Exhibits

Shasta Historical Society mounts traveling and locally curated exhibitions on Shasta County life, landscape and people. Nothing is on view right now — the building is closed for repairs.

Her Side of the Story

Tales of CA Pioneer Women and Shasta County Women of Influence — February 3 to May 28, 2023.

Over 30 first-person accounts from women who came to California by land or sea before January 1, 1854, shown alongside profiles of Shasta County women from the 1850s to today.

The exhibition draws on a single ledger kept by The Association of Pioneer Women of California — formed after a San Francisco newspaper letter asked, ahead of the 1900 Golden Jubilee, why no provision had been made for the pioneer mothers. It holds more than 800 handwritten stories.

Some subjects were pioneers in the usual sense; others were pioneers in their professions. A section of forty portraits of unidentified women stands for the thousands whose stories were never recorded.

Hidden Treasures of Shasta Lake

What Lies Beneath the Waters? — September 2021 to January 2022.

The building of Shasta Dam and the flooding behind it buried historic sites under the lake. The exhibit traced why the dam was built, the mines and smelters that processed ore in the late 1800s, the communities around them, and the roads, railroads, bridges, tunnels and ferries that connected an isolated area to the outside world. Artifacts and images spanned over 100 years — and drought, then as now, keeps giving glimpses of what remains below.

Pollinators: Keeping Company with Flowers

April to July 2022.

A traveling exhibition of more than 50 photographs of bees, butterflies, flies and beetles in wild and garden settings, mostly by Northern California plantsman and naturalist John Whittlesey. Local images, stories and artifacts set out how important pollinators — bees especially — have been to Shasta County's ecology and economy.

Developed by Jennifer Jewell and John Whittlesey; toured by Exhibit Envoy.

California Votes: Exercise Your Right!

Online exhibit, September 9 to December 9, 2021.

A non-partisan exhibition of maps, historic photographs and voting information. Gold in 1848 took California's population from 14,000 to almost 100,000 in two years, and it was obvious from the outset that the future state needed a government. Flyers, campaign posters and voting guides showed how Californians have engaged with politics in the past.

Black and White in Black and White

Images of Dignity, Hope and Diversity in America — online, March 11 to June 3, 2021.

In 1965, 16-year-old Doug Keister acquired 280 glass plate negatives found at a garage sale. Prints revealed early 20th-century portraits of African Americans in Lincoln, Nebraska, attributed to photographer John Johnson, who photographed his friends and family between 1910 and 1925. Equally important are his images of Black, white and other racial groups together — almost unheard of at the time. The Smithsonian has since acquired 60 of the photographs.

Curated by Douglas Keister, traveled by Exhibit Envoy, presented with support from California State University, Chico.

Gadgets Galore! Transforming the American Household

Gadgets both recognisable and strange, showing how industrialisation reached every American household in the 19th century. Mechanical processes, electricity and steam power, mass production, faster communication and wider transport combined to inspire the inventions we still rely on.