San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum facts for kids
Cottage built by Charles M. Weber, founder of Stockton, California
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| Formation | 1954 (Historical Society) / 1966 (Museum) |
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| Type | Museum, Nonprofit |
| Headquarters | 11793 N. Micke Grove Road, Lodi, CA 95240 |
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Region
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San Joaquin County, California |
| Website | https://www.sanjoaquinhistory.org |
The San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum is a cool place to learn about the history of San Joaquin County. It's located in Micke Grove Regional Park, right between the cities of Lodi, California and Stockton, in California. The museum was started in 1966 by the county and a group called the San Joaquin County Historical Society.
This museum is huge, with over 40,000 square feet of space for exhibits and work. It started with just a few hundred items from William G. and Julia Harrison Micke. Now, it has more than 75,000 artifacts and over 500,000 documents and photos! These items show how San Joaquin County grew and changed over time. The museum was officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums in 1973.
Contents
Discovering History: Museum Exhibits
The San Joaquin County Historical Museum has many interesting exhibits for you to explore. Each one tells a different part of the area's history. You can see everything from old tools to giant farm machines!
Exploring Local Cultures and People
- The Helen Weber Kennedy Gallery: This exhibit tells the story of Charles Maria Weber, who founded Stockton, and his family. You can learn about their lives and how they helped shape the city.
- The Native American Gallery: Here, you can discover the history and cultures of the local Yokuts and Miwok tribes. They lived in the San Joaquin Valley long before others arrived.
Amazing Collections and Outdoor Adventures
- The Floyd Locher Tool Collection: This is one of the biggest collections of tools in the western United States! It's amazing to see all the different tools people used in the past.
- The Sunshine Trail: This is an outdoor exhibit where you can walk through different natural areas. It shows you the diverse plants and animals found in the Sierra Nevada mountains, foothills, and the San Joaquin Valley.
Farming and Big Machines
- Innovations in Agriculture: Learn how San Joaquin County has helped improve farming around the world. This exhibit shows cool new ideas and technologies used in agriculture.
- Historic Structures: As you walk around the museum, you can see several old buildings. These include the Calaveras Schoolhouse from 1884, the Charles Weber cottage, and the beautiful Victorian-style Julia Weber House.
- Tractors and Earth Moving Equipment: Get ready to see some giant machines! The museum has three big exhibits dedicated to tractors, scrapers, and bulldozers. Many of these were invented and built right here in San Joaquin County by companies like the Holt Manufacturing Company, R. G. LeTourneau, and Samson Iron Works.
Learning and Volunteering: Education Programs
The museum offers special programs to help people learn about local history. Adults can even become volunteer teachers!
Becoming a Museum Docent
The Museum has a Docent Program. In this program, adults take a one-year course to learn all about local history and how to teach it. After they finish the course, these volunteers, called docents, help out with different museum programs.
Bringing History to Life: Living History Programs
Museum docents also run exciting living history programs for elementary school students. These programs help kids understand what daily life was like in the 1800s and early 1900s. They connect what students learn in school to real-life experiences.
Fun Ways to Experience the Past
- Valley Days: Students learn old-time skills like gold panning, blacksmithing, and grinding corn. It's like stepping back in time!
- Pioneer School: Kids get to spend a day in the Calaveras School House, just like students did in 1884. They even use the actual California State Curriculum from that year.
- Farm to Fork: This program lets students pretend to work in the farming industry, learning how food gets from the farm to our tables.
The San Joaquin County Historical Society is also planning a future Pioneer Village project. In 2023, $3.2 million was approved to help make this new project happen.
Sharing Stories: Tours and Trunks
The museum docents love to share history with visitors. They give tours and also take history directly to schools!
Learning with Grandparents' Trunks
Docents give tours to visitors who come to the museum. They also have a popular program called Grandmother's/Grandfather's Trunk. For this, docents dress in pioneer clothing and visit schools. They bring trunks filled with old artifacts. By explaining these items, they help students learn about what life was like in the 1800s.
Discovering Records: The Museum Archive
The museum also keeps a huge collection of historical documents and photos. This is called the archive, and it's open to the public for research. There are over 500,000 items here!
What You Can Find in the Archive
- The Weber family collections: These are personal records and business papers from the Weber family.
- The Tillie Lewis collection: This includes personal scrapbooks and papers from Tillie Lewis, a famous local figure.
- Reclamation collections: These documents tell the history of water rights, mosquito control, and land reclamation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
- High School Yearbooks: You can find yearbooks from many high schools in San Joaquin County. This includes Stockton, Lodi, Tokay, Ripon, Tracy, Lincoln, St. Mary's, and Edison High School.
- Local family history records: This includes the First Families of San Joaquin collection, which used to be called the Pioneer Registry of San Joaquin County.
- San Joaquin County records: You can find official meeting notes from the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, property records, infrastructure details, marriage and death records, voter lists, and Sanborn maps for Stockton, Lodi, and Clements, California.
- Agricultural Technology Manuals: These are guides for old farming machines and methods.
- Chinese-language business records: Documents from the Chinese community in Stockton.
- Many other collections: Over 150 different collections about manufacturing, shipping, and farming businesses in San Joaquin County.
