, researchers examined the largest storms of the past, including the 1861-62 deluge that dumped 30 inches of rain over a 45 day period. It transformed the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys into an inland sea some 250-300 miles in length. Flood waters inundated much of Sacramento, trapping citizens in their homes and destroying much of the commercial area. People used rowboats to navigate the city,

Bee environment writer Matt Weiser has been covering the USGS effort. His latest story is accompanied by four dramatic photos of Sacramento taken during the the great flood of 1861-62.

IMAGE CREDIT: Illustrated leaf from newspaper; depicts effect of flood on J Street, Sacramento, numerous individuals in boats. Exact source and date of clipping unknown. Center for Sacramento History.

The Conference of California Historical Societies will host its first-ever workshop in Sacramento. It will focus on best practices for operating a local history groups, including fund-raising, board management and preservation. Representatives of the California Office of Historical Preservation will be presenting.

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wed., Feb. 2, 2011.
Place: Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical History Museum, 5380 Elvas Ave., Sacramento.
Cost: is $30 for CCHS members and $45 for nonmembers (includes lunch).
Register by: Jan. 28.

CCHS (based in Claremont, Calif.) was founded in 1954 as a "federation of historical societies, museums, libraries, and other history-oriented groups and individuals.helps historians, and others who are interested in history, to connect and share information -- joining efforts to preserve records, artifacts, sites, and buildings." It also consults with local societies and small museums on management, acquisition, preservation and restoration.

Incidentally, the CCHS web site contains some important online resources, including articles, PDF copies of the California Historian Magazine and some beautiful vintage photo collections from places around the state.

PHOTO CREDIT: Early Main St. in Stockton. (Alice van Ommeren, author of Stockton in Vintage Postcards.)

The Florin Historical Society will install new officers and present merit awards at a midday event on Saturday, Jan. 15, at The Promised Lodge, 7145 McComber St.

Social Hour begins at 11:30, lunch at 12 noon. Lunch costs $15 per person. There will be a raffle with some great prizes.

Mail your reservation by Jan. 8 to: Florin Historical Society, 7145 McComber St., Florin, CA 95828. Call Cindy Russell, 916-230-2360, or Ellen Tannehill, 916-947-9268, for more information.

Event flyer