Guide to the Gold Fever! exhibition collection
by Rachel Markgraf and Jennifer Peterson
Center for Sacramento History
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Phone: (916) 808-7072
Fax: (916) 264-7582
Email: csh@cityofsacramento.org
URL: http://www.centerforsacramentohistory.org/
© 2021
Center for Sacramento History. All rights reserved.
Guide to the
Gold Fever! exhibition collection
Collection number: MS0079
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, CA
- Processed by:
- Rachel Markgraf and Jennifer Peterson
- Date Completed:
- 2006
- Encoded by:
- Kim Hayden
© 2020 Center for Sacramento History. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title:
Gold Fever! exhibition collection
Dates: 1998-2000
Bulk Dates: 1999
Collection number: MS0079
Collector:
City of Sacramento
Collection Size:
3 linear feet (4 boxes)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The collection documents the exhibition
Gold Fever! The Lure and Legacy of the California Gold Rush, which was held at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium from August 1 to October 31, 1999. Organized by the Oakland Museum of
California, the exhibit commemorated the sesquicentennial of the California gold discovery, documenting both Gold Rush history
and the history and growth of California. Material dates from 1998 to 2000 and includes correspondence, legal documents, financial
records, tour information, staffing information, security procedures, incident reports, facilities information, promotional
and educational materials, audio guide transcripts, exhibition photographs, and videos.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Publication Rights
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], Gold Fever! exhibition collection, MS0079, Center for
Sacramento History.
Acquisition Information
Acquired from Richard Feinburg, agent of the City of Sacramento, in 2000 (accession number 2000/128).
Processing Information
Processing and finding aid by Rachel Markgraf and Jennifer Peterson, 2006. Finding aid edited by Kim Hayden, 2020.
Biography / Administrative History
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, the Oakland Museum of California
organized the exhibition
Gold Rush! California’s Untold Stories.
Gold Rush! consisted of a historical exhibition called
Gold Fever! The Lure and Legacy of the California Gold Rush, and three art exhibitions:
Art of the Gold Rush: Painters and Prospectors;
Silver and Gold: Cased Images; and
The Discovery of Gold in California: Paintings by Harry Fonseca.
The exhibit was first displayed at the Oakland Museum of California from January 24 to July 26, 1998, before traveling to
the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles from September 19, 1998, to January 24, 1999, and finally to Memorial
Auditorium in Sacramento from August 1 to October 31, 1999. In Sacramento,
Gold Fever! ran simultaneously with
Silver and Gold: Cased Images at the Crocker Art Museum. Smaller versions of
Gold Fever! traveled throughout California from May 1998 until October 2000.
The $1.4 million exhibition in Sacramento was primarily funded by the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, and Golden One
Credit Union, which each contributed at least $200,000.
Gold Fever! organizers, led by project manager Milita Rios-Samaniego and exhibit manager Dick Feinburg, raised the remainder of the required
funding from local sources.
Although
Gold Fever! was organized and curated under L. Thomas Frye of the Oakland Museum, only one-third of the 1,600 artifacts used in the Memorial
Auditorium exhibit were from the Oakland exhibition, requiring organizers to borrow artifacts from other institutions and
private donors. Several local curators and scholars were responsible for acquiring other artifacts, including Janice Driesbach
of the Crocker Art Museum, James Henley of the Center for Sacramento History (then known as the Sacramento Archives and Museum
Collections Center), Frank La Pena of Sacramento State University, and California State Librarian Kevin Starr.
The exhibition was designed to tell California’s history starting from the earliest fur trading settlements up to the year
of the exhibition. This was achieved by leading visitors through consecutive rooms and using audio guides with actors reading
from diaries or newspaper articles of the time. The exhibits and audio guides were supplemented with volunteers dressed in
Gold Rush-era attire and interactive components, like gold panning outside the auditorium. One of the highlights of the exhibit
was the “Wimmer Nugget,” believed to be one of the nuggets found by James Marshall on January 24, 1848.
