Speakers Series
The Center hosts a semi-annual Speakers Series to highlight recent scholarship on the Sacramento region, to showcase the collections at the Center, and to reach out to audiences not normally served by the Center.
Remaking California: Breaking Political Gridlock
Date: May 4, 2011
Announcement: Postcard (pdf); Press Release (pdf)
Lecture: Coming Soon!
On Wednesday, May 4, 2011, the Center for Sacramento History, in association with the Sacramento History Foundation, hosted a panel discussion by contributors to the recent book, Remaking California: Reclaiming the Public Good. The panel delved into the causes of California’s governmental gridlock, the effects on its citizens and environment, and prospects for restoring a healthy democracy.
The panel included: Dr. Jeffrey Lustig, emeritus professor of government at CSUS;
Dan Walters, columnist for the Sacramento Bee; Lenny Goldberg, executive director of the California Tax Reform Association; and Osha Meserve, a Sacramento attorney specializing in environmental matters. The event was held in the Jean Runyon Little Theater at the Memorial Auditorium.
Introducing a Walking Tour of Central Oak Park
Date: October 21, 2010
Announcement: Postcard (pdf); Press Release (pdf)
Brochure: Central Oak Park Walking Tour
Lecture: Introduction & Part I; Part II; Part III; Part IV; Q&A Part I; Q&A Part II
On Thursday, October 21, 2010 the Center for Sacramento History and California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) unveiled a new self-guided walking tour of Central Oak Park. The Central Oak Park Walking Tour brochure highlights the community’s architectural and historical significance. The evening included an address by the brochure’s author, Dr. Robin Datel, a professor in CSUS’ Geography Department. One hundred and sixty-five people attended the lecture, held at the historic Guild Theater in Oak Park.
The 32-page walking tour brochure includes historic photographsof nearly forty selected locations with interpretation of their change over time. The tour highlights the development of an early suburb with its own Main Street (“smart growth” long before the label existed); racial transitions; the civil rights movement; cycles of investment and disinvestment; nurturing of the arts; redevelopment; and neighborhood activism. These themes are embodied in such buildings and places as the 40 Acres Building, the Guild Theater, the Citizens’ and US Banks, the old Post Office/Observer Building, Joyland/McClatchy Park, the Women’s Civic Improvement Club, and more.
Dr. Datel’s lecture, “Local Places Tell Big Stories: A Walking Tour of Sacramento’s Central Oak Park,” addressed how she acquired the walking tour content, the key themes of the tour, and details of the individual tour sites. The lecture was supplemented by photographs documenting the tour sites and Oak Park history.
Red Menace! The Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935
Date: December 4, 2009
Announcement: Postcard (pdf); Press Release (pdf)
Lecture: Introduction; Part I; Part II; Part III; Part IV; Part V; Part VI
On Friday, December 4, 2009, the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) unveiled a new photographic exhibition, Red Menace! The Sacramento Conspiracy Trial of 1935. The exhibition documents Communist farm labor organizers on trial in Sacramento for attempting to “overthrow the government.” The evening included an address about the trial by Dr. Kathryn Olmsted, a professor in the History Department at the University of California, Davis. Over one hundred people attended the sold out reception and lecture
In 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression, seventeen farm labor organizers appeared in a Sacramento courtroom accused of Criminal Syndicalism – the attempt to overthrow the government by violent means. The exhibition depicts the proceedings through Sacramento Bee images, original police arrest photographs, courtroom documents, and Communist literature. The trial captivated Americans from Sacramento to Washington D.C. as it exposed a perceived threat to the American way of life.
City of Man, City of God: The Catholic Church and the Shaping of Sacramento
Date: June 12, 2009
Announcement: Postcard (pdf); Press Release (pdf)
On Friday, June 12, 2009, the Center unveiled a new photographic exhibition, City of Man, City of God: The Catholic Church and the Shaping of Sacramento. The event included a reception and a lecture by Marquette University's Dr. Steven M. Avella (pdf), a leading authority on Sacramento history. Nearly two hundred people attended the reception and lecture.
The exhibition depicts the role that people of faith played in shaping Sacramento's urban agenda, from the 1850s to today. The Catholic Church,
present in Sacramento from the city's beginnings, has had an important influence on Sacramento's culture and development. Yet the character of
Catholic life has also been shaped by the city's diverse social, cultural, and political makeup. Inspired by Dr. Avella's new book, Sacramento and the Catholic Church: Shaping a Capital City, the exhibition depicts the interplay between the city and a community
of faith in the creation of Sacramento's urban agenda.
The Final Odyssey of Robert F. Kennedy
Date: October 17, 2008
Announcement: Postcard (pdf); Press Release (pdf)
On Friday, October 17, 2008, the Center unveiled a new photographic exhibition, The Final Odyssey of Robert F. Kennedy. The event included a reception and a lecture by Sacramento State's Dr. Joseph Palermo, a noted authority on the 1960s and RFK. Nearly two hundred people attended the reception and lecture.
Senator Kennedy made three visits to Sacramento before the California Democratic primary on June 4, 1968. The candidate made appearances at Florin Mall, UC
Davis, and in downtown Sacramento at his campaign headquarters. During his last visit on May 30th he spoke from a "whistle stop" at the Southern Pacific Depot
on I Street. It was during these visits that the senator was photographed by the media, which included Richard Gilmore of the Sacramento Bee and Dennis Warren
of United Press International. Both of these photographer's collections were recently donated to the Center and were featured in the exhibition.
