Bulletin Is Published When We Are Able

CALIFORNIA S T A T E LIBRARY FOUNDATION Number 128 2020 CALIFORNIA S T A T E LIBRARY FOUNDATION Number 128 2020

EDITOR Gary F. Kurutz

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Brittneydawn Cook Gene Kennedy 2 ��Anonymous Black Gold Seeker at Auburn Ravine, 1852 COPY EDITOR M. Patricia Morris By Shirley Ann Wilson Moore

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kenneth B. Noack, Jr. 4 ��Discoveries in the Library’s Archives: Louis J. Stellman’s Photographs President of the Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown Marilyn Snider By Julia Siler Vice-President Mike Ueltzen 10 Meet Designer and Artist Angela Tannehill-Caldwell Treasurer By M. Patricia Morris Jeff Volberg Secretary Greg Lucas 14 From Pollywog to Shellback: The Story of the SS Adolph Sutro State Librarian of California By Carolina Basave and Mattie Taormina

Phillip L. Isenberg Thomas W. Stallard 20 ��Tale of a City: Community Resistance to Redevelopment Phyllis Smith Susan Glass in Sacramento’s Japantown Katherine Weedman-Cox By Moriah Ulinskas

Brittneydawn Cook Gene Kennedy 26 ��Foundation Notes Executive Director Foundation The Trail Turtles Archive Administrator By Gary F. Kurutz Shelley Ford Bookkeeper 28 ��Recent Contributors The California State Library Foundation Bulletin is published when we are able. © 2004-2020.

Opinions of the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their institu- tions, the California State Library or the Foundation.

The Bulletin is included as a membership benefit to Foundation members and those Front Cover: Daguerreotype of Black Miner Working a Sluice Box in Auburn Ravine, individuals contributing $40.00 or more annually circa 1852. Quarter-plate daguerreotype by Joseph Blaney Starkweather. to Foundation Programs. Membership rates are: Back Cover: How Does Your Garden Grow, mixed media piece by Angela Tannehill. Associate:$40-$99 Contributor:$100-249 Illustrations and Photo Credits: Pages 2-3, California History Section, California State Sponsor:$250-$499 Library; pp. 4-9, Cameron House, San Francisco and California History Section; pp. Patron:$500-$999 10-13, Angela Tannehill-Caldwell; pp. 14-19, Sutro Library, California State Library and Institutional:$500 Naval Historical Foundation; pp. 20-25, Center for Sacramento History and Sacramento Corporate:$750 Bee; p. 27, Oregon-California Trails Association. Lifetime Member:$1,000 Design: Angela Tannehill-Caldwell | www.angelacaldwell.art Pioneer:$5,000 Subscription to Libraries: $30/year California State Library Foundation 1225 8th Street, Suite 345, Sacramento, CA 95814 tel: 916.447.6331 | web: www.cslfdn.org | email: [email protected]

BULLETIN 128 1 Anonymous Black Gold Seeker at Auburn Ravine, 1852

By Shirley Ann Wilson Moore, Ph.D

Dr. Shirley Moore is Professor of History, Emerita, California State University, Sacramento. She is a highly acclaimed scholar in the field of African American studies. She is the author of “Sweet Freedom’s Plains: African Americans on the Overland Trails,1841-1869,” which won the 2019 Barbara Sudler Award for the best nonfiction work on a Western American subject written by a woman.

2 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION oseph B. Starkweather’s pelled to leave his family behind to accom- still enslaved back home, he may have been daguerreotype of an unnamed pany his owner to the goldfields. His only like Peter Brown, a free black man from black miner posing with shovel solace was his owner’s promise of manumis- Missouri who in 1851 was a gold miner in hand in front of a sluice box somewhere sion for him and his loved ones in exchange on the Cosumnes River. In a letter to his in Placer County’s Auburn Ravine, circa for his labor. Unfortunately, many slaveown- wife, Alley, in St. Genevieve City, Missouri, 1852, recalls the old saying “a picture is ers reneged on their promise. This was the Brown revealed that his efforts were for worth a thousand words.”(See Editor’s plight of Kentucky-born slave Alvin Coffey the purpose of getting enough money to Note) While the miner’s name and who trekked from Missouri to California with purchase their son’s freedom. If, however, nationality are lost to history, he was likely his owner in 1849. Although his owner had the black miner at Auburn Ravine were a an African American who shared with his promised that Coffey could purchase freedom free man without loved ones still enslaved, gold-seeking counterparts, irrespective of for himself and his wife and children, he his story might have been like that of David race or nationality, a willingness to endure broke his promise, stole Coffey’s hard-earned Brown. David was a free man from Ohio who the harsh and perilous conditions of the gold, and sold him to a new master. Coffey left his free-born wife Rachel in Ohio and goldfields for a chance to “strike it rich.” would make three round-trips to California set out for California in 1852, bound for the The image, one of the treasures of the with two different masters, work again as a goldfields. He wanted Rachel to join him, California History Section of the California gold miner, and perform other jobs before but she refused. David stayed in California State Library, provides glimpses of the he had made enough money to finally buy where he began a new life in Downieville life and times of this man, but when the himself and his family out of bondage. as a miner and businessman. racial landscape of the United States in the The black miner at Auburn Ravine may This daguerreotype is intriguing for nineteenth century is considered, a fuller have been a free man. If so, he, like many what it reveals but even more so for what picture emerges. other free blacks, refused to remain in their remains unknown. Fortunately, the image Like all 19th-century African Americans, home states where black laws and anti- of the anonymous black miner at Auburn he lived in a society that consigned him to black violence restricted their livelihoods Ravine has been preserved, but his name, a subordinate status. Whether enslaved or and threatened their lives. In a bid for real his story, and his reasons for working in the free, black people had few legal rights, were freedom and opportunity, countless free gold fields have yet to be discovered. These denied the franchise, and were particularly black people headed for California and other things remain as hidden as the gold that he vulnerable to exploitation of all kinds because western regions. If the anonymous black and countless other anonymous argonauts of race. If he were a slave, he likely was com- miner were free but had family members toiled so hard to find.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Unfortunately, little is known about the pioneer daguerreotypist Joseph Blaney Starkweather. A short biography of him was published by Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn in Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840–1865, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000, pp. 521–522. Born sometime between 1822 and 1827 in New York State, he came to California around 1852 but lived in Massachusetts through the 1850s and early 1860s. He worked as a photographer in San Francisco from 1867 to 1904. In 1880, he exhibited 10 daguerreotypes of mining scenes at the Fifteenth Industrial Exhibition at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco, which may have included the Starkweather quarter-plate daguerreotype in the Library’s collection, featured in Dr. Moore’s article. In addition, the State Library has two other quarter-plate daguerreotypes by Starkweather taken in Placer County. Starkweather employed the daguerreotype process. Invented in 1839, this is considered the first practical form of photography. Briefly, the daguerreotype was made by using a thin sheet of copper plated with silver and sensitized with iodine in a portable dark tent when on the road. The plate was then exposed in the camera for several minutes to make a “latent” image which was, in turn, made visible by exposing the plate to mercury vapors. Once fixed, this “mirror image” of sensitive chemicals was placed under a glass shield and inserted into a protective case usually made of wood and leather. Each image is unique and did not involve the positive-negative process. Fortunately, with digitization, the full glory of these highly detailed and unique images can be readily seen on a computer. The vast majority of daguerreotypes were portraits. Open-air scenes like the Auburn Ravine image are extremely rare as it took a great logistical effort for these early photographers to set up their dark tents, equipment, chemicals, and compose the scene.

BULLETIN 128 3 Discoveries in the Library’s Archives Louis J. Stellman’s Photographs of the Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. By Julia Flynn Siler

Tien Fuh Wu (standing in the back, on the left) and Donaldina Cameron (seated, center), with a group of women who may have been Mission Home staffers. Photo by Louis B. Stellman, California State Library.