The exhibit included sections on the negative impacts the Gold Rush had on Native Americans, women, and the environment, but
it was criticized by the Indigenous Community Outreach Network (ICON) for not fully presenting the Native voice and downplaying
what they referred to as the holocaust of California’s Native population during the Gold Rush. ICON staged protests outside
of the exhibit, and one of their representatives, Susan Reece (Mohawk and Ottawa) was accused by security of recording the
copyrighted audio guide during a visit to the exhibit. Ms. Reese said she was using her recorder for personal notes of the
exhibition content and claimed her treatment was racial discrimination. Several meetings were subsequently held with exhibition
organizers, city and county officials, the community, and staff of the Oakland Museum. In the end, the exhibition gift shop
agreed to sell copies of Pratap Chaterjee’s book
Gold, Greed and Genocide, which ICON provided.
Other publications created in conjunction with the exhibit included Art of the Gold Rush by H. Jones and J. Driesbach, Silver
and Gold by Drew Heath Johnson and Marcia Eymann, and Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California by J. S. Holliday.
A statewide curriculum,
Myth & Reality: The California Gold Rush and Its Legacy, was also created for fourth, fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades.
Further information and an online exhibition of
Gold Fever! is available at http://explore.museumca.org/goldrush/fever.html (still an active URL as of Feb 2021).
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection documents the planning, execution, and promotion of
Gold Fever! The Lure and Legacy of the California Gold Rush held at Memorial Auditorium from August 1 to October 31, 1999. Material dates from 1998 to 2000, with the bulk dating from
August to October 1999. Material includes correspondence, legal documents, financial documents, tour information, staffing
information, security procedures, incident reports, facilities information, promotional and educational materials, audio guide
transcripts, exhibition photographs, and videos.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 7 series:
- Series 1. Administration, 1998-2000
- Series 2. Staffing and training, 1998-2000
- Series 3. Security, 1998-2000
- Series 4. Facilities, 1998-2000
- Series 5. Public relations, 1998-2000
- Series 6. Exhibition, 1998-2000
- Series 7. Audiovisual, 1998-2000
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Museum exhibits
Museum exhibits--Planning
Exhibitions
California Gold Rush, 1848-1852
California--History
Series 1. Administration
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series is made up of administrative files that document the logistics for putting on the exhibition and its establishment
and transfer to the city of Sacramento. Material includes correspondence, legal documents, financial records, tour records,
permits, estimates, budgets, invoices, and reports. The series is arranged chronologically, except for tours, which are arranged
alphabetically.
Box 1, Folder 1
General correspondence
1998-11-1999-04
Box 1, Folder 2
General correspondence
1999-05; 1999-06
Box 1, Folder 3
Genera correspondence
1999-07-1999-09
Box 1, Folder 4
General correspondence
1999-10-2000-01
Box 1, Folder 8
Meeting notes
1998-12-1999-11
Box 1, Folder 9
Thank you letters
1999-09; 1999-10
Box 1, Folder 11, Mapcase 19:04, Folder 1
Box 1, Folder 12
Permits and licenses
undated
Box 1, Folder 15
Estimates
1998-01-1999-07
Box 1, Folder 18
Invoices
1999-07; 1999-08
Box 1, Folder 19
Invoices
1999-09; 1999-10
Box 1, Folder 20
Invoices
1999-11; 1999-12
Box 1, Folder 22
Fundraising
1999-04-1999-10
Box 1, Folder 23
Individual financial reports
undated
Box 1, Folder 24
Final financial report
undated
Box 1, Folder 25
Special event reservations
undated
Box 1, Folder 26
Teacher tour reservations
undated
Box 1, Folder 27
Attendance reports
undated
Box 1, Folder 28
Tour confirmation
undated
Box 1, Folder 29
School tours, A-C
undated
Box 1, Folder 30
School tours, D-G
undated
Box 2, Folder 31
School tours, H-M
undated
Box 2, Folder 32
School tours, N-S
undated
Box 2, Folder 33
School tours, T-Z
undated
Series 2. Staffing and training
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
Material in this series is related to the staffing and training needs of the exhibition. Due to the short length of the exhibition,
the majority of the staffing was supplied and managed by Comstock Staffing. Material includes job descriptions, policies and
procedures, Comstock Staffing records, and volunteer records.
