Rivett (Don) collection, 1895-2007, bulk 1960-2000

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Summary

Title:
Don Rivett collection
Dates:
1895-2007, bulk 1960-2000
Creators:
Rivett, Donald (1917-2009) and Rivett, Alfred Irving (1891-1974)
Abstract:
The collection documents Sacramento amateur historian Don Rivett’s activities with local historical associations, employment with Sacramento County Parks and Recreation, and his family. He had a hand in the creation of the Sacramento History Museum and registering Old Sacramento as a historic landmark. Rivett was a member of the Historic Landmark Commission, Sacramento History Center (now the Center for Sacramento History), Sacramento Pioneer Association and Foundation, and Sacramento County Historical Society. Each organization has its own series that contains meeting minutes, membership information, newsletters, brochures, clippings, ephemera, and material related to specific projects. County Parks and Recreation material documents his work and projects, including work with buildings on the historic register. Material related to his family documents his father Alfred “Irving” Rivett’s work with the California Division of Highways and various historical associations, his grandfather Edgar Rivett, the family’s church activities, and various family members’ interests.
Extent:
9.63 linear feet (9 boxes)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Don Rivett collection, MS0080, Center for Sacramento History.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection primarily documents Rivett’s membership and work with local historical organizations, specifically the Historic Landmark Commission, Sacramento History Center (now known as the Center for Sacramento History), Sacramento Pioneer Association and Foundation, and Sacramento County Historical Society.

Each historical organization has its own series, which typically contain meeting minutes, membership information, newsletters, brochures, clippings, ephemera, and material related to specific projects, including historic landmarks, dedication ceremonies, Old Sacramento, the Pioneer Bridge, and the Sacramento History Museum.

The collection also documents Rivett’s work with Sacramento County Parks and Recreation, particularly buildings on the historic register, and to a lesser extent, his family, including an entire series of material collected or created by his father Alfred “Irving” Rivett and his work with the California Division of Highways and various historical associations. The Other Rivett family material focuses on Edgar Rivett, the family’s church activities, and various family members’ interests.

Biographical / historical:

Don Rivett was a local amateur historian who worked with the Sacramento County Department of Parks and Recreation. Along with his father, he was a member of the Sacramento Historic Landmarks Commission, the Sacramento County Historical Society, and the Sacramento Pioneer Association. He also worked with docents at the Sacramento History Museum. Through his affiliation with historical societies and his work at the county, Rivett helped to register Old Sacramento as a historic landmark.

Rivett was a descendent of a Sacramento pioneer family. His great-grandfather John Rivett came from England to California at the beginning of the Gold Rush and set up shop in the mercantile business. By 1852, he’d sent for his fiancée, Sarah Cook, and they were married in San Francisco then settled in Sacramento. The couple briefly returned to England to settle Sarah’s father’s estate, and John died there from tuberculosis. They had three sons, one of which, Edgar Henry was Don Rivett’s grandfather.

Edgar Henry Rivett was born in England in 1859. He returned to Sacramento with his mother and brothers, where they lived off the sale of John’s business, which had been sold to W. P. Fuller. Edgar and one of his brothers opened a printing business, A. and E. Rivett, and later he worked for the post office, rising through the ranks to become postmaster in Oak Park. He and his wife, Georgie McFarland Rivett, were married in 1885. They were members of the Westminster Presbyterian Church and Fremont Presbyterian Church. Edgar died in 1952. Their son Alfred Irving Rivett, known as Irving, was born in Sacramento in 1891. He also worked for the post office, first as a bicycle courier then as a clerk. He attended University of Nevada where he earned a degree in engineering, then returned to Sacramento. Irving married Ora Lea Lain in 1915 and began work for the California State Division of Highways as a draftsman. They had two children, twins Donald and Dexter. Irving worked in Bay Area shipyards during World War I, resuming his work with the Highway Division after the war. He ultimately became a safety engineer with that department, working on many road safety campaigns and speaking to civic and educational groups all over the state. He later helped develop educational programs for teachers of college and high school drivers’ education classes. Irving died in 1974 and Ora died in 1976.

Donald Irving Rivett was born in 1917 to Irving and Ora in the old Mercy Hospital on R Street. Rivett grew up near today’s Franklin Boulevard and Broadway, and he spent his boyhood playing in Oak Park and Joyland. He briefly worked on the Mack ranch south of town, where he learned to milk cows and drive a tractor. He started attending Sacramento High School, but when his father was transferred by the State Division of Highways to Stockton, Rivett finished high school there and attended College of the Pacific. He returned to Sacramento about 1938 and worked for the city in its recreation department, particularly at Camp Sacramento. Part of his work with the city was to help manage the transient housing and soup kitchen. He worked part time for the California State Fair and continued to do so for about 15 years before and after the war, sometimes as a tree topper and laborer and then as assistant director of special events. When World War II started in Europe, Rivett joined the army in 1941 and shipped overseas before Pearl Harbor, serving in Europe and Africa. He served 10 campaigns with the infantry, including a commando unit, and finished his duty as an instructor with the Foreign Legion. When the war ended in Europe, he was transferred to the Pacific theater, but Japan surrendered before he was sent there.

After the war, Rivett married Virginia Moore in 1946. He held various jobs, first with Continental Chemical Company, then the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Sacramento for eight years as a probation and parole officer. He worked for the Associated Home Builders from the mid-1950s until 1970 when he accepted a job with the Sacramento County Department of Parks and Recreation. He also worked with the Sacramento Symphony for a time in the 1950s through 1970.

Rivett retired in 1980, but remained busy with his membership in local historical groups. He died in 2009 in Sacramento.

Acquisition information:
Acquired from the Don Rivett family in 2010 (accession number 2010/019).
Processing information:

Processing and finding aid by Margaret Janssen, 2011-2012. Finding aid edited by Kim Hayden, 2020.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

  • Series 1. Historic Landmark Commission, 1960-1972
  • Series 2. Sacramento History Center, ca. 1972-1990, bulk 1985-1990
  • Series 3. Sacramento Pioneer Association and Foundation, 1967-2007
  • Series 4. Sacramento County Historical Society, 1960-2001
  • Series 5. Sacramento County Parks and Recreation, 1915-2002, bulk 1965-1985
  • Series 6. Alfred Irving Rivett, 1932-1974
  • Series 7. Rivett Family interests and church activities, 1895-2001

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Margaret Janssen
Date Prepared:
© 2020
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Kim Hayden, 2020. Date of source: May 19, 2020.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item and/or item number], [box and folder number], Don Rivett collection, MS0080, Center for Sacramento History.

Location of this collection:
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95811, US
Contact:
(916) 808-7072
csh@cityofsacramento.org
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