Visitors to the San Joaquin County Historical Museum will recognize the image below as a photograph of the Calaveras Schoolhouse, a genuine nineteenth-century structure moved to and currently located at the Museum. The San Joaquin County Historical Society is pleased to announce a grant from Walmart for a new interpretive panel that discusses the school's history, . . . → Read More: The Calaveras Schoolhouse Project
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The San Joaquin County Historical Society is pleased to report progress on significant exhibit updates and additions at the Museum. Readers of this blog may recall the Museum's announcement in April 2011 of a half-million-dollar grant from the Nature Education Facilities Program, created by the Proposition 84 water bond of 2006 and administered by the California . . . → Read More: Museum Continues Work on Exhibit Improvements Remember the Museum's 1919 Holt 75 tractor, the one being restored? This blog has discussed it a number of times over the past year or so. Well, the work goes on.
Too big for your Honda: Jerry and Mike with the Museum’s Holt 75 engine. Visit the Museum on any given Tuesday and you'll find the shop . . . → Read More: Putting the Pieces Together If you have visited the Museum's Erickson Building you have probably seen the "Man and Nature Hand in Hand" batik mural hanging in the lobby. It is hard to miss the twelve-foot high by seven and one-half-foot-wide mural when you walk through the front doors, but have you ever stopped to really look at it? I . . . → Read More: Man and Nature Hand in Hand Batik Mural What would we do without zerk fittings? The zerk fitting is not exactly a household item. In fact, I'm willing to wager that most people don't know anything about it. When I first mentioned it to my wife, she shot me her "you've-got-to-be-kidding" look. As near as I can tell, she thought of it as an imaginary . . . → Read More: Zerk Fittings and Grease Cups Ever looked at the sides of the boxes of fruit or wine in the grocery store as they're restocking the shelves? Did you notice the small stamped labels on the side? I never did—I never even gave those labels a moment's notice—until I began researching and putting together an exhibit on fruit crate labels currently on . . . → Read More: The Art of the Label What comes to your mind when you think about California's Gold Rush? Do you see yellow specks in the sand? Frenzied miners? Lawlessness? How about unattached women who practiced the oldest profession on earth? Knowledge about the presence of prostitutes in the gold fields is nothing new. But not until recently did I come across evidence . . . → Read More: Sex and the Gold Rush in San Joaquin County Museums are like icebergs—only a small portion of most museums' collections are visible to the public. The bulk remains "underwater," stored for future exhibits and preserved for the benefit of future generations. And sometimes fascinating artifacts are visible, but under-appreciated.
Davis-type windmill adapted for domestic use, D. M. Drais farm, Farmington, Calif. Such is the case with . . . → Read More: San Joaquin County’s “Italian Windmills” Chances are, you may not recognize the objects in the photograph below. It's highly unlikely that you know the story behind them, either. But I can almost guarantee that you will never forget either the images or the story after you read the next few paragraphs. I've worked at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum for about . . . → Read More: Explosive Films The story of George Shima, the Japanese immigrant who became known as the "Potato King" of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is fairly well known. But did you know there was an earlier, Chinese immigrant also known as a "Potato King?" Here’s the story of Chin Lung.
Unidentified Asian laborer with sacked potatoes, Woodward Island, ca. 1928 At . . . → Read More: Chin Lung and the Great Western Potato Mart |
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