4 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION our years into my research for Discoveries in the Library’s Archives my recent nonfiction book, The White Devil’s Daughters, I came across a photograph that upended my under- Louis J. Stellman’s Photographs of the Women standing of the role Asian women played in the fight against slavery. Snapped in the early Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown. twentieth century, it was a formal portrait of six women. Two were white; the other By Julia Flynn Siler four were Chinese. All wore light-colored garments unsuited to their daily work in a group home where as many as sixty people lived at any one time. The white women in the portrait wore summer muslin gowns with delicate lace. The Asian women wore shimmering quipao gowns, whose high col- lars were joined by fabric frogs. The setting was a light-filled parlor in the Presbyterian Mission House, an often- chaotic refuge for trafficked and vulnerable women in San Francisco’s Chinatown. After the photographer set up his camera, he arranged the six women in front of a dark, wood-paneled wall, placing the white woman with the Gibson Girl bun in the center of the frame. At the moment the shutter clicked, both of the white women gazed languidly off to the side. The four Asian women, in contrast, looked directly at the camera lens, as if any fear they might have felt as immigrants living in a time of virulent anti-Chinese racism was gone. The photograph gives equal visual prominence to both the Chinese and the white women. This portrait came as a revelation to me. Asian activists and anti-slavery pioneers had been all but cropped out of the frame by

Julia Flynn Siler is the author of The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chi- natown (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019) a finalist in nonfiction for a California Book Award. She is a longtime staffer at the Community of Writers in the High Sierra, which will cel- ebrate its 50th anniversary next summer. For more information, please visit www.juliafly- nnsiler.com.

BULLETIN 128 5 Donaldina Cameron and some of the residents of the Mission Home. Photo by Louis B. Stellman, California State Library.

most photographers and historians from that ing myth that has surrounded Donaldina time, in favor of portrayals that cast white Cameron, the woman with the Gibson Girl colleagues—women and men—in heroic, bun. It topples the mistaken belief that the larger-than-life roles. But this photo visually Chinatown “safe house,” now renamed in articulates the key role that Asian women her honor as Cameron House, was an opera- played in a seven decades-long fight against tion she ran single-handedly. It does this by slavery waged from the home. Taken by the showing us the people who actually ran the photographer and journalist Louis J. Stell- home. They were Chinese and white women man, possibly to accompany a newspaper who lived, worked, and ate together most feature story, it is one of three surviving days in a large house located at 920 Sacra- images from that session preserved by the mento Street, an old brick building made of California State Library. Not only did it clinker bricks that had been salvaged from change my understanding of the dynamics the 1906 earthquake and firestorms. between the characters in my history, but Together, the Chinese and white staffers it also forced me to reexamine some early fought the “slave girl trade”—a criminal sex The dust jacket for Siler's epic chronicle. Cover design by Jenny Carrow. Image of girl assumptions in my research. trafficking enterprise that thrived between courtesy of Cameron House. Stellman’s photo challenges the endur- China and the U.S. Their work made for

6 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION good copy. There were countless newspaper and magazine stories about the efforts to disrupt this profitable and violent business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most contemporary readers identified that crusade with just one woman. For nearly four decades, from the end of the Victorian era to the end of the Great Depression, that woman was Cameron, the youngest daughter of a Scottish sheep rancher and his wife. She arrived at the home in 1895 to teach sewing and became the home’s superintendent four years later. Tall, charis- matic, and articulate, she was typically the focus of the journalists’ often sensational stories of rooftop rescues and missionaries busting down the doors of brothels. Cameron wasn’t the whole story, though. I came to realize that not only did she rely heavily on Asian colleagues to run the home on a day-to-day basis, but she also needed them to accompany her on the dramatic “rescues” that captured the public imagina- tion. Because Cameron did not speak or read Chinese, due in part to a tin ear for music and languages, her Chinese colleagues were often the first point of contact with the home’s staffers. In crucial immigration hearings and courtrooms, it was the home’s Chinese aides who translated and served as chaperones and guards to the vulnerable women. When survivors of trafficking rings testified to California State legislators in 1901, it was the home’s Chinese staffers who made sure their words were understood by the politicians who would ultimately, as Donaldina Cameron (far left) and police officers stage a rescue of a Chinese girl. Not the a result of the hearings, pass one of Cali- Asian colleague on Cameron’s left. Courtesy of Cameron House. fornia’s first anti-trafficking laws. For decades, Cameron was the public face of the Mission House. She was resilient, courageous, and a highly effective fund- raiser, often spending weeks at a time cross- Together, the Chinese and white staffers fought the ing the state of California. She transfixed society ladies with stories of brothel raids “slave girl trade”–a criminal sex trafficking enterprise that thrived and slave girls as a way to convince them to support her crusade. She travelled across between China and the U.S. Their work made for good copy. the country checking up on the home’s far- flung former residents, many of whom had married, and raising money so her organiza-

BULLETIN 128 7 Donaldina Cameron (center) and unnamed Asian assistant supporting a distressed young woman, aided by law enforcement officials.Photo by Louis J. Stellman, California State Library

8 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION tion could continue its work of disrupting league Ethel Higgins, who nursed to health as a staffer at the home. Later on, she would trafficking—and expand. Word spread and the many residents sickened by the so-called travel solo across the country on the home’s soon the home began overflowing with resi- “Spanish Flu” pandemic more than a century business and plan and execute the rescues dents. It then expanded—opening a new ago. (None of the residents died from it.) of trafficked women—an extraordinary role home designed by architect Julia Morgan in I’d begun to realize that Wu was a crucial for an unmarried, Chinese-born woman Oakland for younger residents. That second part of the home’s story, yet I’d found very at that time. home became known as “Ming Quong,” or few photographs of her. I scoured news- Wu’s solid shoulders fill her formalqipao . “Radiant Light.” papers, which focused on Cameron, and In the photograph, she’s not relaxed. But I While Cameron was on the road, Asian poured through archives, including those can imagine she felt she’d earned her place staffers did much of the work of running of the Yale Divinity School, the National alongside the other staffers. From reading the two homes. They’d feed, clothe, and Archives and Records Administration, Tien’s letters and researching her life, I know maintain the health of its vulnerable resi- and the Presbyterian Historical Society in she was resilient and had a biting sense of dents. Sometimes, they’d assist when babies Philadelphia. Then, on a Friday afternoon humor, especially in her work of helping were born or disease broke out, as during in mid-November of 2017, about three years to arrange marriages for residents of the the outbreaks of the bubonic plague in into my research, an unexpected email home. “Everybody is after me for girls,” Wu Chinatown or the terrible flu pandemic of landed in my inbox. “Ms. Siler—I previ- wrote to Cameron on a trip to Boston in 1918–1919, which sickened nearly all the ously sent you information on the images 1915 where she checked up on a married home’s residents and staffers. They’d work of Donaldina Cameron you requested,” former resident. “I might as well open a with law enforcement officers to assist girls wrote Senior Librarian Marianne Leach. Matrimonial Bureau here in the east,” she and women who sought refuge at the home But she had discovered a new set of group joked, an acknowledgment of the role that on Sacramento Street, in the shadow of photographs of Ms. Cameron, her staff, and the home played as a matchmaker over the Nob Hill. As many as 3,000 people passed students. She asked, “Are you interested in years. Wu was the bouncer, the enforcer, and through the home’s doors from the time these further images or is the original set the toughest and most passionate defender it opened as a safe house in 1874 to the sufficient for your purpose?” of the home’s vulnerable residents. The arc time its mission changed in the mid-1930s. Was I ever! About a month later, the set of her life moved from overcoming her own Stellman’s photograph underscored my of three remarkable black and white por- vulnerability as a child to a lifetime of car- growing awareness that Cameron and the traits arrived. In the online catalogue, the ing for others. other white superintendents of the home sole person identified in the photograph is As I begin the research for my next book— could not have done their work without their Cameron, which was typical of the many an investigative history of an unsolved mur- Asian colleagues. photographs I found of the Mission Home der during California’s Gilded Age—I’ve One Chinese colleague, in particular, during my research. Luckily, by then, I’d become more aware of the power that images became a key player in this long, and often done enough digging to understand what have to reveal truths that written records violent fight against slavery. Tien Fuh Wu the photograph meant. I could also identify can’t show us. Stellman’s photograph of is one of the six women in Stellman’s photo- both Wu and Higgins. the women from the Presbyterian Mission graph. She stands between the seated Cam- Stellman’s photograph was taken after Wu Home has forced me to think more deeply eron and the other white woman, probably returned to work at the Mission House at about who was actually in charge of working the assistant Ethel Higgins. A former child 920 Sacramento Street in 1911. (The series with the trafficked women on a day-to-day slave sold by her father in China to pay his of photographs that Stellman took that day basis. It was not who I first thought it was. gambling debts, she ended up working as are not precisely dated: the California State Likewise, when I learned that Cameron and a servant in a Chinatown brothel before a Library notes indicate that they were taken Wu were buried together in the same family policeman heard of her abuse and brought between 1908 and 1915.) Her jaw is set. plot, that discovery reinforced my belief that her to safety at the Mission House. With the There’s only the barest hint of a smile in they were colleagues working alongside each help of a sponsor, she attended a prestigious the uplifted corners of her eyes. It is easy other in a decades-long fight against slavery, boarding school in Philadelphia and then a to imagine Wu tallying up in her mind the rather than famed employer and unnamed Bible college in Toronto, before returning to day’s long list of tasks ahead of her. A woman staffer. I’m deeply grateful to the California work at the home in 1911. She spent much known for keeping a detailed list of chores State Library archivists for preserving this of the rest of her life as a staffer there, liv- that residents jokingly called her “Book of photograph and helping reshape the way ing and working closely with Cameron for Lamentations,” Wu was an exacting and we understand history. decades. It was Wu, alongside the white col- disciplined housekeeper in her early years

