Name/Title
Pictorial History of California: A lively record of California’s dramatic growth, from Stone Age to Space Age. With more than 275 illustrationsEntry/Object ID
2025.94.1Description
This is the story of California. It begins in the early 1500's, when California was a dream and a legend in the minds of men, a land where "there is no metal but gold... the most precious stones are to be found like the stones of the field for their abundance." It ends in the present day when California is still a dream and a legend in the minds of many, a land of infinite and varied riches which gleam as surely as the gold and precious stones of old. In between are dramatic chapters which follow the state's development; the Indian and Spanish colonial days, the founding of the missions, the events leading to statehood, the Gold Rush, the great Southern California land boom of the 1880's, the San Francisco earthquake and fire, to name only a few.
What sets this book apart is its three dimensional approach to the presentation of history, a unique utilization of photographs and narrative text. For example: the chapter on the Indian period opens with a generalized "lead-in," an overview that shows the diversity of the Indian tribes and how they lived before the arrival of the white man. At a second level, are "summary spreads," devoted to single ideas within the overall concept (food, shel-ter, customs, and the like). At a third level, are pictures and captions giving details that truly bring the era to life (a comparison of the Indians' acorn meal to Quaker Oats for nutrition, a value scale showing obsidian blades to be much more valuable than wives).
The result is a work in which the people who shaped California's history are seen as vivid human beings. The same principles apply to every chapter of this fresh and lively approach to the history of California.
A further feature is an appendix containing a tourists' guide to many of the historical landmarks mentioned in the text, a guide where each historical place has been keyed with a symbol rating its relative significance. By means of this ranking scheme, a visitor can choose those places worthy of his time and interest and can schedule ac-cordingly.Create Date
May 24, 2025