OSLHP Newsletter - May 2005
President's Message
Spring is finally here, and the OSLHP is getting many reservations for tours and meet-and-greet events. Looking forward to the months ahead, we are very busy.
At the executive council retreat it was decided that some of our events need changes, and we will be looking to all the members to help for ideas and making changes. Please see a full report in addition to the newsletter.
An official photograph of the OSLHP is overdue. We have had many changes to the organization, and I hope everyone makes the effort to come in costume, don’t forget you can rent a temporary costume.
I will not be at the May General Meeting. This day happens to coincide with the Annual Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation fundraising walk in Sacramento. Like many of you I participate as a volunteer in several organizations, and the CCFA is important to me since I also suffer from Crohn’s Disease. Ken will be taking over the meeting, and the elections of officers will proceed as planned.
General Meeting
General Meeting: Saturday, May 14, 2005, 10 am.
We would like to go back having entertainment at our general meetings. We have not done this in a few years. If you would like to make a character presentation or a presentation of interest to the organization at a meeting please contact Amy. Currently all dates are available.
Executive Council Meeting
New date for the Executive Counsel meeting: Monday, May 9th, 7 pm. Members are invited to attend to observe and comment.
Nominations For Officers
• Vice-president: Ken Knott
• Secretary: Mary Carlson
• Treasurer: Penny Adams
• Member at large: Shelly Green and Greg Tracy
You can still be nominated for officer positions either by contacting Amy in
advance of the May general meeting or at the general meeting when nominations
are called from the floor.
New Events/Fund-raisers
If you have any ideas for a potential new event or fundraising opportunity please
write a brief paragraph and send to Amy at a general meeting or email at: oslhp@oldsacramentolivinghistoryprogram.com
or mail to 1002 Second Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Member Updates
Welcome back Barbara Alfidi. It is great to have you as part of the group.
COMING EVENTS
Meet-and-Greet
May 18, 2005, 6 to 9:30 pm. This meet-and-greet is for the Society of Government Meeting Planners and includes state and local government meeting planners. Mainly at the Railroad museum some people will be needed to be at hotels and great people and give a short overview on the bus. Please contact Amy if you can help. The OSLHP will get paid $25 per volunteer for this event.Jazz Jubilee Parade:
May 27th at Noon. Arrive by 11am for parking. This is a great parade to be in full of energy and excitement.Author Event
June 2, 2005, 7 to 9pm, in the Banquet Room of California Fats, 1015 Front Street. The Historic Old Sacramento Foundation will present an evening talk on African-Americans and the Early West, presented by author Shirley Moore and historian Joe Moore. Specifically Shirley will talk about African-American women and Joe will talk about African-Americans along the American River during the Gold Rush. Bringing this all together will be the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau and the coming Juneteenth celebrations June 17th and 18th at Granite Park in Sacramento and Negro Bar State Historic Park. Cost is $5 for members of historical organizations and $10 for the general public. Members of the OSLHP get in free in costume. RSVP: Steve Huffman 445-3054.Columbia Diggins
June 2-5, 2005, at Columbia, California. This is similar but much larger than Gold Rush Days. Our own Ken Knott will be spending the weekend their performing for the public.Name the Newsletter Contest
A fine bottle of wine is waiting for the winner of our "Name the Newsletter Contest." All you have to do is use your imagination and creativity to think up a clever name for the OSLHP newsletter. If you want to get fancy, you can design a Masthead that incorporates the new name. The deadline for entries is June 8th, the date of our June membership meeting. You can bring your entries to the meeting or give them to Ken anytime before then or mail them to: Ken Knott, 2227 4th Ave., Sacramento, CA 95818. Email entries may be sent as text within the message or if a graphic, as a PDF or JPEG to: timetraveler49@comcast.netPicture Time
June 25, 2005, 11 am to 1 pm., The OSLHP has hired Nicholas Peterson to shoot a group picture and stage photographs to be used for postcards. Group photo will be taken about 11:30am. If you would like to have your picture taken individually outside the group, please contact Nicholas to set up a time the same afternoon by calling (916) 939-8701. If you have a suggestion for a staged photo please contact Amy.Volunteer Appreciation Day and 10th Anniversary Party
Invitations are in the mail. Please have your payment in By June 27, 2005. You must arrive by 10:30 am to be on the ship when it leaves the dock. There will be no refunds for missed timing.ONGOING EVENTS
Historical Walking Tours
We could use another tour guide. Guides get paid $25 a tour. All tours are 1 hour long, and we provide training. We need help with weekday tours for school groups.Living History Day/ Monthly Encampment
There will be no living history day in May. The next one is June 25, 2005, 10am to 4pm.