BULLETIN 128 9 Meet Designer and Artist Angela Tannehill-Caldwell

By M. Patricia Morris

id you see the last issue of this Bulletin? On the front cover is a nearly full-page image of a blond, curly-haired woman reaching out to you with an expression of intense emotion on her face. Dressed in red, white, and blue patri- otic costume, she is a figure from another time, no doubt from one of the wars. How can you resist opening the publication to find out about her? The striking cover is just one of fifty designer Angela Tannehill-Caldwell has created to entice readers to open and explore the contents of the California State Library Foundation Bulletin. Once inside, readers have found issues that are beautifully laid out with inviting, readable typefaces and images positioned to their best and often most dramatic effect. Until recently, the credit line appeared on the Bulletin’s title page—Design: Angela Tannehill, Tannehill Design. In October 2019, Angela remarried. As a result, the credit line now reads Design: Angela Tanne- hill-Caldwell Design | www.angelacaldwell. art. Since there is so much information out there under Tannehill, she plans to keep it as part of the firm name at least for a while. As the Bulletin’s copy editor and occasional contributor, in a way, I have been a colleague of Angela Tannehill-Caldwell’s for sixteen years, but I only met her for the first time Mer-Magic, 22" x 30", hand-cut collage by Angela Tannehill-Caldwell on July 21, 2020. That was the day I set up a Zoom conversation to find out more about her and her work. It was a delight at long last to see and speak with our congenial designer.

10 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION CALIFORNIA In Search of a Career Foundation (CSLF) became one of her cli- S T A T E LIBRARY

FOUNDATION Number 127 in New York City ents. Gary Kurutz, who was then execu- 2020 What was it that led Angela to choose a tive director of the foundation and editor of Meet Designer and Artist career in design, a field which seems such the CSLF Bulletin, a position he still holds, a perfect fit for her artistic talents? I was was looking for a new designer. Actually, curious. As the story unfolded, I learned that it was Gary’s wife, KD Kurutz, who knew Angela Tannehill-Caldwell Angela was originally from the East Coast. of Angela’s work and steered him in her She was born in Kentucky and raised in direction. Contemplating her many years By M. Patricia Morris Ohio, where she attended Kent State Univer- of work on the Bulletin, Angela noted, “It’s sity, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. been a lot, but it’s been great. It’s an easy “After college,” she reminisced, “the funny job to do and certainly, there are so many thing is I read a Sidney Sheldon book, and good photos and illustrations. It’s always there was a character that did typesetting. exciting to get the materials for the next I didn’t even know what typesetting was, issue—all that history. I just love it,” she but it sounded glamorous and cool, and her said. The first issue Angela designed was character was in New York City. I felt, why No. 78, Spring/Summer 2004. We are now Bulletin 127 not? I could try that.” at issue No. 128. Angela happened to have a friend who had moved to New York City after gradua- A Designer for Do-Gooders Pretty Lies is a mixed media collage was created by first digitally painting and collaging pieces tion. She went to visit her. “I basically called Angela describes her work on LinkedIn in together, followed by printing and cutting out every magazine in the phone book—there this way: “I am a mixed-media artist and pieces of the image and reassembling them on a was an actual phone book—until I found graphic designer based in Sacramento, Cali- painted wooden surface. someone who needed an assistant,” Angela fornia. I am a self-employed ‘designer for said. She succeeded in landing an internship do-gooders,’ providing services primarily to as a graphic designer with Countryside, a local nonprofit organizations.” She enjoys magazine with an emphasis on rural life. working with a variety of clients that tend She stayed for a couple of years and then to be smaller businesses. “But, for the most decided to leave the city. She had become part I like working with nonprofits,” she said. close friends with a woman who was at the “It doesn’t feel good to work on something, same shop where Angela worked. Both and promote something, and do your best women had become “kind of tired” of New to bring people to a group or a product that York living. Their plan was to move to San you don’t believe in. I kind of steer away Francisco. Fortunately for us, they didn’t from that,” she explained. make it to the City by the Bay. Her friend’s Specializing in do-gooders “sort of family lived in Elk Grove. The two came evolved,” Angela said. Ten years ago, she west for a visit and didn’t go farther. They started working pro bono for 916 Ink. Based both settled in the Sacramento area. Angela in Sacramento, the nonprofit offers writing remains a resident of Elk Grove to this day. workshops for children in grades 3–12, with Along the way, she worked for employ- the goal of transforming them into “confi- ers such as Hearst Magazines in produc- dent writers and published authors.”1 Many tion and The Dunlavey Studio as a graphic of the program’s participants come from at- designer. Then in May 2002, she established risk situations—foster care, homelessness, her own firm. As the owner of Tannehill involvement in the juvenile justice system. Design, her list of services included graphic “They are learning creative writing,” Angela design; brand/logo design; website design observed, but in the process, they are build- and development; publication design; and ing such a sense of self-esteem. That to me production management, including pho- is the core of it.” tography, illustration, and printing. Over time her involvement with 916 Ink In 2004, the California State Library “grew so much it couldn’t be pro bono,” she

