Old Sacramento invites kids to History Camp
The Sacramento History Museum and the Living History Center invites kids, aged 8-12, to three one-week day camps that explore state and city history through tours and hands-on experiences. Participants...
View ArticleRailtown offers more train rides this holiday weekend
Railtown 1897 SHP will offer additional vintage train rides this long holiday weekend. On all four days, Sierra No. 3, the famous "Movie Star Locomotive" will be taking passengers on excursions through...
View ArticleHistoric Cemetery deciphers fraternal symbolism in next tour
In Sacramento's early days, fraternal orders and secret societies helped to build community and provide services to various immigrant groups. In their next tour, the knowledgeable docents of the...
View ArticleMaidu Museum offers kids archaeology camp
The Maidu Museum is offering a week-long archaeology camp for children ages 8-11. Participants will learn the techniques of the discipline while getting hands-on experience uncovering artifacts from...
View ArticleHave a great Independence Day
IMAGE CREDIT: Sacramento Bee cartoon by Newton Pratt published on July 4, 1938....
View ArticleDustbowl disaster featured in new Capitol exhibit
The State Capitol Museum recently opened a new exhibit on the devastating drought and dust bowl that afflicted Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas and forced 300,000 refugees to migrate to...
View ArticleGold Rush explored in next Sutter’s Fort tour
The discovery of gold in 1848 brought thousands of people to California to seek their fortune. Many of them stayed at Sutter's Fort before heading to the gold fields and John Sutter made a lot of money...
View ArticleOld Sacramento walking tours resume
As interesting as the underground tours are, there's a lot of fascinating things to see above ground in Old Sacramento. Local history fans will enjoy two different walking tours that return this...
View ArticleNew app brings Old Sacramento to your mobile device
Local history meets high tech in the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation's new application for Apple's mobile devices. Old Sacramento -- which works with iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches running iOS 4.3...
View ArticleSan Francisco Bay’s human and natural history examined in new book
The history of San Francisco is not only the story of a great world city, it's also the story of a great body of water that both supported and was impacted by rapid urban growth. In his natural (and...
View ArticleHistoric City Cemetery explores the seemy side of early Sacramento
Early Sacramento's notorious characters are the target of the next Historic City Cemetery tour. Costumed docents will share stories of the "sinners, snake-oil salesmen, crooked lawyers, gamblers,...
View ArticleVintage diesel locomotives featured in weekend excursion rides
Two early diesel-electric locomotives will take center-stage three weekends this summer in Old Sacramento. Western Pacific No. 913 and Southern Pacific No. 6051 will take passengers on the scenic...
View ArticleGet your family treasures evaluated at Folsom fundraiser
Here's an opportunity to get your vintage quilt, jewelry or clothing evaluated and support the Folsom History Museum at the same time. Bring your family treasure to Folsom's historic Sutter St. this...
View ArticleAuthor to speak on secret WWII Japanese submarine program
A secret Japanese submarine program during World War II is the subject of the next "Meet the Author" lecture at the California State Military Museum. This Sunday John Geoghegan will speak about his new...
View ArticleNew book highlights French prospectors in Gold Rush
During the 1848-49 Gold Rush some 30,000 of the 300,000 people who flocked to California in search of wealth were French. Most of them came to the state by sea rather than overland. Their little-known...
View ArticleState Archives behind-the-scenes tours
The California State Archives houses a mind-boggling variety of materials: millions of government documents, thousands of maps, architectural drawings, video and audio recordings, artifacts and...
View ArticleBook details Folsom Prison executions
Author April Moore will discuss and read from her new book, Folsom's 93: The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison's Executed Men, at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St. in...
View ArticlePodcast series spotlights new books in history
This blog is always on the lookout for quality audio and video programs in the field of history. We've mentioned the college lectures supplied by iTunes U and C-SPAN, podcast series such as Back Story...
View Article‘Rosie the Riveter’ remembered in oral history collection
With so many men in serving in the military during World War II, young women moved to the Bay Area to work on the assemble lines that manufactured the guns, ships, tanks and planes needed for the...
View ArticleAutomobile museum car cruise Saturday
Whether you like lowriders, muscle cars, vintage coupes or European sports cars, there will be eye candy for everyone Saturday at the fifth annual California Automobile Museum Car Cruise. About 350...
View ArticleSacramento’s old eateries focus of next cemetery tour
The next Historic City Cemetery gathering will take visitors on a tour of Sacramento's "diners, drive-ins and dives" of yesteryear. Volunteer Eric Bradner will describe every kind of venue -- from...
