VOL. 14 NO. 6
JUNE 7,1999
NO MEETING IN JUNE
As announced in the May newsletter, there will be no general meeting in June, the next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday evening, September 21, 1999.
HALF A CENTURY OF FASHION TO BE DISPLAYED
During July and August your Historical Society will be putting on an exhibit cooperation with the Community Light Opera and Theatre Association. Site of the exhibit will be the Sylvia Winslow Gallery of the Maturango Museum.
The exhibit, entitled ěDressing for the Decade ó American fashion, 1900-1950,î will open on July 10 and run through Aug. 25. Six decades of apparel will be shown, from the elaborate gowns of the 1900s through the simpler styles of the teens, flapper dresses of the í20s, slinky styles influenced by the film goddesses of the í30s, the ěRosie the Riveterî apparel of the í40s, to the short flared skirts and nipped-in waists of the 1950s. Of special interest are several beautiful wedding gowns, complete with photos of the brides.
The exhibit is being coordinated by Liz Babcock, with help from Judy Ditzler, Bruce Wertenberger, and numerous local clothing collectors who have agreed to loan some of their treasures for the occasion.
The museumís Gallery Committee will host a reception for the exhibit from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 9...........Liz Babcock
RECRUITING YOUNGER PEOPLE
The Board of Directors, for some time now, has been discussing the recruitment of younger people into the Society. The future of our organization lies in the participation of the younger set and their parents if we are to survive in the long run. Whether it be Grade-schoolers, High Schoolers, or College level students we must take action to get them involved. Presented below are some ideas which have been discussed by the Board and which we would like to present to the membership for comment and response:
a. It is proposed that each grade-school student taking the tour through Sand Canyon be offered an Honorary membership with the permission of their parents. This may certainly plant the seeds of historical interest. There would be no enrollment fees and they would receive a newsletter especially designed for their level of education. This would be a fine start for the youngsters to get started in local history.
b. The second level of recruitment would be the High School and College level students. If they are not members through their family membership, the Society would offer a membership for $5 until they reach the age of 21. As a reasonable adjunct to this scenario, it could come to pass that the leader of the student/younger set body have representation on the Board of Directors. This would allow for input from the younger generation and respond to their interests. We Seniors may just learn something from this participation. Another area of interest to the organization is that some of these young people may have grandparents/great-grandparents or other relatives with local historical knowledge and therefore could contribute to the Oral History portion of our Society. What a wonderful way to share!
c. Of course the recruitment of parents is still a consideration for all of us. We would dearly like to have more members to share in our historical interests. We offer the old adage "Every member get a member," and also "Every member bring your kids and their kids" to our meetings. We will schedule appropriate historical material with plenty of lead time so that parents may decide when to bring their children. This should be a lot of fun for all.
One possibility of this recruitment effort may be to offer a scholarship to a student with the best paper on local history. Another would be to set up a history page on the Internet with local participation and monitoring. We are exploring a number of ideas along this line.
We welcome and solicit feedback from all of you with regard to these ideas. It is hoped that we can start to put some of these things into effect this Fall /Winter. This program could be a marvelous thing for all of us. Point of Contact for this effort is: John Faron (375-9516). Let's hear your thoughts and ideas. ...........John Faron
FROM THE PRESIDENT
According to the vote tellers it was a very close election and your Board of Directors now has three new members. They are: George Silberberg, Susan Hueber and Charlotte Paulsen. George and Susan will each be serving a two-year term, and Charlotte a one year term. Three directors were reelected for two year terms: Chet Creider, Fred Weals and Bruce Wertenberger. Director duties can be found in the list of directors on page four.
At our organizational meeting the week after our annual meeting, the following officers were elected: Lou Pracchia, President; George Silberberg, Vice President; Bruce Wertenberger, Secretary and Fred Weals, Treasurer.
