Sacramento History Museum

06/01/2026

On June 1, 1927, the Delta King sternwheel steamboat made its first voyage from San Francisco to Sacramento, California. The Delta Queen, its sister ship, followed the next day. The 81-mile trip took 10 hours and the Delta King arrived in Sacramento on June 2nd at 7am. The Sacramento Bee newspaper dubbed the steamboat the “King of the Sacramento.”

The 285-foot steamer continued its regular service between Sacramento and San Francisco until 1940 when it was used during the Second World War by the U.S. Navy, along with the Delta Queen, as a transportation ship for navy reservists in San Francisco Bay. In the 1950s, it was used as housing for employees in British Colombia during the construction of the Kemano Dam. It was later relocated to Rio Vista, CA where it was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1978.

The Delta King sank in 1981 but was raised a year later. After 4 years of extensive restoration work, which began in 1985, the Delta King opened on May 20, 1989 in Old Sacramento where it continues to serve today as a hotel and restaurant.

Advertisement for the Delta King in the 1930s, courtesy of the California State Library.

06/01/2026

June 1st is World Milk Day! The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations established this day in 2001 to raise awareness of the importance of milk as a global food and to bring attention to dairy-related activities.

If you asked us a few years ago if we could print something dairy related, we don’t think it would have been possible. However, since we received in the summer 2023 a gift of 109 cuts in the mail from a viewer, we turned to the Brett from Pennsylvania Collection for inspiration.

For today, Jared letterpress printed two photo engravings of milk ads from the late 1950s to 1960s. The first is an ad from the American Dairy Association was published in newspapers and magazines across the country in 1959. It depicts a woman running with an empty pitcher with the text, “Don’t run out! Get more MILK for the weekend!” The second one on the right depicts a milk carton for the Mell-O Milk Company, which had its headquarters in Anniston, Alabama. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press.

06/01/2026

Why is baseball in Sacramento so big right now? The history of baseball in our city has origins all the way back to the Gold Rush. With all the talk of a major league expansion, come learn about Sacramento’s baseball history at the Sacramento History Museum with our new and exciting exhibition, “Play Ball! Sacramento in the National Pastime.”

In this video, Shawn discusses the new exhibit and the big questions our team pursued in creating this exhibition.

Going to a game at Sutter Health Park? Visit the Sacramento History Museum the same day as the game, present your ticket to the game, and enjoy half off admission to the museum!

05/31/2026

May 31st is National Smile Day! For today, Howard letterpress printed a photo engraving depicting a man smiling and pointing.

This engraving comes from our miscellaneous collection so we do not know its origins. The text below, typeset in 30 point Caslon font, states, “National Smile Day.” This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press. We hope that our videos from the print shop at the Sacramento History Museum bring some joy to your day and put a smile on your face because we enjoy making these videos.

05/31/2026

The season is underway for the Athletics who play at Sutter Health Park right across the river from Old Sacramento. To show some support for our home team, Channey letterpress printed some yellow cards with green ink on using a 3x5 Kelsey Excelsior tabletop printing press.

The print includes an image of a 1940s baseball player and the text above, set in 30 point Caslon, states, “Let’s go A’s!” The “A” though is typeset in Engravers Old English font. Forty prints were made on this press run.

Going to a game at Sutter Health Park? Visit the Sacramento History Museum the same day as the game, present your ticket to the game, and enjoy half off admission to the museum!

05/30/2026

May 30th is National Creativity Day, a day to show off your creative side! When it comes to printing many of the items in our print shop, we have to get very creative, especially if the engraving is not type high (0.918 of an inch).

For today, Jared got creative to letterpress print four hand carved woodcuts all from the same box in the Lewis Winter Collection. However, each of the woodcuts are a different size and also of different heights so we had to get creative locking up the form for this. These depict different styles of shoes and these were used in local newspaper ads for clothing stores. These were carved sometime in the 1890s at Lewis Winter’s wood and photo engraving business at 627 J Street in Sacramento, California. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press.

05/30/2026

As we continue to grow and expand the print shop on social media for the Sacramento History Museum, someone new has donned a denim apron and sleeve protectors.

In this video, Channey letterpress printed one of her favorite cuts in the print shop which is a hand carved woodcut in the Lewis Winter Collection. This cut was made 125-135 years ago and depicts a small bird perched on a branch or a shrub that is in full bloom. This was printed with black rubber base ink using our Washington hand press, which was made in 1852.

05/29/2026

On May 29, 1880, the Sacramento Daily-Record Union newspaper published a full page history of the Huntington, Hopkins, & Company building. Originally located at 54 K Street, and later re-numbered to 220-222 K Street in 1880, Collis P. Huntington and Mark Hopkins opened their hardware store in 1855. In 1861, the firm expanded and purchased the building next door. The second floor of these buildings served as the offices of the Central Pacific Railroad Company from 1862 to 1873.

In 1878, their store was remodeled. The Huntington, Hopkins, & Company building was demolished in 1966 as a result of the construction of the Interstate 5 Freeway. It was reconstructed in 1970 on I Street between Front and Second Streets, two buildings east of the Sacramento History Museum. The Huntington, Hopkins building today is modeled after its 1861-1877 exterior appearance of the hardware store and is part of Old Sacramento State Historic Park.

For a full illustration and history of the hardware store in 1880, see the Sacramento Daily-Record Union May 29, 1880 edition.

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18800529.2.57&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1

Copy of a lithograph of the building (top) as it appeared in the May 29, 1880 edition of the Sacramento Daily-Record Union. Photograph of the Huntington Hopkins Hardware store ca. 1861 (bottom left), courtesy of the Mariners’ Museum, Virginia. Photograph of the reconstructed Huntington Hopkins Hardware Store today in Old Sacramento (bottom right).

05/29/2026

05/29/2026

From the print shop, we typically post videos daily on social media and many of our viewers like to tell us when it is their birthday. Well, consider this video a birthday greeting!

In this video, Jared letterpress printed birthday greeting cards using a 3x5 Kelsey Excelsior tabletop printing press. The ink is an orange oil base ink and the type font is 36 point Cheltenham Bold Condensed. The text states, “Another Birthday?” The electrotype used, from the Lewis Winter Collection, was made about 125-130 years ago. The image depicts Father Time and the text on the cut states, “Time Flies.”

The back of the card includes an image of a Washington hand press, our museum monogram, and the words “Printed at the Sacramento History Museum.” This card and other cards are available in our Museum Store!