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Sacramento History Museum Explore the rich and diverse history of our region only at the Sacramento History Museum!
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10/13/2026

On October 13, 1849, the California Constitution was approved and signed at Colton Hall in Monterey, ending the Constitutional Convention. The convention also adopted on this day a “Great Seal of the State of California” and “Eureka” (Greek for “I found it”) was decided as the future state’s motto.

The original seal is very similar to the one today. Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, is the most prominent feature on the seal overlooking a scene which includes a grizzly bear (later the official state animal) eating grapes on a vine and also a bundle of wheat to represent the agricultural industry in California. The seal also included a gold miner with a pickaxe and rocker, ships on the Sacramento River, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background. California became the 31st State in the Union on September 9, 1850.

Subtle changes have been made to the seal over the years since 1849. For today, Lou letterpress printed an image from an electrotype (copy of a woodcut) that was made in the 1880s of a variation of the State Seal. This cut is from the Lewis Winter Collection. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press, which was made in 1852.

10/13/2026

Coming up this Saturday October 17th, is Wormie World! Hundreds of handmade ceramic wormies are hidden all over Sacramento for you to find and keep! This year, the Sacramento History Museum has partnered with Wormie World to create wormie letterpress prints in pink ink using a 3x5 Kelsey Excelsior tabletop printing press! Come by the museum on 10/17 to look for hidden wormies in the Museum Store and to pick up a free wormie letterpress print! 🪱🎉

Artwork for the photo engraving was created by Karen Sue Studios 🐰. The original artwork was sent to OWOSSO Graphic Arts in Owosso, Michigan where the photo engraving was designed. Over 250 prints were made on this press run by Channey and more will be made as October 17th approaches.

Our “Drawing Democracy” pop up exhibit, all about the history of editorial cartoons, caught the interest of some chapero...
10/12/2026

Our “Drawing Democracy” pop up exhibit, all about the history of editorial cartoons, caught the interest of some chaperones today while students viewed a printing demonstration during a field trip program.

Come see the exhibit before it leaves on October 31st!

10/12/2026

Are you coming to see us during the Sacramento Archives Crawl this Saturday? We'll have behind-scenes-tours and a new exhibit to show you, plus six other archives will be exhibiting at our site. Come say hi to all of us and check out exhibits by the Yolo County Library Archives; California Automobile Museum; Sacramento River Delta Historical Society; Lavender Library, Archives, and Cultural Exchange (LLACE), California State Parks' Photographic Archives, and West Sacramento Historical Society.

October 12th this year is Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Observed on the second Monday in October, today we honor and celebrat...
10/12/2026

October 12th this year is Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Observed on the second Monday in October, today we honor and celebrate Native people and commemorate their culture and history. The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day has grown over the years as greater awareness, first hand accounts, and scholarship have shown Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas led to destruction of Native life in the Caribbean and began European colonization of the western hemisphere. In 1990, South Dakota became the first state to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and many other states, including California, have since followed.

On this day and everyday, the Sacramento History Museum recognizes that our institution sits on the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Nisenan people, in Nísem Péwinan territory. The Sacramento region is a gathering place for many Native groups including the Nisenan and Miwok, in addition to Maidu, Patwin, and Wintun, and we extend our respect and gratitude to these peoples. This Museum has a responsibility to acknowledge the Indigenous peoples of these lands and their culture as well as the histories of their dispossession. We recognize the role our exhibits, programs, and relationships have in shaping these histories.

Today, active members of Native Californian Tribes remain committed to holding and preserving their cultural heritage and work with historic sites and museums to make sure a more holistic history is discussed and interpreted.

Just over 3 years ago, our Museum opened an exhibit titled “Mómtim Péwinan, River People” that was curated by the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Exhibits and Collections Center. The exhibit features items specifically made for the exhibit including four full-sized mannequins dressed in seasonal attire – plus regalia, tile boat, tools, instruments, and games, all created by today’s tribal artisans using the techniques and knowledge of their ancestors.

The last image is a California Indian Tribal Map from the California Indian Library Collections, courtesy of the California State Library.

10/12/2026

October is California Farmer and Farmworker Month! This month celebrates the dedication and vital contributions of California’s farmers and farmworkers and also acknowledges the workforce that produces over 400 different agricultural commodities in our Golden State. In addition, October 12th is National Farmer’s Day.

To help us spread the word and how you can celebrate this month, folks from CA GROWN stopped by the print shop at the Sacramento History Museum! CA GROWN is California’s agricultural marketing program and connects people with the farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers who produce our food our state.