In this month's issue we are including a very informative article about preservation. Article II, Section 2 of our Bylaws outlines the role our society is to play in support and promotion of preservation efforts. At present we are fulfilling this obligation through working with the BLM to acquire National Trail status for the Bullion Road. I bring this Bylaw stipulation and enclosed preservation article to your attention so that you can consider what other undertaking should become part of your society's effort. Your suggestions will be most welcome, and YES you will be asked to help.
Have a nice summer---lou
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
At the May annual meeting the following people were named to be the
Nominating Committee for the coming year: Kathy Armstrong, John DiPol
and Harold Platzek.
CALIFORNIA'S HISTORIC PRESERVATION MOVEMENT
By Karen Spring, Publisher of the Old California Gazette, San Diego, CA
(Reprinted by special permission)
Widespread public interest in California history can be traced largely to interest in the great California gold rush. That phase of the California story is so dramatic and unusual that people everywhere have been fascinated by it.
Even those who actually participated in the gold rush seem to have been impressed by its historical importance, for despite all the excitement and turmoil, it was a rather self-conscious moment. History was clearly being made, and many a 49'er or other pioneer was fully aware that he or she was participating in a saga the whole world was watching and would long remember.
This historical self-awareness was expressed in many ways including place names that commemorated both immediate gold rush realities and the earlier Spanish-Mexican era that was being displaced. It was also expressed by the formation of the Society of California Pioneers in 1850 and by the incorporation of the Historical Society of California in 1852.
In 1853 perhaps the first official state expenditure on behalf of historic preservation occurred when painter William S. Jewett received $5,000 from the California Legislature for a portrait of John Sutter, one of the state's most famous pioneers. Ironically, even as the painting went on display in the state capitol, Sutter himself was rapidly being stripped of his vast holdings in the Sacramento Valley. Still only 50 years old, he was in effect already an historic artifact, a rather elegant, charming, and harmless reminder of an era that had ended literally overnight with James Marshall's discovery of gold in the tail-race of Sutter's Mill at Coloma.
Renewed interest in historical matters was shown during the 1870's by the revival of the California Historical Society and by the creation of several new organizations including the Native Sons of the Golden West. The adventurous young men of 1849 were getting on in years, and a wistful quality surrounded them; in most cases the extravagant hopes and dreams of earlier years had fallen far short of fulfillment.
Even James Marshall, the very man whose discovery of gold had set off the great California rush of 1849, had failed to prosper. By the 1870s he had fallen on hard times. Paying tribute to Marshall and his momentous role in the history of California, the legislature of 1872 voted to provide him with a pension of $200 per month. This was cut to $100 and stopped altogether in 1878 as a result of his repeated and bad-tempered fits of public drunkenness.
Brooding and bitter, Marshall was difficult to honor during his lifetime. Soon after his death in 1885 the Native Sons of the Golden West set out to memorialize him and his discovery through the creation of the state's first official historic landmark which became a granite monument and bronze statue of Marshall erected at his grave overlooking his gold discovery site.
Interest in California history and historic preservation continued to mount throughout the 1880's and '90s. Restoration work had begun on the old Spanish mission at Carmel, and the subsequent location and marking of the grave of Padre Junipero Serra stirred surprisingly widespread public interest.
Ruins of Sutter's Fort in Sacramento were threatened with obliteration in 1888 by a proposal to extend a city street straight through the middle of the site. The Native Sons of the Golden West raised the money necessary to acquire and restore the fort, and opened it to the public as a state historic monument.
Rising interest in the preservation of historic sites was also evident in the southern part of the state where the Southern California Landmarks Club was formed in 1894 to rescue some of the great old California mission structures.
The formation of other historical associations included the Historical Society of Southern California in 1884; the Native Daughters of the Golden West in 1886; and the California Historical Society, which was reorganized once again in 1887.
The purpose of all this historical interest and activity varied from the genealogical to the philosophical, from the silly and superficial to the most thoughtful and scholarly evaluation of past events.
