January - February 2020

Ralph Gibson

Museums Administrator

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday season. 2020 will be another busy year for the museums. This winter our much-expanded Gold Rush Program will begin with nearly 500 registered students for January and February. As soon as that program ends, Spring Living History begins with just over 2400 students signed up to participate.

During it all, we’ll be working on a new exhibit for the Placer County Museum in the historic Courthouse. The working title of the exhibit has been “Postmortem,” but the name we’re leaning toward is “The Good Death”. This exhibit will define what a “Good Death” was and will describe the rituals of death from the Victorian Era to the mid-20th Century. We plan to open in the spring of 2020.

Throughout the summer and Heritage Trail, we’ll be working on another exhibit for the Courthouse: Hawver Cave. Fall Living History begins in September and will run through early November. After that, we’ll decorate for the holidays and manage our Christmas programs. After the attendance at our first S’mores and Stories event at the Bernhard in December, you can expect to see it again this year.

And after that, I’ll be at my computer writing about what is upcoming for 2021. But, for now, I just hope everyone has a terrific 2020!

Kasia Woroniecka

Curator of Collections

Victorian and turn-of-the-20th-century New Year postcards often featured symbols of rebirth, such as butterflies and hatching chicks, and winter imagery like snowmen. The card designs are colorful and playful, yet some of the Victorian visual symbolism they contain might appear rather strange today. Collecting postcards in albums was a popular 19th-century pastime, and we have several albums in our collection. Here are a few examples of New Years postcards:

Placer County Museum Collection, 1910

The snowman is representative of winter and the holidays. Yet in this card he is paired with Pierrot, a lovesick and clumsy character in the French pantomime. Pierrot was a very popular character, used in postcards for different occasions, including Valentines and birthdays.

Placer County Museum Collection, undated

Four-leaf clovers and horseshoes are still used as symbols of good fortune. The leaves in the clover represent faith, hope, love, and luck. Clovers were often featured in Christmas and Near Year postcards to symbolize that the sender is thinking of the recipient.

Placer County Museum Collection, 1906

Pigs were popular as good luck charms in France, England, Ireland, Germany, and Austria during the 19th and early 20th centuries. As the print industry flourished in Europe and the United States, pigs appeared on New Year greetings during the Victorian and Edwardian Period as symbols of good health, happiness, and prosperity - the sentiments associated with Christmas and the New Year.

Placer County Museum Collection, 1906

Christmas and New Year's cards often had scenes of flowers, and birds and their nests as a reminder that spring would be coming.

Placer County Museum Collection, 1907

The forget-me-not signified true love in the Victorian age. It was also a symbol of friendship and was used on cards of all occasions with hope the recipient would not forget the sender.

Placer County Museum Collection, 1906

 

At midnight on New Years’ Eve, bells were rung to symbolize victory over evil and to bring hope for peace and happiness in the year ahead. In the Victorian language of flowers, lily of the valley (bottom left) meant “return of happiness.”

Placer County Museum Collection, 1910

Placer County Museum Collection, 1908

This postcard shows a boy pushing a cart filled with bags full of gold coins. Victorians had many traditions and superstitions associated with the New Year. One of them was the need to have a bit of money in their pockets on New Year’s Day to ward against poverty and misfortune in the new year.

Kissing under the mistletoe was a popular Christmas tradition. The plant is evergreen and in ancient cultures it was used as a symbol of fertility, an antidote for poison, and to ward off evil spirits. During the Victorian Era it was said to bring good luck and lasting friendship.

Wishing you a Happy New Year from the Placer County Museums.

Kelsey Monahan

Curator of Archives

Looking towards the New Year, I have been thinking about how museum collections are always evolving, and our collections are no exception. While new objects come in each year, we also learn more about our existing artifacts thanks to new technology and research conducted by volunteers.

Detroit Safe Company, 1878

Auburn Journal,  May 16, 1929

One example of this is a safe from the Detroit Safe Company. It was donated to the Placer County Museums in 2017 and is on display in the Courthouse hallway. Oftentimes, the only history we have of an artifact is that which the donor can provide. In this case, we knew the safe was manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, July 29, 1878, and had belonged to the Auburn law firm of Lowell, Lowell, and Lowell.

Interior detail

 

However, using new tools we can uncover more information. With access to the archives of the California Digital Newspaper Collection and Newspapers.com, our team can search through historic editions of newspapers for more information.

The front of the safe is painted with the name, “T.E. Stephens.” Thanks to previous research, we know that Thomas E. Stephens started in the grocery business in Auburn in 1862. This building would have been next to the Placer Herald building in what is today Old Town Auburn.

Additional information came up with an article from the Placer Herald in 1878, the same year the safe in the Courthouse was manufactured, which said:

With this information, we can say that it is very likely that the safe in the Courthouse was once in the Stephens store in Auburn. After Stephens passed away in 1892, the store was taken over by G.P. and J.M. Lowell.
 

Interior detail

J.M. Lowell’s sons Marshall Z. Lowell, Arthur C. Lowell, and Orrin J. Lowell would later establish the law firm of Lowell, Lowell and Lowell and practice law in Auburn. In the 1940s a man named John Couzens worked at the firm and when it closed, he purchased the safe from the Lowell estate. He later donated it to the Placer Sierra Bank, and in 2017 it was donated to the museums.

