Sacramento History Museum

The first weekend of Ghost Tours at the Sacramento History Museum is in the books! Thank you for those who joined us Friday and Saturday night to hear real stories, beyond the grave, in Sacramento’s history. We look forward to our future tours this month!

Please note Ghost Tours are all sold out for the season.

#ghosttours #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

Want to see our print shop in operation at the Sacramento History Museum? Learn about the history of letterpress printing, the role the newspaper played in spreading the news of gold in California leading to the Gold Rush, and what a newspaper office would have looked like in Sacramento in the 1850s all while seeing the printing presses operate on select Saturdays this month and in November!

Join our printers Dave and Lou for these presentations, which are included with your Museum admission.

#sachistorymuseum #sacramento #oldsacramento #thingstodoinsacramento #letterpress

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Sacramento History Museum

We would like to thank everyone who made a purchase of our Dolly Parton Quote mini poster and prints during our promotion of donating 50% of sales to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

We had sales of $1200 and made a donation of $600 to Imagination Library. The organization sends books monthly to children from birth to age 5 to encourage literacy engagement.

Check out the website below to learn how to register your child.

imaginationlibrary.com/

Check out our online store below if you would like to purchase one of these prints or any of our other letterpress prints!

shopsachistorymuseum.org/BrowsePage.aspx?searchtyp…

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2 days ago |[YT] | 444

Sacramento History Museum

On October 15, 1849, just two days after the citizens of Sacramento City voted to approve the first city charter, William Stout resigned as the president of the city council. Stout held the position for just three weeks. Albert Maver Winn replaced him as the president of the city council, a position that can be considered today as a mayor. Winn served as president of the city council until Hardin Bigelow was elected mayor in February 1850.

Winn arrived in Sacramento City in June 1849 and set up a small canvas tent at the foot of K Street for his carpentry shop. He manufactured gold rockers and coffins (talk about trying to corner the market in the early city during the Gold Rush). While on the city council, Winn ensured that those who died in Sacramento be buried in a coffin instead of a blanket.

Winn is considered the founder of many fraternal organizations in Sacramento and helped create some of the first hospitals in the city. Winn is buried in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery where his gravesite has the tallest monument in the cemetery.

Portrait of Albert M. Winn ca. 1870, courtesy of the Sonoma County Library. Photograph of Winn’s gravesite today at the Old City Cemetery.

#OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

October 12th this year is Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Observed on the second Monday in October, today we honor and celebrate Native people and commemorate their culture and history. The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day has grown over the years as greater awareness, first hand accounts, and scholarship have shown Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas led to destruction of Native life in the Caribbean and began European colonization of the western hemisphere. In 1990, South Dakota became the first state to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and many other states, including California, have since followed.

On this day and everyday, the Sacramento History Museum recognizes that our institution sits on the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Nisenan people, in Nísem Péwinan territory. The Sacramento region is a gathering place for many Native groups including the Nisenan and Miwok, in addition to Maidu, Patwin, and Wintun, and we extend our respect and gratitude to these peoples. This Museum has a responsibility to acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of these lands and their culture as well as the histories of their dispossession. We recognize the role our exhibits, programs, and relationships have in shaping these histories.

Today, active members of Native Californian Tribes remain committed to holding and preserving their cultural heritage and work with historic sites and museums to make sure a more holistic history is discussed and interpreted.

Just over 3 years ago, our Museum opened an exhibit titled “Mómtim Péwinan, River People” that was curated by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Exhibits and Collections Center. The exhibit features items specifically made for the exhibit including four full-sized mannequins dressed in seasonal attire – plus regalia, tile boat, tools, instruments, and games, all created by today’s tribal artisans using the techniques and knowledge of their ancestors.

The last image is a California Indian Tribal Map from the California Indian Library Collections, courtesy of the California State Library.

#IndigenousPeoplesDay #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

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6 days ago |[YT] | 303

Sacramento History Museum

On October 12, 1865, the steamboat “Yosemite” exploded near Rio Vista (about 35 miles south of Sacramento) on the Sacramento River, killing at least 43 people. The steamer was constructed in 1862 and regularly traveled between San Francisco and Sacramento three days a week.

Steamboat explosions were common in the 1850s and 1860s but the boilers on the Yosemite were supposed to be a safer and have a lower pressure design. It was also reported that the Yosemite was not racing another steamboat like the cause of many other previous steamboat explosions on the river.

In a report made several days later, it was found that the boilers were defective, but no criminal actions were taken against the crew of the steamer. The California Steam Navigation Company was later sued for damages and did end up paying for treatment of those who were injured. The Yosemite was not damaged by the explosion and was back in operation by December 1865. The Yosemite was in operation until it was wrecked in 1909 in Washington.

