Collection Guide
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Posehn, Margaret, Research Collection
MC 59
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento Room
Title: Margaret Posehn Research Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MC 59
Physical Description:
15 Linear Feet
(7 Archival Boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1913-2005
Abstract: The Margaret Posehn Research Collection documents the historical panorama of California's Rio Linda and Elverta communities
through copious photographic, newspaper, ephemeral, and unpublished records.
There are no restrictions. However, the collection does contain several photocopies of photographs that were acquired by the
creator for research purposes. Because there is no known provenance for these images, researchers are strongly admonished
to only use for research purposes and not for publication.
Two maps have been removed and placed with the Sacramento Room's vault maps. They are maps v036.1 and v036.2.
The collection's creator, Margaret E. Posehn, was born in October 1938. Her family moved to Rio Linda, California, in 1946,
and she graduated from North Sacramento's Grant Union High School in 1956. Posehn went on to work as a protocol assistant
at McClellan Air Force Base from 1967 to 1995. Since the mid-1970s, she has interviewed residents of both the Rio Linda and
Elverta communities, writing and cataloging their histories into seven published works, including Posehn Heritage, 1777-1980;
The Peter Brandt Descendants; Rio Linda and Elverta History, 1850-1929; The Pioneers of Rio Linda and Elverta, 1850-1929;
and, Pictorial History of the Rio Linda Fire Department. Posehn has also been a professional genealogist since the late-1970s
and currently operates Posehn Genealogy Research Services.
The geographic focus of the collection is the Census-designated places of Rio Linda and Elverta, California. Both communities
occupy what is a semirural area of Sacramento County, located 10 to 15 miles north of Sacramento proper. Set upon the Mexican-era
Rancho Del Paso land grant, both communities have subsisted by way of poultry farming and the eventual arrival, in 1938, of
the Sacramento Air Depot, closing in 2000 as McClellan Air Force Base. Starting in 1910, the Minnesota-based Sacramento Suburban
Fruit Land Company purchased some 12,000 acres of land, which it promoted as proper for many types of soil farming. In reality,
the hardpan soil of the northwestern Sacramento County proved utterly unsuitable for many crop types, forcing settlers to
reinvent themselves into poultry farmers. By 1918, 50 families – many having migrated from Minnesota and the Dakotas – were
living in area. Proximity to the Northern Electric Railway, constructed in 1905, enhanced commerce and transit between both
cities and Sacramento. The poultry industry flourished through the post-World War II era, but ebbed in the 1960s and 1970s,
eventually leaving both Rio Linda and Elverta as residential communities.
Box 1:
Series I, Newspaper Clippings and Newsletters. Folders 1 through 13 are made up of articles from the Rio Linda Record, Sacramento
Bee, Rio Linda Record, Rio Linda Record-Times, Rio Linda World, Rio Linda News, The News (serving both Rio Linda and Elverta),
and full issues of the Eggspress and Mini-Eggspress, the official organ of the Rio Linda/Elverta Historical Society. Folder
7 contains an index for the Eggspress.
Series II, Schools. Folders 14 through 21 contain school photographs, class photographs, original and photocopied, of Grant
Union High School, and reunion information for the class of 1950, 1951, and 1952, and a lengthy history of Rio Linda Schools.
Photographs of Vineland School, Rio Linda School, Rio Linda Junior High, and various obituaries and biographies on teachers
within the Elkhorn and Rio Linda school districts are included.
Box 1.1:
Series II, Schools. Folders 1 through 3 contain photocopies of class photographs for Rio Linda School from 1953 to 1959.
Box 2:
Series II, Schools. Folders 1 and 2 contain photocopies of 1937 and 1938 issues of the Rio Linda Union, the newspaper for
Rio Linda Grammar School. Photocopies of class photographs and the physical school from 1940 through 1950 occupy folders 2.1
through 8. Photocopies of class photographs for Larchmont School appear in folders 9 through 11 for years 1964/65, 1965/66,
and 1968/69. Photocopies of staff photographs appear in folder 12 for years 1968/69 and 1969/70. Folders 12 through 15 include
photocopies of class photographs for Larchmont School for years 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72, and 1972/73. Folders 16 and 17
contain photocopies of staff and class photographs at Larchmont School for 1980/81, 1984/85, 1995/96. Folder 17.1 contains
photocopies of images relating to Aerohaven School and other schools in the Rio Linda area.