BULLETIN 128 11 Fizz, 30" x 60" hand-cut collage by Angela Tannehill-Caldwell is on display in the private dining room at Fizz Champaign Bar in Sacramento. said. It is now her main client. At the end nesses are open in the evening for wine, the new image. That’s one of the things I of each 12-week session, the writings of the food, exhibits, and other festivities, Angela really like about collage.” young authors are compiled into anthologies. went to see a show by collage artist Jill Allyn The collages are stunning. In an article in Angela has designed over 100 of these books, Stafford. She had met Stafford at 916 Ink Submerge Magazine in 2017, author Andrew sometimes illustrating them as well. Since where she was on its board of directors. C. Russell described her craftsmanship so 2010, the organization has served more than Angela stopped by to say hello and see her beautifully when he wrote: “In the two odd 4,000 kids. exhibit at ARTHOUSE on R Gallery and years since she began working on her mixed The California State Library Foundation Studios, located in downtown Sacramento media pieces—found cutouts layered and and 916 Ink are not the only do-gooders at 1021 R Street. blended into textured background paint- for whom Angela provides design services. “I saw her collage work,” Angela said, ing—she has honed a special knack for Eureka Schools Foundation (ESF) in Granite “and I thought, you know, that looks like creating surrealist landscapes possessed Bay has been a client for a long time. ESF something I would really be interested in. of a storytelling power.”2 provides support for students in the Eureka I had these little 3" x 3" tiles that had been In a relatively short period of time, Ange- Union School District. Angela said, “Given sitting around forever and I started collag- la’s artwork has appeared in many exhibi- our circumstances right now, that contract ing on those tiny little tiles. It just sort of tions. While most have been in Sacramento, has fallen through for the time being. We’ll took off from there.” she has also shown in Berkeley, San Fran- see what happens after the pandemic.” She What I liked about collage is the same cisco, Santa Cruz, and Seattle. also provides graphic design in the form of thing I liked about design—especially the Angela had a solo show scheduled to brochures, infographics, signage, etc.” for Bulletin—you get to draw from other images open in September 2020 at Sparrow Gal- a very large and well-known do-gooder— to create something new. Those images lery, downstairs at ARTHOUSE on R. Like Sutter Health. bring with them the history that they have, the plans of so many Americans, this one and you are looking at it in a new light.” She was disrupted by Covid-19. She didn’t feel A Second Career as a proceeded to describe the main person in she could ask people to come to a gallery Mixed Media Artist an illustration she did called Mer-Magic. and look at her art in the middle of a pan- About seven years ago, Angela embarked The person was a renaissance figure that demic, and the show was postponed. She on a new career as a mixed media artist. she had taken out of the original context. “I was also concerned that all the pictures she On a Second Saturday, a monthly event in created something new out of it, but it still planned to exhibit had a black background. Sacramento where galleries and local busi- feels like it has some of that history to it in “While they afforded striking images, as I

12 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION looked at it through the lens of the pandemic something that might be magical in nature. and all the strife that’s going on, the black I think that’s why I have landed where I background just didn’t feel like it was the have landed in this kind of magical realism. right time for it,” she explained. It is somewhere between fantasy, surreal- Sadly, the pandemic caused her to give ism, and magic, so I am always looking for up her studio at ARTHOUSE on R too. something that feels magical.” “The only way to pay for the studio was to get people to come to the studio. I am just The Final Words not asking people to come out now.” In the What does Ms. Tannehill-Caldwell like to interim, you can see samples of her works of do for relaxation? She has two grown chil- art on her website at www.angelacaldwell. dren, who are both in their twenties and who art. Instagram, though, is the best source both live in the Sacramento area. She likes for viewing “new stuff,” by going to @dzn- to make some time in the backyard when rgrl. Angela said this is “pronounced like they come over and hang out. She takes ‘designer girl,’ which helps to remember it.” her dog for walks, and it’s not surprising that she enjoys going for walks in nature. Trying Out New Media “It would be nice to get out and do more of Angela has been exploring other media that,” she said. besides collage. “I have gotten more into When I asked if there was anything else she digital painting,” she reported. “I do acrylic would like Bulletin readers to know, Angela painting as well, but I love having the free- said, “I do want to stress how wonderful it dom of the digital canvas. It is so similar to has been to work with Gary Kurutz all these painting, but it feels like I have more con- years. He is such a kind person and just very trol.” Some of the subjects she has portrayed supportive and sweet. Brittney Cook has come digitally are a striking red octopus holding on board, and she has been wonderful too. mice and a fearsome crocodile with a hum- I really enjoy working with them both and mingbird. “I did a little series called mythical I’m grateful I have the job, to have worked mice,” she said. “I have a Mermouse, and a on it for so many years, and to have seen all Fairy Mouse, and a Unicorn Mouse, and a the images.” What a gracious thought with Dragon Mouse, and a Pixie Mouse. Just little which to conclude a lovely conversation. paintings of cute mice. It was relaxing and it was fun. There is just so much dark out there right now, I just needed something light and cheerful.” ENDNOTES 1 This description of the work of 916 Ink Finding the Magic in Nature appears on its website at 916ink.org/ She has also embarked on creating fiber art about: “916 Ink is Sacramento’s arts- Flutter and Fox, 8" x 24", is a digitally painted and sculptures using a felting technique. Some based creative writing nonprofit that collaged artwork by Angela Tannehill-Caldwell of the sculptures featured on Instagram are provides workshops for Sacramento of an owl, a red fox, a ruby-throated hum- area youth, grades 3–12, in order to transform them into confident writ- mingbird, and a deer. “Nature,” Angela said, ers and published authors. Our work- “is my primary inspiration. When I was a shops increase literacy skills, improve kid I grew up in the country and my parents vocabulary, teach empathy, positively both worked kind of far from our home, so impact social and emotional learning, we were alone a lot and we had fields to play and expand communication skills.” in and ponds that were about a half a mile 2 Russell, Andrew C., “Orchestrating A back. That’s what we did all day. We played Dream: Angela Tannehill and the Power outside, caught things, chased things. It was of the Wandering Mind,” Submerge Maga- magical for me. I was always looking for zine, (Sacramento), May 21, 2017, p. 19

BULLETIN 128 13 From Pollywog to Shellback The Story of the SS Adolph Sutro By Carolina Basave, San Francisco State University Senior and History major, and Mattie Taormina, director, Sutro Library

INTRODUCTION he acquisition was small—just a certificate, a picture of the ship, and a Today’s San Franciscans are familiar with the name Sutro because it is tightly integrated into small, white card with “Leonard R. their physical environment: Sutro Heights, Sutro Baths, Sutro Tower, Mount Sutro, etc. In Gray” printed on the front—yet it inspired addition to Adolph Sutro’s surname being attached to these San Francisco places, it was also so many questions. What was this ship used attached to another object that would carry its name across the seas: the SS Adolph Sutro. for? When was it in operation? Why was the This interesting part of naval history came to light when the CSL Foundation helped the ship named after Adolph Sutro? Who was Sutro Library acquire an original SS Adolph Sutro Crossing of the Line certificate. Leonard R. Gray? In the fall semester of 2019, article co-author Carolina Basave, then a San Francisco State University undergrad- uate majoring in history, agreed to spend her twenty hours of required community service to help answer some of these questions.

The Ship The first question Carolina tackled was what kind of ship was the SS Adolph Sutro? Caro- lina quickly learned from a Wikipedia search that the SS Adolph Sutro was classified as a Liberty ship. The creation of the SS Adolph Sutro and other Liberty ships was part of a government program tasked to build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materials during World War II, with an eye towards speedy construction.1 Liberty ships “were built on a mass-production scale in order to save supplies . . . [as] the war progressed, the ships were also utilized as troop transports in the convoys.” Additionally, the ships took approximately 70 days to complete as “the 250,000 parts were pre-fabricated through- The Line Crossing Ceremony certificate earned by army private “L.Gray” in 1943 on board Liberty Ship SS Adolph Sutro. Sutro Library. out the country in 250-ton sections and

14 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION Image of United States Liberty Ship: SS Adolph Sutro from 1946. Sutro Library. welded together.” The program ran from late 1940 to September 1945 and produced 6,000 ships, including 2,600 Liberty ships, one of which was the SS Adolph Sutro. The speed and efficiency of building so many Liberty ships was in large part due to the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, Califor- nia, and it was exciting to learn that those California workers built the SS Sutro. 5 The SS Sutro launched on 4 June 1943 June 4, 1943 the SS Adolph Sutro was completed and launched from and did indeed carry troops and cargo Richmond, California. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, during the war. Proof of this service was collection of Rear Admiral Paul H. Bastedo, USN. found online in a cruise book for the 63rd Naval Construction Battalion. Cruise books documented the daily life and voyages of a The Ceremony could endure the hardships at sea.9 Addi- ship’s crew in narrative form, supplemented The mimeographed certificate commemo- tionally, Wildenberg states: 6 rd with an abundance of pictures. The 63 ’s rates the occasion of “Leonard R Gray’s” “The Crossing the Line ceremony, one of cruise book mentioned the SS Sutro sailing crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean. the oldest customs at sea, is a rite of pas- from Manus Island off the coast of Papua, Since this seemed like an odd thing to com- sage for landlubbers and seamen alike New Guinea: memorate, Carolina researched the history who have never before crossed the equa- On 14 March [1945], loading of heavy and significance crossing the equator has tor, or line. In the boisterous ceremonies equipment started aboard the S.S. to maritime history. that accompany a ship’s crossing, the Adolph Sutro. Outgoing mail was The Sutro Library’s certificate represents “pollywogs,” those on board who have secured at noon on 23 March and the “Leonard R. Gray’s” participation in a long- never crossed the line, are initiated into battalion was alerted for movement at held maritime tradition called Crossing the King Neptune’s realm in a series of haz- a moment’s notice. Seabags and duf- Line or Line Crossing ceremony. Thomas ing rituals conducted by “shellbacks,” fle bags went aboard the Sutro on 24 Wildenberg noted in Naval History Maga- those who have already experienced this 10 March, and she sailed that afternoon zine in 2014, the Line Crossing ceremony tumultuous rite of passage.” for Hollandia for additional construc- might have evolved from Viking rituals, What is it about the equator that inspires 7 tion materials passed on to Anglo-Saxons and Normans, this frivolity and faux pomp and circum- Eventually, the SS Sutro was reportedly with the purpose of testing the newest stance? According to Wildenberg, the equa- 8 scrapped in 1961. members of a ship’s crew to see if they tor represents the home of the Neptunus

