Center for Sacramento History

A note to our patrons: Due to COVID-19, the Center for Sacramento History is closed until further notice and in-house reference service is suspended. CSH staff is working from home, so you can still send reference questions and requests for photo and film reproductions to [email protected]. Reference service may take longer than usual due to our limited access to the collections.... We appreciate your understanding during this complicated time, and we look forward to getting back to business. Stay safe and healthy!

We love a good souvenir. This small dish produced for Weinstock, Lubin & Co., depicts Sacramento’s Pink Post Office at 7th and K streets in the 1890s. Dedicated in 1894, the building’s Arizona sandstone exterior gave it a pink cast. It operated as a post office and federal court space until the new federal building opened on I Street in 1933. Other government agencies occupied the space for the next couple decades until they too moved to newer buildings on Capitol Mall. Er...osion of the sandstone posed a significant safety hazard over time and the ornamental molding and top portion of the tower were removed in the 1940s-50s. The entire structure was demolished in 1967 in the name of redevelopment. #sacramentohistory #pinkpostoffice #redevelopment #sacramentoredevelopment #sandstone Dish, gift of William & Shirley Gaylord, 2005/073/090. Postcard, 1981/056/004. Photo of 1967 demolition, 1998/722/2176.

It’s that time of year! Leaves will be piled up along neighborhood streets for the foreseeable future. But is Sacramento really the City of Trees? Sacramento’s love of trees is as old as the city itself. Early residents planted trees to beautify the emerging capital city and provide shade during the scorching summer heat. By the mid-20th century, the city had approximately one tree for every two residentsmore trees per capita than Paris! As the number of trees grew and ...municipal resources for their care were stretched, the Sacramento Tree Foundation was formed in 1982 to promote public education and help sustain the urban forest. Our beautiful trees continue to improve air quality and reduce energy consumption to this day. These benefits do come with a price, as residents will continue the annual cycle of raking, sweeping, and piling as they have done for decades. Here, Charles Houy clears leaves from his East Sacramento driveway in November 1968. Photo by Erhardt Krause, Sacramento Bee Collection. #sacramentohistory #leafseason #cityoftrees

Theodore Ted Sirlin, a 23-year-old military-trained photographer, opened Sirlin Studios in 1946 in downtown Sacramento. His goal was to capture and reflect the beauty, strength, and sensitivity of the subjects he photographed. With cameras and various photographic tools, Sirlin Studios documented it all: school groups, sports teams, local families and weddings, as well as official portraits of city, county, and state representatives. Sirlin and his team of assistants trul...y captured life in Sacramento. Sirlin passed away in 2009. A year later, his family donated his work to the Center for Sacramento History. The images from the Sirlin Collection are more than mere documentsthey create a collective portrait of our community. (Sirlin Studios Collection, 2010/015/Job #C31227) #sacramentohistory #towerbridge #sirlinstudios #photography

November 10 is the United States Marine Corps’ 225th Birthday. It is the only U.S military branch that has two birthdays. It was first established as the Continental Marines on November 10, 1775, as reinforcement for the Navy during the Revolutionary War. For economic reasons it was abolished at the close of the War. On July 11, 1798, Congress ordered the creation of the United States Marine Corps. From 1799 until 1921, the Corps celebrated its birthday on July 11. The date w...as permanently changed to November 10 to commemorate the first Marines of the Revolutionary War. This Marine Dress Blue Jacket from the Center’s collection dates from the early 1900s.The uniform was completed with light blue trousers with a red stripe running down the side and a white belt. Women could wear skirts in place of pants. Unfortunately, we received no information about who owned the jacket when it was donated. (Gift of Mort and Maria Friedman, Town and Country Collection 1999/117/448) #usmarines #militaryuniform #vintagemilitaryjacket