Box 2, Folder 35
Policies and procedures
undated
Box 2, Folder 36
Comstock Staffing
undated
Series 3. Security
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains material related to the security of the exhibit and the items on loan for it, including security procedures,
alarm and fire prevention records, correspondence, chief security officer administrative material, a log book, and incident
reports. The incident reports are of particular interest because they detail a dispute between exhibition organizers and the
activist group Indigenous Community Outreach Network (ICON) that lasted for the entire duration of the exhibit and eventually
involved city and county officials, community members, and Oakland Museum staff. ICON felt the exhibition failed to fully
include the Native voice, and they staged protests outside of the exhibit and requested that certain aspects of the exhibition
be changed. This series is arranged roughly chronologically.
Box 2, Folder 38
Security procedures
undated
Box 2, Folder 41
Incident reports
1998-07-1999-12
Box 2, Folder 42
Correspondence
1998-05-1999-10
Box 2, Folder 43
Chief Security Officer folder
undated
Series 4. Facilities
Series Scope and Content Summary
Material in this series documents the layout of the exhibition at Memorial Auditorium, including records related to the establishment
of a phone system and other equipment provided for the proper operation of the event, a facilities report, equipment records,
and maps.
Box 2, Folder 45
Facilities report
undated
Box 2, Folder 46, Mapcase 19:04, Folder 1
Box 2, Folder 48, Mapcase 19:04, Folder 1
Series 5. Public relations
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of promotional material created for the exhibit, which was heavily publicized throughout the Sacramento
Valley with television commercials, newspaper and magazine articles, and the establishment of an official website. Material
includes promotional packets made for the general public, teachers, and volunteers, plus posters, website records, and television,
newspaper, and magazine promotions. Also included are examples of promotional material from the Oakland Museum and the Autry,
which were provided to the city for guidance.
Box 2, Folder 49
General promotional packets
undated
Box 2, Folder 50
Teacher promotional packets
undated
Box 2, Folder 51
Volunteer promotional packets
undated
Box 2, Folder 52
Promotional information
undated
Box 2, Folder 53, Mapcase 19:04, Folder 1
Box 2, Folder 55
TV ads (listing the contents of one of the videos)
undated
Box 2, Folder 56, Mapcase 19:04, Folder 1
Series 6. Exhibition
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents the planning, installation, and interpretation of the exhibit and the items used in it. Material includes
lists of individual exhibit items, exhibit labels, installation and de-installation records, public education records, audio
guide records, signs, souvenirs, and records from both the Oakland Museum and the Autry that assisted the Memorial Auditorium
with the exhibit.
Box 2, Folder 60
Planning, general information
undated
Box 2, Folder 63
Oakland general information
undated
Box 2, Folder 64
Autry general information
undated
Box 2, Folder 68
Entertainment, community
undated
Box 2, Folder 70
Education, general information
undated
Box 2, Folder 73
California timeline
undated
Box 3, Folder 76
Days of 49 exhibit
undated
Box 3, Folder 78
Audio guide information
undated
Box 3, Folder 79
Audio guide transcript
undated
Box 3, Folder 80
Audio guide, Oakland
undated
Series 7. Audiovisual material
1998-2000
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains photographs, slides, computer disks, and videos related to the exhibit. Photographs document the equipment,
display arrangement, final exhibition layout, and various special events from throughout the life of the exhibition.
Box 3, Folder 81
Photographs, equipment
undated
Box 3, Folder 82
Photographs, display
undated
Box 3, Folder 83
Photographs, exhibition
undated
Box 3, Folder 84
Photographs, exhibition
undated
Box 3, Folder 85
Photographs, special events
undated
Box 4
VHS - Gold Fever: 30 Spot 6 1921
1999
Box 4
VHS - Gold Fever: 30 PSA logo, 30PSA no-logo, 15 PSA no-logo
undated
Box 4
VHS - Gold Fever: 4 spots
undated
Box 4
VHS - Gold Fever: 30 spots, CA Lottery
undated
Box 4
VHS - Gold Fever: spot, Client Review Copy
undated
Box 4
VHS - “Gold Fever! The Lure and the Legacy of the California Gold Rush” (stills of exhibit)
1998