BULLETIN 128 15 Rex or King Neptune, ruler of the deep and guardian of the mysteries of the sea. The night before the ship crosses the equator, Davy Jones (a member of King Neptune’s royal court) appears in front of the ship’s captain with a message on behalf of King Neptune, “…stating at what time he wanted the ship to hove to receive the royal party.”11 Davy Jones then subpoenaed all the pollywogs and requested them “to appear before the royal court on the morrow to be initiated in the mysteries of King Neptune’s Royal Domain.” The subpoenas would include a long list of fake offenses the pollywogs were charged with like “too many captain’s masts, excessive liberty, or seasickness.” Once King Neptune and his royal court appeared on deck, his flag known as the “Jolly Roger” (the black flag emblazed with white skull and crossbones so ubiquitous President Roosevelt pleads his case before King Neptune’s Court. Courtesy of the Naval Historical in pirate movies) would be flown and the Foundation, collection of Rear Admiral Paul H. Bastedo, USN. ceremony would commence.12 The ceremony involved scripted hazing which, according to the U.S. Navy, included, “embarrassing tasks, gags, obstacles, physical hardships, and generally good-humored mischief— all of which were meant to entertain the shellbacks and degrade the pollywog.”13 It is estimated that the hazing rituals could last twelve hours or more, but once completed, the pollywogs became shellbacks and worthy members of King Neptune’s realm. According to the sources consulted for this article, every ship practiced their own unique hazing rituals, making each shellback’s experience unique to them. According to the U.S. Navy, the Crossing the Line (or Equator) ceremonies are com- pletely voluntary,14 and not every ship and crew participates or practices the ceremony. One interesting aspect of the Crossing the Line ceremonies is the temporary flattening of the military’s traditional power structure and authority. Traditionally, United States, Royal, and other British-descended navies lower their country’s flag and instead hoist the Jolly Roger before the line ceremony begins. James Roosevelt (center), son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, participates as a “Pollywog” during By lowering their country’s flag, the ship Neptune ceremonies on board USS Indianapolis (CA-35), November 1936. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, collection of Rear Admiral Paul H. Bastedo, USN. has effectively removed the home country’s

16 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION jurisdiction and control of the ship’s admin- by King Neptune’s court were disregard for often a young seaman dressed as a female istrative, technical, and social matters. In the traditions of the sea and taking liberties in a skirt made of seaweed and rope, the essence, the ship, floating in international with the piscatorial subjects of His Majesty Royal Baby was usually the girthiest man waters, belongs to no one, no country. The Neptunus Rex.15 in the crew wearing a diaper. Also joining hierarchy of military command is suspended Along with Davy Jones and King Neptune, King Neptune’s royal court would be a notary and flattened so that Neptunus Rex, the most some other members of the royal party or and/or chancellor, whose job it was to enter powerful man on the ship, is not the ship’s court included: the names of the candidates to be sentenced captain, but instead, the oldest or most senior Her Highness Amphitrite by the court. shellback on the crew, regardless of rank or The Scribe title. In fact, when President Franklin D. The Doctor The Certificate Roosevelt participated in the Crossing of The Barber The last question Carolina had time to the Line ceremony on board the USS India- The Royal Baby investigate was the production of the cer- napolis in November 1936 while on a “Good The Navigator tificate itself. Many Crossing of the Line Neighbor” cruise to South America, he had The Chaplain certificates issued during World War II were to plead his case before the Royal Court of The Jesters and the Devil incredibly detailed, vibrant in color, and Shellbacks like every other pollywog. The contained a short description of what the charges brought against President Roosevelt While Her Highness Amphitrite was certificate signified. Many of them included Latin phrases alongside drawings of mermaids, the ocean, a globe, King Neptune, dolphins and other marine life, and mythical creatures.

Small white card While the Sutro Library’s certificate was a that came with the mimeographed copy of a quickly assembled mimeographed sketch, it nevertheless included illustrations certificate. Sutro Library. such as mermaids, clamshells, a map of

Photograph of submariner, the world including the ocean, and even YNSN Scotty H.’s Crossing King Neptune’s trident. The certificate is the Line Certificate. not as colorful as some other certificates from the time, but none of these certificates were “officially” created or issued by the government. Each certificate’s creation seemed to fall to local practice, with a few local commands designing and printing such items as the Shellback certificate in their own print shops. Many certificates were originally drawn and lettered by the men who participated in the event, and then all the copies were handed out to the crew.16 Regardless of the lack of color and detail, the Sutro Library’s certificate is significant, as it proves that even during wartime conditions, ships still exercised the long maritime tradition of initiating men into King Neptune’s world. In 1953, the certificates for the line crossing began to be made, and continue to be made, by a small, woman-owned firm, Tiffany Publishing Company in Norfolk, Virginia.17

BULLETIN 128 17 release specifically calls out that the ship’s leadership made sure that the high jinks of the event stayed in line with the “good order and discipline, and aligned with the Navy’s anti-hazing policy.” The stated goal of the Roosevelt’s ceremony was “to bring unity and camaraderie to the ship.”20 The ceremony featured much more composed activities than what might have happened in past, such as pollywogs proving their singing abilities by singing nautical-flavored songs like such as “Popeye the Sailor Man” and “Sponge Bob Square Pants” and a talent show the night before featuring skits and songs to build team spirit. Photograph of submariner, YNSN Scotty The certificates celebrating the transition H.’s official shellback card from 2018. from pollywog to shellback are still being conferred as well. Recent Crossing the Line certificates earned by a current submariner, YNSN Scotty H., look just as colorful as past certificates.21 Today’s U.S. Navy military men and women crossing the equator still Researchers wishing to know more about Line Crossing ceremonies and naval tradi- become Sons or Daughters of Neptune by showing their loyalty and tions should also note that there are many other certificates that represent different worthiness to King Neptune in Crossing of the Line ceremonies. equator crossings based on a specific location, ocean, or sea. There is the “Royal Domain of the Penguin” for crossing the Antarctic Circle, the “Northern Domain of the Polar Bear” for crossing the Artic Circle, Crossing the Line the pollywogs had to keep a raw oyster and the “Golden Dragon” for crossing the Ceremonies Today in their mouths for a couple of hours 180th meridian (International Date Line) Today’s U.S. Navy military men and women while we crawled around on our knees to name a few.22 crossing the equator still become Sons or on the main deck. As we were crawling Daughters of Neptune by showing their around, the shellbacks threw food at Conclusion loyalty and worthiness to King Neptune us and made us sing while dousing us It is astonishing how one piece of paper can in Crossing of the Line ceremonies. Over with a water hose. At the end you had to launch so many lines of inquiry, but many the years, there have been slight modifica- pay a token to get into King Neptune’s of our initial questions remain unanswered: tions to the frivolities in order to keep up Court which was the raw oyster you Was the SS Sutro only stationed in the Pacific with modern sensibilities, but the initiation kept in your mouth.18 Theater? Who was Leonard R. Gray? If the remains an important naval tradition. Another more recent example comes from boat was not decommissioned until the early A pollywog sailor fighting during the First the USS Roosevelt. In January 22, 2009, 1960s, how was it used after the war? Did it Gulf War in the early 1990s, remembered the USS Roosevelt issued an official press participate in any other wars? For now, these his line crossing initiation like this: release stating that the “Sailors aboard questions remain unanswered but the Sutro The event was not mandatory but every- the guided-missile destroyer USS Roos- Library staff are grateful to the California one on the ship—be they Army, Marine, evelt (DDG 80) held a ‘crossing the line’ State Library Foundation for acquiring this or Navy—was welcome to participate. It ceremony while deployed to the U.S. 5th small part of maritime history related to was about a 10-hour experience and all Fleet Area of Responsibility....”19 The press our founder Adolph Sutro.