View ArticleNew book examines the unique radicalism of 1960s San Francisco
A new history of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s explores the influence that geography had on the development of the region's particular style of radical politics and culture. Author Anthony...
View ArticleTruckee celebrates its 150th anniversary
Historians fix the establishment of Truckee with the 1863 opening of Gray's Toll Station, a two-story cabin used to collect fees for a nearby bridge. It was built by Joseph Henry Gray in the 1850s to...
View ArticleHistorian to speak on early Yolo, Solano County farmers
Some of the many prospectors who failed to strike it rich during California's Gold Rush settled along Putah Creek in Yolo and Solano Counties to try their luck at farming and ranching. Their struggle...
View ArticleHeritage Trail showcases Placer County museums
Nineteen Placer County museums from Roseville to Tahoe City will strut their stuff during this weekend's 2013 Heritage Trail tour. The museums are grouped in three "clusters," each close to Interstate...
View ArticleCemetery symbols and Victorian funeral practices
The next tour at Sacramento's Historic City Cemetery uncovers the hidden meaning behind the mysterious symbols that adorn the 19th century headstones. As before, knowledgeable docents in period attire...
View ArticleHistorical river cruise offered during Gold Rush Days
Gold Rush Days, Old Sacramento's premier historical event, is coming Labor Day weekend.. This year, visitors to the four-day festival can enjoy a history-themed cruise on the Sacramento River. These...
View ArticleConference to explore Josiah Royce and California
The life and work of philosopher, teacher and historian Josiah Royce (1855-1916) will be examined during a three-day conference held this weekend at the historic Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley. Royce...
View ArticleNext tour explores early tools and jobs at Sutter’s Fort
In building up a vibrant commercial hub at his fort in Sacramento, John Sutter attracted skilled people of various types: rappers, sawyers, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, rope makers, wagon wrights,...
View ArticleNew book examines ‘unfree’ labor in California’s history
Although California entered the union as a free state and its original constitution prohibited "slavery or involuntary servitude," in practice the treatment of certain workers was "unfree" to varying...
View ArticleGold Rush Days showcase Old Sacramento
Gold Rush Days, Old Sacramento's premier historical fest, thunders into town Labor Day weekend for four days of vintage fun.There will be music, skits, re-enactments, demonstrations, arts and crafts,...
View ArticleSacramento’s postwar renaissance explored in new publication
Prominent local historian and preservationist William Burg has penned a new history of the cultural and political renaissance that followed Sacramento's postwar redevelopment. In the early 1960s...
View ArticleUnderground Sacramento tours continue into the fall
To those who've missed Old Sacramento's popular underground tours this summer: fear not. There are more opportunities to see these important historic sites in September and October. The hour-long,...
View ArticleCemetery tour explores the Capitol’s stories and secrets
The movers, shakers, artisans and common folks who made the the state's Capitol Building a reality are the subject of the next Historic City Cemetery tour. Come hear the stories, scandals and secrets...
View ArticleCheck out your treasures at Folsom’s Antique Evaluation Day
Want to know more about an antique or collectible you own? Here's a chance to get advice from 13 knowledgeable appraisers with expertise in a variety of specialties: quilts, furniture, jewelry,...
View ArticleCelebrate California’s birthday at the State Capitol this Monday
This Monday marks the 163rd anniversary of the the admission of California into the United States. Celebrate this milestone at the State Capitol. Visitors will be treated with live cake and ice cream...
View ArticleHome tour celebrates the Mansion Flats neighborhood
Since 1975 the Sacramento Old City Association has offered docent tours of historic buildings in the Midtown and Downtown areas. This year's event honors the Mansion Flats Neighborhood with an inside...
View ArticleSample local history and local beer at Untapped Sacramento Sept. 12
Where can you learn about the history of Sacramento's beer industry and sample some of the city's best local beers made today? Head to the Center Sacramento History next Thursday for a special,...
View ArticleSo long, but see you at Sacbee’s History Section
Today Sac History Happenings ceases operation as a branded blog. I want to thank Amanda Graham of the Sacramento Public Library and Michael Dolgushkin of the California State Library for their postings...
View ArticleCalifornia’s historic governor’s mansion reopens with flair
The third floor of the California governor’s mansion, which reopens to the public this evening after being closed to visitors for decades, is a place filled with history that’s mostly quiet and...
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