Archives Tour: California State Parks Archives

The Sierra State Parks Foundation is excited to announce our first Archives Bus Tour on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. Attendees will meet at Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center for a day of discovery and fun. Hopping aboard the bus at 9am, we will make our way to the California State Archives in Sacramento, with a stop in the heart of Gold Country, the Auburn State Recreation Area. Tickets are $60 ($55 for members) with limited seating. Reservations are required and parking for the day is included in the ticket price. To purchase tickets, please visit our website at SierraStateParks.org or call our office at (530)583-9911.

Guests will be joined at the Auburn State Recreation Area by a State Park Interpreter and welcomed with exclusive seating at the China Bar, turning lunch hour into an informative conversation about the beauty that is Gold Country. Once bustling with gold fever, the Auburn State Recreation Area is home to world class white water rafting, unique plants, and an abundance of wildlife including our hometown neighbors, the California Black Bear.

While enjoying the park and great conversation, lunch sponsored by Tahoe City Save Mart will be served. Attendees can plan for a picnic style lunch including sandwiches, drinks, and cookies (please let us know in advance if there are any dietary restrictions or needs). Once everyone has had their fill, we will continue down the I-80 to McClellan Airforce Base where our private tour begins.

Docents will join attendees in a tour of the California State Archives, diving into the history, photographs, and artifacts from our California State Parks. The first stops include Archives, Photo Archives, and Archaeology where the corresponding head archivist/curator will talk about each program and any current projects. We will then pass through the Processing Hall where you will be able to see various processing rooms, the conservation lab and isolation room. This leads back into The Vault, where we will tour three bays of open storage collection space – highlighting various historical objects and the stories behind them.
The State Archives are home to over 200,000 images and countless artifacts from all over the California State Parks, covering a broad range of California’s history including transportation, recreation, mining, geology, architecture, agriculture, plants and animals.

After our tour of the California State Park Archives has ended, we will head back home to Donner Memorial State Park, arriving at 5pm to end our adventure for the day. Light snacks and water will be provided for the trip home.

The mission of the Sierra State Parks Foundation is to provide critically needed financial and professional support to eight of the Lake Tahoe-Donner region State Parks for education, interpretation, restoration, and cultural and environmental preservation consistent with the goals of California State Parks.

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