18 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION ENDNOTES If you are interested in viewing the SS Adolph Sutro Crossing of the Line certificate, please send an email to [email protected] and request call number MISC000346. Please allow 2-3 business days to process your request.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emer- 13 https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/ gency_Shipbuilding_Program. 675370.pdf page 15. 2 “WWII: Battle of the Atlantic: Liberty 14 https://www.veteransunited.com/ Ships,” National Museum of the United network/the-navys-line-crossing-cere- States Navy, Accessed. 08 Oct 2019. monyrevealed/ Pollywog or Shellback: 3 http://www.usmm.org/libertyships.html. The Navy’s Line Crossing Ceremony Revealed. 4 https://www.maritime.dot.gov/content/ emergency-shipbuilding-program. 15 https://www.history.navy.mil/browse- bytopic/heritage/customs-and-tradi- 5 https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ tions0/unofficial-navy-certificates.html. kt7x0nd5z0/ 16 “Ceremonial Certificates: Proudly Serving 6 The Navy Department Library (NDL) has the U.S Armed Forces Since 1953,” Tif- a large collection of cruise books. https:// fany Publishing Co., Accessed 17 October www.history.navy.mil/research/library/ 2019. bibliographies/cruise-books.html 17 C. A. Taormina, personal communica- 7 https://www.history.navy.mil › Cruise- tion, October 3, 2019. books ›ncb-cruisebooks › 63rd NCB page 112. 18 https://www.navy.mil/submit/display. asp?story_id=42026. “Crossing the Line” 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ Ceremony Honors Heritage, Builds Liberty_ships_(A%E2%80%93F). Camaraderie 9 https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval- 19 Ibid. history-magazine/2014/december/nep- tunes-band-brothers. Thomas Wilden- 20 Scotty H. is a friend of Carolina Basave’s berg, “Neptune’s Band of Brothers,” in older brother and his last name has been Naval History Magazine, volume 28, omitted for privacy reasons. Number 6, December 2014. 21 https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ 10 Ibid. kt7x0nd5z0/ 11 Ibid. 21 https://www.history.navy.mil/content/ history/nhhc/browse-by-topic/heritage/ 12 https://www.navy.mil/submit/display. customs-and-traditions0/unofficial-navy- asp?story_id=75241. certificates/list-of-unofficial-us-navy-certificates.html.

BULLETIN 128 19 Tale of a City Community Resistance to Redevelopment in Sacramento’s Japantown By Moriah Ulinskas

The Foundation is grateful to Kim Hayden, Archivist, Center for Sacramento History is making available the illustrations for this article.

Street scene of 413 L Street in Japan Town, north side of the street. 1930’s. Eugene Hepting Collection, courtesy Center for Sacramento History.

20 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION rban renewal programs, bluntly referred to as “slum clearance” in their day, reshaped American cities and formed new urban identities. In California, the fight between redevelopment agencies and minority communities still resonates. While preservationists worked to enact legislation addressing the threat to historical structures and neighborhoods,1 what became of their inhabitants? This essay sets out to revisit the history of California’s earliest redevelopment project through the perspective of the community that fought it. California led the nation by becoming the first state to pass its community redevelopment act in 1945. In 1951, the state codified the Community Redevelopment Law (CRL), which became a part of the California Consti- tution, granting local governments the ability to fund redevelopment projects by using projected increases in property taxes. “Tax Increment Financing” relieved taxpayers of financial responsibility and eliminated most public opposition to redevelopment projects. In 1949, the City of Sacramento com- missioned a survey of 244 blocks in the downtown area, of which 65 were identified as “blighted.” In December 1950, the city established its first redevelopment agency, and agency Director Joseph T. Bill proposed an ordinance to establish 62 blocks in the West End of Sacramento as “Redevelopment

BULLETIN 128 21 Area 1.” At the time, the West End of Sacra- mento was home to a largely mixed minority community. According to the project area Cartoon from the front page of The survey, the West End comprised of 21% Sacramento Bee, African Americans, 30% Asian Americans, July 2, 1954. and 13% Latin Americans—demographics which reflected a long history of segrega- tionist practices. Since the 1920s, racial housing covenants defined Sacramento neighborhoods and were written by devel- opers into contracts for new subdivisions, prohibiting occupancy by “Negro, Japanese or Chinese, or persons of African or Mon- golian descent.”2 Ultimately, they restricted non-whites to the West End and limited them from owning or living in new subdivisions that were being developed. Sacramento’s Japantown, which dated back to 1891, had just found its feet again as a community after the forced relocation to internment camps during World War II. In 1941, an estimated 7,000 Sacramento residents of Japanese descent had been forcibly relocated, first to the Walerga Assembly Cen- ter, then to remote camps, the last of which did not close until 1946.3 Upon their return, Sacramento’s Japanese Americans found

Moriah Ulinskas is an independent archivist and PhD candidate in Public History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received one of the first Mead B. Kibbey Cali- fornia State Library Foundation Fellowships. This scholar is the former director of the Pres- ervation Program at the Bay Area Video Co- alition, has been a member of the Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) since 2012, and manages CAW’s IMLS funded “Training of Trainers” project and NEH funded “Audiovi- sual Collections Care in Tribal Archives” project. Moriah has worked as a consultant for the Smithsonian Institution, SFMOMA, San Francisco Arts Commission, and is the man- ager of the Diversity & Inclusion Fellowship Program for the Association of Moving Im- age Archivists. She has published articles in

Henry Taketa addresses city council in a public meeting, KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, June 16, 1954, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento. and Preservation Studies and Places Journal.

22 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION their businesses lost to foreclosure and their homes occupied by other migrant minority groups, specifically African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Filipinos. Since they could not move elsewhere, returning internees crowded their way back into the West End. Families doubled and tripled up into single family homes, slowly initiating the process of rebuilding. As these residents resettled, Sacramento city officials set their sights on a project to connect the Capitol

