I confess I’m a more than a little bit amazed that I haven’t already featured this particular episode of California’s Gold. It originally aired on October 6, 2000, almost exactly 22 years ago. The California State Library not only holds treasures of the state’s history, it is, itself, a wonderful historic California treasure. Its original building, now known as the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building, includes architectural adornments manufactured by Gladding McBean in Lincoln. It is located on Capitol Mall and was completed in 1928, although the state library was established way back in December 1849 — before California was even a state! An additional, more modern building on N Street was constructed in the 1990s; it houses the Braille and Talking Book Library and the California History Room. This second building is the scene of Huell’s visit in this episode. There are so many irreplaceable artifacts in the library’s collection that it’s rather overwhelming. But I was delighted to see the sumptious menu from the Steamer Tennessee in this episode because I recently bought a book titled Gold Rush Steamers that tells the tale of this ship and its sad demise.

Illustrations from Gold Rush Steamers (1938)

Founded along with the State of California itself, the California State Library houses precious artifacts from California’s infancy. Huell gets a private tour of this rare collection which includes California’s first newspaper, mirror images of the gold country from the 1850s, a 17th Century map of California and John Marshall’s own hand-drawn map and sketch of gold discovery.

(Click on the linked image below to see the video.)