California has long been known as the place to strike it rich or make it big. California has been seen as a place of financial opportunity. This idea started in part by California’s famous Gold Rush. The Gold Rush is perhaps the most commonly known period of California’s unique history. A vast amount of different types of exhibits, lectures, and other forms of public history have been made about the Gold Rush, making finding one that is truly unique difficult. However, through the California State Library’s online exhibit that explores the California Gold Rush, you find an exhibit that is truly unique. The curator of the exhibit is Gary F. Kurutz, Curator of Special Collections. The exhibit begins with an introduction and a thorough explanation of the themes explored in the exhibit as to help guide the viewer through what they are about to see and experience. While the exhibit is rich in primary sources including artwork, letters, maps, and so much more, the exhibit lacks any sort of mention of racial tensions or any sort of serious social and political issues that were occurring during the time of the gold rush.
Exploring the California Gold Rush is an online exhibit available through https://www.library.ca.gov/goldrush/ through the state archives. The exhibit was funded through the California State Library and was free to view online. There is no visible end date for the online exhibit. "Exploring the California Gold Rush" is made up of fifteen parts, including pages for an introduction and credits. The exhibit takes photos and scans of primary documents from the time period to build a timeline of the events and the feelings and emotions of the people during that time. It begins with the discovery of the gold itself, and then g...
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...ly ever after succeeded. The imagery and descriptions of what sources are presented are excellent and if this exhibit added more on politics, social structures, and race relations during the time it could be a much stronger and more complete exhibit overall.
“Exploring The California Gold Rush” uses all different types of images, letters, photographs, art and so much more to take the viewer back in time as if they were actually in the Gold Rush and could experience it firsthand. The exhibit was mainly created by Gary Kurutz, but was also made possible through the efforts of eight other credited researchers, librarians, historians and programmers. It is clear that the archives used to find all of these primary documents are very large and plentiful, and are well preserved and managed by the California State Library.
Works Cited
https://www.library.ca.gov/goldrush/
Chinese Racism in California The Chinese Question When thousands of Chinese migrated to California after the gold rush the presence caused concern and debate from other Californians. This discussion, popularly called the “Chinese Question,” featured in many of the contemporary accounts of the time. In the American Memory Project’s “California: As I Saw It” online collection, which preserves books written in California from 1849-1900, this topic is debated, especially in conjunction with
profit. The People of the State of California versus Jukichi Harada favored Harada, indicating his right to own and purchase property “in good faith, with the funds of the children, and not as a circumvention of the Alien Land Law.” Americans in California responded negatively insisting Harada violated the Alien Land Law, which eventually reached the press throughout the state and the eastern regions of the United States. Additionally, Oyama versus California guaranteed “equal access to property