Around the turn of the century the importance of local history was more widely recognized, and some people were convinced that public interest in historical matters could best be generated by systematically marking, identifying, celebrating and preserving historic sites and buildings. Formal recognition of historic landmarks would help to keep the past alive not just for professional historians, but for all of society, generation after generation. As this view gained popular support, it was also recognized that most of the buildings and other sites best suited to serve as landmarks were rapidly disappearing.
Responding to this crisis early in 1902, the Native Sons of the Golden West created a Landmarks Committee to "investigate and report upon the condition of the remaining historic buildings throughout the state, and to suggest practical methods for their preservation and restoration."
The committee called together some of the many organizations and asked
them to come together and call themselves the California Historical Landmark
League with a mission to "preserve the historic landmarks of the state
- notably old missions; to place in appropriate places memorial tablets
commemorative of historic places and events; encourage historical research;
and to use all proper means to establish a chair of California history
at the University.î
The league's fund-raising campaign got off to a running start when
it turned over $1,100. Funds accumulated even more rapidly when William
Randolph Hearst put the full resources of the San Francisco Examiner and
the rest of his newspaper empire squarely behind the league's campaign.
The results were so gratifying that Hearst was named principal trustee
of all funds.
Moving on a broad front and with enthusiastic support, the league sponsored legislation to preserve Monterey's treasures which included, Colton Hall, (site of the California. Constitution 1847); Mission San Antonio Padua; Mission of San Francisco Solano (landing place of Junipero Serra); and the historic Russian settlement known as Fort Ross.
Women's groups also played an important role in the historic landmark and preservation movement. The drive to preserve Pio Pico's 34-room Mansion in Whittier provided a unique opportunity to capture and portray for later generations something of the gracious lifestyle of California's pastoral pre-gold rush period. (Pico was the last Mexican governor of Alta California).
By 1940 the Native Daughters of the Golden West had out organized the Native Sons to become the citizens' organization dedicated to historical matters - another indication of the strong interest California women have taken in the history of the state.
The most notable of their efforts included the Monterey Custom House; the Pioneer Monument (often called the Donner Monument); San Pasqual Battlefield (San Diego); the Bear Flag Monument (Sonoma Plaza, the site of the tragic 1859 duel between Broderick and Terry near San Francisco); the Marshall Blacksmith Shop, (near Placerville); and Petaluma Adobe, (the great old adobe building that was the center of life on Mariano Vallejo's vast rancho).
Although the Native Sons and Daughters remain the front runners of historic
preservation, most of the other alliances have since disappeared. Although
the giant organizations like the California Historical Society, San Diego
Historical Society and Los Angeles Historical Society continue to thrive
- there are currently five hundred additional small, volunteer-based historical
societies throughout California, representing a vast number of restoration
projects. Hundreds of these non-profit organizations throughout the state
continue to dedicate themselves to the preservation of their communities
through documentation and photographs.
DIRECTORS
Lou Pracchia, President, Co-Dir, Mbrshp
375-7385 e-mail: ldpracc@ridgenet.net
George G. Silberberg, Vice President,Co- Dir. Programs
377-5241 e-mail: ggs@ridgenet.net
Bruce Wertenberger, Secretary, Liaison to Mat. Mus. Bd.
375-2369 e-mail: brucew@ridgenet.net
Fred Weals,Treasurer,Co. Dir. Programs & Mbrshp.
375-5249 e-mail: weals@ridgenet.net
Liz Babcock, Dir. Exhibits & P.R.
375-7900 e-mail: lizbab@ridgenet.net
John Faron - Dir. Youth Programs, Dir. at Large
375-9516 e-mail: jfaron@ridgenet.net
Susan Hueber, Dir. History and Collections
375-2165 e-mail: hueber@ridgenet.net
Charlotte Paulsen, Dir. Hospitality
375-8217 e-mail: paulsen@ridgenet.net
Bruce Wertenberger and Chet Creider (375-5725) Bulletin Co-Editors e-mail: ccreider@ridgecrest.ca.us
HSUMD Web site: http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~matmus/Hist.html