Series III, Business and Industry. Folders 18 through 22 include newspapers clipping, photocopies of photographs, sundry histories
and published material from the Rio Linda/Elverta Chamber of Commerce. Creator-marked sections also offer detail on the poultry
farms of Stan Anderson, Lee Brown, Michael Blocher, the Donsing Family, Leroy Gehris, the Horgan Family, Napoleon Harris,
the Ingersoll Family, Jacob Johnson, the Lyding Family, the Kasser Family, John Matushak, Cecil Nash, Wade Perry, John Posehn,
the Rio Linda Hatchery, Shue Fong, the Temperli Family, the Weisgerber Family, and various other poultry producers. Folder
21 also contains a directory of poultry farmers. An original circa 1920 map of Rio Linda poultry producers has been removed
from folder 22 and is stored with vault maps with identifying number v036.1.
Box 2.1:
Series III, Business and Industry. Box contains original images and photocopied content relating to the Clark Family.
Box 3:
Series III, Business and Industry. Folders 1 and 2 contain content on Rio Linda postmasters, Masonic Lodge number 786, Rio
Linda Rebekah Lodge number 378 as well as a roster of businesses. Folders 3 through 8 contain information on the Sacramento
Suburban Fruit Lands Company, including a roster of purchases and their states of origin and copies of legal documents relating
to lawsuits. Content also includes marketing material used by the Sacramento Suburban Fruit Lands Company and information
on the Rio Linda Hatchery.
Series IV, Churches. Information on the Calvary Lutheran Church is in folder 9 and 10. The Rio Linda Community Methodist Church,
the Church of the Brethern, the Rio Linda Chatholic Church/St. Anthony Church are represented through photocopies of photographs
in folders 11 and 12.
Series V, Photographs. Several unidentified images are found in folder 13, most photocopied, but some original. Folders 14
through 16 contain photocopied and original photographs of flooding in the Rio Linda/Elverta area. Folders 17 through 19 hold
photocopies of photographs of businesses, social functions, homes and farms in the Rio Linda area.
Series VI, Recreation. Folders 20 and 21 contain photocopies of photographs of baseball teams and games in the Rio Linda/Elverta
area.
Box 4:
Series VI, Recreation. Original photographs and ephemera representing Farm Days and Farm and Tractor Days for years 1994 through
2004 can be found in folders 1 through 4 and a photograph album.
Series VII, Landmarks. Rio Linda's Arch or Archway is the subject of folders 6 through 9. Photocopies of photographs and some
originals, newspaper clippings and brief histories make up the content. Folders 10 through 12 contain photocopies of photographs
and originals, loose correspondence, and newspaper clippings relating to the Rio Linda train depot. Photographs of Mormon
Ranch House and reminiscences about it make up much of the contents of folder 13 through 15. Ephemera, photocopied legal documents,
newspaper clippings, photocopies of photographs and originals about Gibson Ranch occupy folder 16.
Box 5:
Series VII, Landmarks. Folder 1 contains photocopied material on Sacramento County's acquisition of the Gibson Ranch for use
as a park and recreational site.
Series VIII, Airplane Accidents. Folders 2 and 3 are made up of photocopies of photographs, newspaper clippings and photocopies
of news stories covering aviation accidents in the Rio Linda/Elverta area.
Series IX, Maps. Folders 4 through 6 are mostly made up of copied maps. Parcel, plot, plat, and promotional maps make up the
core of the series. An original 1913 plat map of Rio Linda, created by the Sacramento Suburban Fruit Lands Company has been
removed from folder 4 and is stored with the Sacramento Room's vault maps with identifying number v036.2.
Series X, Early Histories of Rio Linda and Elverta. Folders 7 through 13 contain photocopied sections from reference books,
loose correspondence, newspaper clippings and copies, and written historical narrative relating to the Rio Linda/Elverta area.
Of note is foler 7 which includes a copy of a legal document detailing the sale of land from the Sacramento Valley Colonization
Company to Alvah E. Roebuck for the establishment of Rio Linda Colony.
Series XI, Del Paso Land Grant. Folder 14 contains an assortment of copied newspaper articles and reference sections that
address the history of the Rancho Del Paso land grant.
Series XII, Biography. Folders 15 through 17 contain biographical information and residential listings of notable inhabitants
of the Rio Linda/Elverta area. Ranchers, farmers, and public employees make up the bulk of subjects.
[Identification of item], Margaret Posehn Research Collection, MC 59, Sacramento Room, Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento,
California.