Without the ability to search the historic newspapers, who knows if we would have been able to find the article detailing T.E. Stephen’s purchase of the safe. Thanks to our researchers and the power of technology we can look forward to even more new discoveries about old objects in the new year.

Bryanna Ryan

Supervising Curator

2019 was a year filled with notable commemorations and new beginnings. We celebrated the 1959 Auburn All-Stars and participated in the Gold Country Fair’s 130th anniversary by recreating an 1889 Victorian parlor experience. By fall, we were honoring the completion of the 1869 Transcontinental Railroad with our first mini documentary video. We are grateful for these opportunities to remember the past, the people, and the events that have made a lasting impact in our communities.

In 2020 we are looking forward to more projects. For our next mini documentary video, we are turning our attention toward the DeWitt Complex in North Auburn. What really motivated us with our last mini documentary was the opportunity to illuminate a significant part of Placer County’s history while utilizing the abundance of images and information preserved in the Archive. With the DeWitt video project, we have so much to explore. Extensive research has been gathered and so many fantastic images, objects, and oral histories are available to help bring this story to life.

Picture's from DeWitt's Past

This project will delve into the historic experience of the site, and the role and impact it has had in the local community. From its initial construction beginning in 1943 as the DeWitt General (Army) Hospital, to its role as the DeWitt State “Mental” Hospital, and finally to its current place as the Placer County DeWitt Government Center, this historic site has a fascinating story to tell.

As with all our ambitious projects, we could not accomplish all of this without the generosity, energy, and help of the amazing Museums and Archives volunteers. Thank you for all you do! I am looking forward to seeing what 2020 brings and wish you all a Happy New Year!

April McDonald-Loomis

News from Placer County Historical Society

It’s hard to believe another year has passed. There will be several positions on the PCHS Board opening up in 2020, and we are especially in need of a secretary. If you are interested in serving on the Board, please contact one of the Board members. Speaking of the Board, please see below for our meeting schedule for 2020:

January 2 – Boarding meeting
February 6 – Dinner meeting
March 5 – Board meeting
April 2 – Dinner meeting
May 7 Board meeting
June 4 – Dinner meeting
July 2 – Board meeting
September 3 – Board meeting
October 1 – Dinner meeting
November 5 – Board meeting
December 3 – Dinner meeting

Our December dinner meeting with the raffle was a great success and a lot of fun. The Society was proud to partner with other historical associations to present the very first “Placer County History Award” to journalist Gus Thompson. Gus is keeping the stories and history of the area alive in his many newspaper columns. Take the time to drop an email or a real letter to the editor of the Auburn Journal and tell them how much you enjoy Gus’ columns on local history.

Placer County Historical Society Dinner Meeting
When: February 6th, 2020
Time: 6pm dinner, 6:30pm program
Where: Veterans Memorial Hall, 100 East Street, Auburn
Cost: $16 per person
Menu: TBD
Program: TBD
Mail Dinner Checks to:
PCHS c/o Jane Hamilton, 1871 Crockett Road, Auburn, CA 95603
(530) 885-7839 or hamiltonjane1@me.com
DO NOT BRING ALCOHOL.

Calendar of Events

Historical Organizations

Colfax Area Historical Society
Chris Miller
(530) 346-8599
colfaxhistory.org

Donner Summit Historical Society
Bill Oudegeest
(209) 606-6859
donnersummithistoricalsociety.org

Foresthill Divide Historical Society
Sandy Simester
(530) 367-3535
foresthillhistory.org

Fruitvale School Hall Community Association
Mark Fowler

Golden Drift Historical Society
Sarah Fugate
(530) 389-2121

Historical Advisory Board
Glenn Vineyard
(916) 747-1961

Joss House Museum and Chinese History Center
Richard Yue
(530) 346-7121

Lincoln Area Archives Museum
Elizabeth Jansen
(916) 645-3800
laamca.org

Loomis Basin Historical Society
Karen Clifford
(916) 663-3871
ppgn.com/loomishistorical.html

Maidu Museum & Historic Site
Kaitlin Kincade
(916) 774-5934
roseville.ca.us/indianmuseum

The Museum of Sierra Ski History and 1960 Winter Olympics
David C. Antonucci
(775) 722-3502
tahoemuseum.org

Native Sons of the Golden West Parlor #59
Dave Allen
(530) 878-2878
dsallen59@sbcglobal.net

Newcastle Portuguese Hall Association
Mario Farinha
(530) 269-2412

North Lake Tahoe Historical Society
(530) 583-1762
northtahoemuseums.org

Old Town Auburn Preservation Society
Lynn Carpenter
(530) 885-1252

Placer County Genealogical Society
Toni Rosasco
(530) 888-8036
pcgenes.com

Placer County Historical Society
April McDonald-Loomis
(530) 823-2128
placercountyhistoricalsociety.org

Placer County Museums Docent Guild
Fran Hanson
(530) 878-6990

Rocklin Historical Society
Hank Lohse
(916) 624-3464
rocklinhistory.org

Roseville Fire Museum
Jim Giblin
(916) 538-1809
rosevillefiremueum@gmail.org
rosevillefiremuseum.org

Roseville Historical Society
Denise Fiddyment
(916) 773-3003
rosevillehistorical.org