View looking west of the Steamboat Landing and the Pacific Railroad Depot at the foot of K Street in Sacramento, California. The Yosemite is docked next to the depot. Photograph published ca. 1865 by Thomas Houseworth & Company, courtesy of the California State Library.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #sacramento #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

On October 10, 1911, Proposition 4 was approved by California voters during a special election, making California the sixth state to grant women the right to vote in state and local elections. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington had previously adopted legislation granting women’s suffrage.

Proposition 4, a legislatively referred California state constitutional amendment, passed with a narrow margin with just 50.7% approval. Sacramento County passed the proposition with 51.5% approval and Los Angeles with 55.2% approval while San Francisco County, the county with the lowest level of support, rejected the proposition with almost 62% disapproval. The women’s suffrage movement in California began in the 1860s with the formation of small suffrage groups throughout the state. The campaign grew over the years, especially after the formation of the California Woman Suffrage Association in 1870.

In 1893, Governor Henry Markham vetoed a bill to extend suffrage to women. However, with increased political pressure, the Republican Party endorsed women’s suffrage in the mid-1890s. The first measure on the ballot to extend suffrage was in 1896, but it failed with only 44% approval. Once suffragists were finally able to get the right to vote as part of the Republican Party platform in 1910, they created another campaign to have a proposition on the ballot. The 1911 passing of women’s suffrage was not a full victory and did not extend suffrage to all women in California. Women’s suffrage was federally recognized 9 years later with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920.

Newspaper clipping illustrating support for Proposition 4 depicting a woman voting and a “Votes For Women” flag from the Los Angeles Herald, published on October 13, 1911.

#OnThisDay #todayinhistory #sacramento #californiahistory #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

In honor of our pop up exhibition, “Drawing Democracy,” the Sacramento History Museum presents, Drawing Conclusions, an event featuring artists, illustrators, and cartoonists.

On October 10th, from 10am to 2pm, the Museum will host special guests that will share their stories and adventures. In addition to the opportunity to talk to these artists, you will have the opportunity to learn tips and techniques. There will be creative stations where you can use a small printing press to make your own print, create a cartoon, and make your very own button.

This event is in partnership with the extended program of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), an organization for nationally recognized political cartoonists from across the country exploring political cartooning, satire, free expression, and democracy.

Enjoy the exhibition Drawing Democracy and come see how a drawing can make us laugh, think, question—and sometimes even challenge the status quo!

This exhibition runs through October 31, and is included with Museum admission.

#oldsacramento #thingstodoinsacramento #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

On October 7, 1850, William Stephen Hamilton, the son of Alexander Hamilton, died from dysentery, according to his obituary published in the Sacramento Transcript newspaper on October 15, 1850. Some historians argue that Hamilton may have died of cholera, which became an epidemic 2 weeks after his death in Sacramento.

William Stephen Hamilton, born in 1797, was just 6 years old when his father died in a duel with Aaron Burr. William came to California in 1849 upon hearing news of gold in California. Hamilton rented a room in two-story building on J Street. Hamilton’s experience in California was not what he expected, however. In a letter to a friend before his death, he wrote that he “rather have been hung in the ‘Lead Mines’ than to have lived in this miserable hole.”

A small funeral was attended by friends but his death went largely unnoticed. After his death, there was debate over when he did pass. Some newspaper articles erroneously published he died as early as August 7, 1850. He is buried in the Sacramento Old City Cemetery. However, the monument at his gravesite placed years after his death prominently features an image of his father and his father’s name. William’s name is on the side of the headstone.

#onthisday #hamilton #Sacramento #oldcitycemetery #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

Happy birthday, Crest Theatre! On October 6, 1949, the Crest Theatre opened to the public at 1013 K Street in Sacramento with the showing of the film, “That Midnight Kiss.” Originally managed by Fox West Coast Theatres, The Sacramento Bee newspaper published that it was the “Theatre of Tomorrow!” The Hollywood Movie premier at the Crest was attended by movie stars of the film, Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson, and also then-Governor Earl Warren.

The location has a long history of theatres before Crest. On January 19, 1913, the Empress Theatre opened to the public. The vaudeville theater cost $150,000 to construct and contained a 2,000-seat auditorium. The Sacramento Bee hailed it as a “Monument to [the] City’s Future.” The Empress started to show motion films in 1918 and the owner later changed its name to the Hippodrome. Two fires in 1918 and 1921 caused major damages to the building. The Hippodrome’s marquee at the front of the theater collapsed in September 1946, killing a passing bystander. The theater was remodeled again to become the Crest Theatre, which is still in operation today.

View of the Crest Theatre on opening night from page 20 of the October 7, 1949 edition of The Sacramento Union newspaper.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #sacramento #downtownsac #sachistorymuseum

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