These unopened supply packets and several dozen pencils came to us from the Sacramento City Clerk’s Office in the 1970s. Produced especially for election workers, each pack contains several indelible pencils, rubber stamps, thumb tacks, a pencil sharpener, and cellophane tape. Indelible pencils have dye mixed with graphite, so their marks cannot be erased. The pencils you see here were used by election officers to tally votes and certify returns. We thank all the dedicated election officials who continue to do their jobs to the best of their ability, as well as the friendly poll workers who spent yesterday serving our community. (City of Sacramento, Office of the City Clerk, 1976/047) #electionofficial #election #vote

Cameraman Harry Sweet gives us a behind-the-scenes look at coverage of the 1960 elections with KCRA-TV! Reporter Stan Atkinson and countless others are seen working hard to bring you the latest in election news!

And now we wait. #electionnight #vote

Remember when Jello Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco in 1979? Well, we've got the KCRA news footage to refresh your memory. The American singer, musician, political activist, and spoken word artist was the lead singer and songwriter for iconic SF punk band the Dead Kennedys and founder of the independent record label Alternative Tentacles. In 1979, he made a run for mayor of San Francisco. Although completely serious about becoming a political figure, his platform includ...ed unconventional points such as forcing businessmen to wear clown suits within city limits; erecting statues of Dan White (the man who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978) around the city and allowing the parks department to sell eggs and tomatoes with which people could pelt the statues; hiring workers who'd lost their jobs due to a tax initiative to panhandle in wealthy neighborhoods (including Dianne Feinstein's); and a citywide ban on cars. Biafra has expressed irritation that these parts of his platform attained such notoriety, preferring instead to be remembered for serious proposals such as legalizing squatting in vacant, tax-delinquent buildings and requiring police officers to run for election by the people of the neighborhoods they patrol. He finished third out of a field of ten, receiving 3.79% of the vote (6,591 votes); the election ended in a runoff that did not involve him (Feinstein was declared the winner). Biafra is still an admired and active figure in music and social commentary today.

Have you joined the millions of Americans who have voted early this election, or are you waiting to cast your ballot tomorrow on Election Day? Whatever you do, don’t forget to vote! #sacramentohistory #vote

The Magic Castle, located at 7001 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, is a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. It bills itself as "the most unusual private club in the world." In this KCRA-TV footage shot 8/12/1969, we get a glimpse inside with guests and club members, including footage of The Professor: Dai Vernon (1894-1992).

A part of the Saturn V Rocket that NASA launched in 1969, sending astronaut Neil Armstrong on his journey into space, was initially tested in Sacramento before being sent to Florida for launch. The Douglas Aircraft Company tested the third stage of the rocket known as S-IVB at its test site, the Douglas Aircraft Sacramento Test Facility in Rancho Cordova at Sunrise Blvd and Douglas Road. Testing of the S-IVB began in 1963 and was a significant component of the Saturn V Rocket... in the future moon missions. Upon completion of testing, the stage was initially transported by barge back to the Bay Area where it was loaded onto another barge headed for Florida. However, this process was too lengthy and a modified C-97 aircraft called the Pregnant or Super Guppy, seen here, was later used to transport the stages to Florida. (Douglas Aircraft Company/NASA Employee Collection, 2014/015) #guppy #saturnv #sacramentohistory #spacetravel

See the California State Archives’ artifact storage in today’s Sacramento Archives Crawl post!

Today in honor of National Cat Day, our staff wanted to have all our cats pose for a group photo, butwell, you know how cats are. So instead, we’ve pulled this ca. 1950 metal candy tin with a picture of an adorable kitten in a basket from our collection. The tin was made by Sharpe & Sons, the world’s largest producer of toffee in the 1930s, which was purchased by Cadbury in 1989. (Gift of W. G. and Mary Alice Felt, 1983/211/0032) #cat #kitty #kittycat # #vintagecandytin #nationalcatday

Our friends at Placer County Museums show off an awesome digitization accomplishment in today’s Archives Crawl post!