PAST EVENTS
Living History Workshops In Final Stretch
Yes folks, it is true - the 2005 Living History Workshops are winding up on May 21st. We have had some great classes, and I would like to thank Doug Peterson and Sandra Hand for their wonderful presentations on Material Culture, Greg Tracy and Bob Flaherty for their outstanding job on Guns and Weapons of the Gold Rush, Terry Melau for a memorable class in Gold Rush Medicine, Jan Bullard for a terrific presentation on Etiquette, and Amy Whitlatch and Catherine Hanson-Tracy for a fantastic class on Research. The last three classes are:
• May 7th: Language, Historical Interpretation and Improv.
• May 14th : Music.
• May 21st: Class Presentations and Graduation.
Again, I would like to invite anyone who is interested to join us for these classes, meet and talk with the new folks and make them feel welcome. We are getting a terrific bunch of new members from this year’s workshops, and I know you will want to get to know them. Ken Knott, Workshops Coordinator
Riverboat Cruise
Thanks to Mary Carlson, Greg Tracy, Jan Sorci, Bob Flaherty, and Jason Hollingsworth for taking the voyage. There is another cruise scheduled for October 12, 2005, if you missed this one and would still like to participate.Historic Documents At Sutter’s Fort
On April 2nd, I had a rare opportunity to take a good look at some rarely-seen (by the general public) historical documents at Sutter's Fort. The event was a fundraiser for the Sacramento Historic Sites Association, a group organized to preserve artifacts of material culture and documents that shed some light on local history. Steve Beck, historian and archivist at Sutter's Fort organized the event to which interested parties were invited to see displays of some of these rare documents distributed throughout various rooms of the fort. Some of the documents that I saw included: a "Marriage Book," listing those couples who tied-the-knot at Sutter's Fort in 1847, including Elitha Donner and Perry McCoon, Lansford Hasting and bride, etc.; a ledger written by John Bidwell, dated 1846, which listed items sold to various people who worked or visited the fort that year, it contained a notation regarding payment in cash made to Indians; a diary written by James Reed in 1846 with maps drawn showing the route taken by his party to rescue survivors of the Donner party; relics of the Donner party; a book of brands from 1844; the manifest documents of various ships during the gold rush and what merchandise they unloaded including: sangaree, muscatel, claret and Rhenish wine, and the original draft of the Bear Flag Proclamation, dated June 15, 1846, signed by William B. Ide.From this draft, three copies were known to exist: one went to the Mexican Governor of California, which ended up with the Society of California Pioneers and was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire of 1906, a second copy went to Captain John Fremont who immediately tore it up and said something to the effect that he wanted nothing to do with it, and a third copy, which was sent to Sutter's Fort but was lost and has never been found. This original is the only existing copy. According to Steve Beck, it was donated to Sutter's Fort in 1926 by the son of James Ide after he died. William Ide had left his effects to his brother James, whose son brought a box of old stuff to Sutter's Fort. A clerk at the Fort looked through the box, sorted out the papers, rubber-stamped each one, "Property of Sutter's Fort," wrote an accession number on each one in ink, and entered it into the accession book as "letter." About 15 months ago, someone came across it while looking through a box of papers and recognized the importance of the Ide Proclamation after 159 years!!
Ken Knott, Vice President