Building to the riverfront, and Japantown Excerpt from The People of Sacramento plan for 1960 Through Redevelopment. stood squarely in their way.4 A report prepared by Richard Neutra for the Sacramento City Council. 1950. When the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency announced its plans in 1951, many After two years of public debate, the Sacra- stated to the City Council, “The agency residents of Japantown—which was, in its mento Redevelopment Agency emerged with should fully apprise the people of the city entirety, located in Redevelopment Area 1— a new plan comprised now of only fifteen of Sacramento of the need for their coop- felt unfairly targeted. Anti-Japanese senti- blocks,7 but still including all of Japantown. eration and to urge them to accept as their ment following World War II still prevailed, The community responded immediately, good neighbors those who may be required and the Japanese American community had and the Japanese American Redevelopment to relocate from the project area.”10 However, little political power or public support in Sac- Study Association (JARSA) formed to do its an article in The Sacramento Bee reported, ramento. Property owners challenged the own redevelopment research and to legally “The agency could not guarantee minor- Sacramento Redevelopment Agency, stat- represent the community in negotiations. ity groups would not be subjected to some ing that officials provided no evidence for The Nisei Veterans of Foreign Wars, rep- pressure and prejudices if they attempted to their claim that there was blight in the area. resented by Japanese American soldiers move into certain residential areas.”11 Dis- The Sacramento Bee’s publisher Valentine who had served while their families were located residents faced an uncertain future McClatchy had been a vehement and well- interned, joined in the fray. African Ameri- as their community faced demolition and known anti-Japanese activist. McClatchy can attorney Nathaniel Colley teamed up other neighborhoods showed no intention utilized the paper as a mouthpiece for rede- with Japanese American lawyer Mamoru of welcoming them in. velopment and had no interest in humanizing Sakuma to represent West End residents.8 In a public editorial in The Sacramento Bee the community of Japantown. West End residents recognized the need on June 21, 1954, Henry Taketa explained, “It was one of the worst slums in the coun- to make improvements in the area, but the “We are not adverse to the principles of rede- try,” Sacramento’s chief land agent Jerome clearly biased manner in which redevelop- velopment and would support wholeheartedly Lipp went on record saying: “The filth was ment was poised to play out in Sacramento a program which is equitable and just, by something you can’t even conceive. . . . This set off alarm bells. “We are aware that this which every person in the city would be a was a full-blown, three-dimensional, hor- is a relatively new concept and is fraught beneficiary and none would be penalized.” rible, filthy slum.”5 In a City Council hearing, with many problems,” said local NAACP He continued, “We sincerely feel it is reason- white realtor W. C. Wright—whose office representative Douglas Greer. “We do not able and just for us to ask that appropriate was located in the redevelopment area— expect miracles but we go on record savor- safeguards be made by the Sacramento Rede- challenged that notion: “I don’t think the ing progress. We ask assurance that this velopment Agency to protect the economy Redevelopment law was meant for a city like Council will take every step possible to make and livelihood of those who may be dislocated Sacramento. We don’t have slums here, there sure that adequate housing and business or required to relocate or even give up their are homes in that section, proposed for rede- opportunity be made available to those who business interests.”12 Taketa’s pleas fell on velopment, as nice as in any other part of must be relocated.”9 deaf ears, though, and the city offered no the city.”6 Debate over the “slum” designa- Non-white residents of the West End faced provisions or support for homeowners and tion went back and forth like this with the the difficult task of trying to integrate them- business owners alike. redevelopment agency opinion broadcast selves into all-white neighborhoods if they On June 29, 1954, the City Council called through the local paper, while opponents were to try to remain in Sacramento and a second public meeting and residents of to redevelopment struggled to be heard. implored the city for support. T. D. Itano Japantown showed up in droves. Mamoru

BULLETIN 128 23 The front page of The Sacramento Bee. July 1, 1954.

Sakuma explained to council members that The final blow to Sacramento’s Japan- to meet those standards and by this method the Sacramento Redevelopment Agency had town community came on July 1, 1954 when achieve the objective of redevelopment.”14 made no effort to engage residents of the San Francisco mega-developer Ben Swig Representing the Sacramento chapter of the project area. He also accused the agency of put forward a proposal to fund the develop- JACL, Toko Fuji read a statement in opposi- having no clear plan, beyond demolition. ment of a pedestrian shopping mall across tion to the plan.15 “Japanese Americans, as “The agency has been so evasive,” he said. much of the contested area. Swig and his a particular minority group, are just barely “We can’t put our finger on a thing. We are associates offered an investment of $10 recovering from the tragedy of the recent not interested in what the agency might do, million ($94.5 million in today’s dollars) mass evacuation of World War II,” Fuji can do or will possibly do. We want to know to erect a shopping center between 2nd stated: “We hope that safeguards will be what actually is proposed to be done.” Sakuma and 5th Streets, and L Street and Capitol insured for every resident of Sacramento went on to admonish the Sacramento Rede- Avenue. Swig wowed city officials with a regardless of his economic status and that velopment Agency for turning down offers to promise of modern architecture and mov- the City Council will defend the needs and meet with JARSA for several years. “I believe ing sidewalks. Picked up and promoted right of every person regardless of race or it is to the credit of the people of this area,” by the Architectural Forum magazine, color.” In a last-ditch effort, JARSA represen- finished Sakuma, “that they have, until now, Swig’s shopping mall proposal developed tatives proposed to retain a one block section sat back with the sincere belief the agency an unstoppable momentum of its own. of the redevelopment area, where Japanese would get together with them and attempt to A special meeting of the city council was American merchants could consolidate their work out the problems.”13 Opposition to the called on July 20, 1954, to decide on Swig’s businesses. The Sacramento Redevelopment project was framed publicly as detrimental offer and the redevelopment agency’s plan. Agency immediately shot down the idea, to progress with The Sacramento Bee print- T. D. Itano, secretary of JARSA, proposed arguing that it was an obstacle to large-scale ing political propaganda against minority that “the agency set reasonable standards construction projects. opposition, going so far as to run front page for altering, improvement, reconstructing, On July 22, 1954 Sacramento’s City Council editorials and political cartoons clowning modernizing, and rehabilitating existing unanimously approved the agency’s plan for those in opposition. structures and allow us an opportunity to try Project 2-A. Councilman Leslie E. Wood, who

24 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION made the motion to adopt the plan, stated, “We have answered to the best of our ability all of the questions that can be answered at this time. I believe our statement of policy the other night went a long way toward assur- ing the people of the west end they will be treated fairly.”16 What became known as the “Capitol Mall” project cleared the way for bulldozers to enter the area. Demolition of Japantown began in January 1957, and by March 1961, all 310 parcels in the area had been flattened. Many of Sacramento’s Street scene along 4th and L Streets showing the Ginza Sukiyaki Restaurant on the left at 1326 4th Japantown residents relocated to Oak Cen- Street. Frank Christy Collection, courtesy Center for Sacramento History. ter, a neighborhood that would become a redevelopment target area in 1973. ENDNOTES Sacramento’s Japantown is more than a story of decline and destruction. It is a 1 The National Historic Preservation Act of 8 “City Promises Fair Deal in Mall Proj- 1966 was a direct response to “rampant testament to community organizing and ect.” Sacramento Bee, July 16, 1954 federal development” established by archi- resistance, and the enduring legacy of tectural historians and preservationists. 9 Meeting notes, Special Meeting Sacra- responsive political engagement by com- This act created a federal policy for estab- mento City Council, June 15, 1954. munities of color during the postwar rush to lishing and protecting national landmarks, 10 “Redeveloping Plan Hearing is Put redevelopment. When the Japanese Ameri- such as historic homes, neighborhoods, Over.” Sacramento Bee, June 16, 1954. can Redevelopment Study Association in and other structures. However, to this day Sacramento dissolved many of its former the majority of sites and structures iden- 11 “West End Gains Reassurance on New members remained politically active despite tified by the National Register of Historic Locations.” Sacramento Bee, May 22, losing their fight against the Sacramento Places are significant only to the nation’s 1954. European–American heritage. Redevelopment Agency. 12 “Letters from the People.” Sacramento Sakuma Mamoru continued with his law 2 Brooks, Charlotte. Alien Neighbors, Foreign Bee, June 21, 1954. practice in Sacramento and was appointed Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California. (Chi- 13 “West End Group Accuses Redevelop- to the Superior Court of California in 1963. cago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), ment Agency of Ignoring Residents of He returned to his own private practice in 69. District.” Sacramento Bee, June 30, 1954. 1985 and did not retire until 2005. Henry 3 Wildie, Kevin. Sacramento’s Historic Taketa also continued his own law practice 14 Meeting notes, Special Meeting Sacra- Japantown: Legacy of a Lost Neighbor- in Sacramento, was a leader in the JACL, mento City Council, July 20, 1954. hood. Charleston, SC: History Press, and continued to champion the history of 15 Sacramento City Council Minutes, Sup- 2013. Sacramento’s Japanese American commu- plemental Statements, June 15, 1964. 4 “Study of West End Rebuilding Plan nity, including the dedication of a histori- 16 “Tentative West End Slum Plan is Continues.” Sacramento Bee, November cal plaque at the Walerga Detention Facility Approved by City Council.” Sacramento 29, 1951. in 1987 and the identification and reburial Bee, July 23, 1954. 17 of eleven internees at Tule Lake in 1989. 5 Wildie, Sacramento’s Historic Japan- 17 Charles Hillinger, “Survivors of Intern- Nathaniel Colley went on to become one of town. 137. Lipp went on to become SRA ment Honor 11 for Whom War Was For- Sacramento’s most prominent civil rights director. ever,” Los Angeles Times, September 11, advocates. He served as chairman of the 6 “Redeveloping Plan Hearing is Put 1989. legal committee of the NAACP. Colley was Over.” Sacramento Bee, June 16, 1954. one of the lawyers who successfully argued 18 Caesar, Clarence. Oral Interview of in the California Supreme Court to reverse 7 The newly proposed area boundaries Nathaniel Sextus Colley. Sacramento Proposition 14, which had allowed property were between 4th and 7th Streets, and Ethnic Communities Survey, Black owners the right to refuse to sell property K and P Streets. Oral Histories 1983/146, Center for to anyone based on their race.18 Sacramento History.