We are printing the largest engraving in the Lewis Winter Collection for this occasion! In this video, Aida and Channey letterpress printed an electrotype (copy of a woodcut) that Lewis Winter created at his wood and photo engraving office at 627 J Street in Sacramento sometime between 1888 (when he bought the business) and 1901 when his mother passed away (the cut alludes to the residence of Mrs. John Winter). This print depicts his family farm in Capay Valley in Yolo County.

The Winter Collection is full of agricultural related cuts but nothing is as detailed as this engraving. He also showcased a lot of his work at the California State Fair in the 1890s, including this. This was printed with blue rubber base ink using our Washington hand press, which was manufactured in 1852.

On October 12, 1865, the steamboat “Yosemite” exploded near Rio Vista (about 35 miles south of Sacramento) on the Sacram...
10/12/2026

On October 12, 1865, the steamboat “Yosemite” exploded near Rio Vista (about 35 miles south of Sacramento) on the Sacramento River, killing at least 43 people. The steamer was constructed in 1862 and regularly traveled between San Francisco and Sacramento three days a week.

Steamboat explosions were common in the 1850s and 1860s but the boilers on the Yosemite were supposed to be a safer and have a lower pressure design. It was also reported that the Yosemite was not racing another steamboat like the cause of many other previous steamboat explosions on the river.

In a report made several days later, it was found that the boilers were defective, but no criminal actions were taken against the crew of the steamer. The California Steam Navigation Company was later sued for damages and did end up paying for treatment of those who were injured. The Yosemite was not damaged by the explosion and was back in operation by December 1865. The Yosemite was in operation until it was wrecked in 1909 in Washington.

View looking west of the Steamboat Landing and the Pacific Railroad Depot at the foot of K Street in Sacramento, California. The Yosemite is docked next to the depot. Photograph published ca. 1865 by Thomas Houseworth & Company, courtesy of the California State Library.

10/11/2026

As Halloween approaches, we are highlighting some of the odd, creepy, absurd, or stranger cuts from the print shop at the Sacramento History Museum, especially the Lewis Winter Collection.

Lewis Winter had a photo and wood engraving business at 627 J Street in Sacramento from 1888 until 1910. Much of the cuts he made were designed for advertising purposes for local newspapers.

Beyond advertising, Winter did create some scenes that were quite humorous. We don’t know why Lewis Winter made this electrotype (copy of a woodcut) about 130-135 years ago, but it is certainly one of the stranger and absurd cuts in his collection and it involves two children playing with a grindstone that would be used for sharpening tools and blades.

To keep your nose to the grindstone means to work hard and focus on the task at hand. We don’t know what this print is trying to communicate though. For today, Jared printed this with orange oil base ink using our Washington hand press, which was made in 1852.

Thank you to those who visited the Sacramento History Museum today for our Drawing Conclusions event!Special thanks to E...
10/11/2026

Thank you to those who visited the Sacramento History Museum today for our Drawing Conclusions event!

Special thanks to Eben Burgoon, Mario Estioko, Jen Monson, and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists for showcasing your art and talents for our guests.

We are now gearing up for Ghost Tours!

On October 10, 1911, Proposition 4 was approved by California voters during a special election, making California the si...
10/10/2026

On October 10, 1911, Proposition 4 was approved by California voters during a special election, making California the sixth state to grant women the right to vote in state and local elections. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Washington had previously adopted legislation granting women’s suffrage.

Proposition 4, a legislatively referred California state constitutional amendment, passed with a narrow margin with just 50.7% approval. Sacramento County passed the proposition with 51.5% approval and Los Angeles with 55.2% approval while San Francisco County, the county with the lowest level of support, rejected the proposition with almost 62% disapproval. The women’s suffrage movement in California began in the 1860s with the formation of small suffrage groups throughout the state. The campaign grew over the years, especially after the formation of the California Woman Suffrage Association in 1870.

In 1893, Governor Henry Markham vetoed a bill to extend suffrage to women. However, with increased political pressure, the Republican Party endorsed women’s suffrage in the mid-1890s. The first measure on the ballot to extend suffrage was in 1896, but it failed with only 44% approval. Once suffragists were finally able to get the right to vote as part of the Republican Party platform in 1910, they created another campaign to have a proposition on the ballot. The 1911 passing of women’s suffrage was not a full victory and did not extend suffrage to all women in California. Women’s suffrage was federally recognized 9 years later with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920.

Newspaper clipping illustrating support for Proposition 4 depicting a woman voting and a “Votes For Women” flag from the Los Angeles Herald, published on October 13, 1911.

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101 I Street
Sacramento, CA
95814

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Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

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