BULLETIN 128 25 Foundation Notes

By Gary F. Kurutz, Bulletin Editor

The Trail Turtles Archive Added to the California State Library’s Oregon-California Trails Association Collection

n the field of Western history one of the entered into Southwest desert country to they were “dry camping,” that is camping Imost devoted groups is the Oregon-Cali- retrace the path of the emigrants to Cali- outside the amenities provided by estab- fornia Trails Association (OCTA). As stated fornia. As explained in the introduction to lished campgrounds like running water and on their website,* this nonprofit organization the archive, “because we moved slowly along electricity. Spending a week or two at a time, “is the nation’s largest and most influential the trail, the mapping committee members they recorded the actual dirt trails hiking organization dedicated to the preservation began calling ourselves the Trail Turtles.” over and through rocks, streams, ditches, and protection of overland emigrant trails How did this trail project come about? and desert vegetation looking for any trace of and the emigrant experience.” As their Several members of OCTA led by Mr. Buck the pioneers in the way of metal wagon parts, website points out, “Beginning in 1812 over grasped the need “to learn more about the partial mule shoes, musket balls, cooking 500,000 emigrants traveled the trails to emigrant trails that passed through the utensils, graves, and rocks with rust. Con- reach a brighter future.” The California His- Southwest. While there is abundant knowl- cerning rock rust, one of the Trail Turtles tory Section has enjoyed a long partnership edge of the northern trails [California and wrote: “For those of you not familiar with with OCTA, and they have donated wagon- Oregon trails] relatively little has been pub- this most common trail artifact, when an loads of books to the Library documenting lished about these various southern routes.” iron-tired wagon runs over a hard rock like the overland trails. Late this spring, OCTA As the archival guide further explained: quartz, some of the iron is rubbed off on presented the California State Library with a “The Southern Emigrant Trail is defined the rock. Soon the iron rusts and becomes white ring binder titled Trail Turtles Archive: as the portion of the wagon road opened in a permanent part of the rock. There are The Mapping of the Southern Emigrant Trail 1846 by Philip St. George Cooke, his military places where we have followed the trail for 1993 – 2015. In particular, we are grateful men and the Mormon Battalion, which runs several miles just by following rocks with to OCTA member Don Buck of Sunnyvale from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Warner’s rust.” In regard to artifacts, the members for sending this ring binder loaded with a Ranch in Southern California.” These trail used their digital cameras to photograph treasure-trove of information. Appropriately, scholars also grasped the important fact the objects, making note of where they were the archive is “Dedicated to Don Buck with- that this trail through the Southwest was found, and then carefully placing them back out his guidance and encouragement the much more than an easy-to-follow road from on the trail. One of the more interesting trail project would not have come about.” New Mexico to Southern California. This finds was a remnant of a coffee pot. Before describing the contents of this dedication to accuracy led to rediscovering As documented by the contents of the ring archive, it seemed best to explain their imag- and documenting shortcuts and alternative binder, the OCTA members who engaged inative sobriquet: Trail Turtles. Their humor- paths like the Apache Pass Trail used by the in this project were endowed with consid- ous and memorable nickname reflects the 49ers and later emigrants. Chronologically erable skills not only as historians but also heroic effort of the “Trail Turtles mapping their research endeavors ended with trac- as students of cartographic technology. To committee” led by Rose Ann Tompkings and ing the famous Butterfield Overland Mail supplement pioneer accounts and antiquar- Tracey DeVault in carefully and deliberately Route (1858–1861). ian maps from the 1840s and 1850s, the researching the Southern Emigrant Trail For twenty-three years OCTA members Trail Turtles took advantage of modern through primary sources like pioneer diaries formed teams and went out into the wil- technology employing drones, aerial pho- and letters, early guidebooks, government derness driving four-wheel-drive vehicles tographs, Goggle Earth satellite imagery, reports, and published maps. Loaded with loaded with maps, various kinds of equip- and handheld GPS receivers along with this information for guidance, they then ment, and food supplies and water. In effect, the latest topographical maps. Once they

26 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION EDITOR’S NOTE

Kurutz is the editor of the Bulletin, retired executive director of the California State Library Foundation, and retired curator of special collections for the California State Library.

mapped a section of the trail, they trans- ferred the data to the modern maps. The ring binder contains eleven detailed maps showing the places and dates explored by the Trail Turtles. Reflecting our digital age, OCTA’s South- ern Trails Chapter made the wise decision to digitize the early maps, photographs and reports in creating the Trail Turtles Archive. These are preserved on six Digital Versatile One of the trail Discs (DVDs) and a Universal Serial BUS markers on the Southern Overland (USB) flash drive placed in the ring binder. Route placed by In addition, this archive includes the text of OCTA. articles and talks created by members. This OCTA gift comes with two foldout maps and six smaller maps detailing the exact location of the trails and the dates. Most impressively, the archive contains data on mapping techniques and technology, high-resolution scans of historic maps, trip reports, handouts for modern guided tours, historic marker projects, a bibliography of firsthand accounts, and text of articles published in two OCTA-related periodicals, Des- ert Tracks and News from the Plains. The Trail Turtles Archive is a treasure-trove of data and will give researchers a detailed look at one of the major routes that connected California to the eastern United States during the pioneer era. Words cannot adequately express how a simple white ring binder could house such a gold mine of data. Kudos to the Trail Turtles for sharing this precious archive!

* Please visit their website at https://octa- OCTA member Don Buck points out a trail artifact to Richard Greene on the trails.org. Southern Emigrant Trail, New Mexico. Photograph by Charles Townley, © 2016.

BULLETIN 128 27 Recent Contributors

BRAILLE & TALKING BOOK LIBRARY Allan B. Elconin, Mission Viejo Bing Provance, Chico Dr. Claire E. Yskamp, Berkeley

In Memory of Burgess “Bud” Heacox Kelley Woodward, Sacramento, Contributor

CALIFORNIA HISTORY Nick Aretakis, Connecticut, Contributor Michael Dolgushkin, Carmichael Craig MacDonald, Huntington Beach, Associate Sandy Schuckett, Los Angeles, Associate

In Memory of Val Zemitis Sibylle Zemitis, Davis, Lifetime

GENERAL SUPPORT Aaron Brick, San Francisco, Associate Barbara Cady, Sacramento, Associate Lloyd Currey, New York, Contributor Pauline Grenbeaux, Sacramento, Contributor Eileen Heaser, Sacramento, Associate Carolyn Martin, Sacramento, Associate Bruce Marwick, Sacramento, Associate J. G. McKinney, Grass Valley Redwood City Public Library, Subscription San Diego Public Library, Subscription Michael R. Smith, Elk Grove, Sponsor David Von Aspern, Sacramento, Contributor

In Memory of Collin Clark Robert E. Foster, Sacramento

STAFF DEVELOPMENT Katherine Weedman – Cox, Rancho Cordova, Contributor

SUTRO LIBRARY Lorinda Lasus, San Francisco Marin County Genealogical Society, Novato

In Honor of Hazel Peggy Epstein Jess Epstein, New York, Lifetime

28 CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY FOUNDATION