Sacramento's Legacy of Innovation, Technology and Art; Gold Rush to Railroad to Didion and Beyond.

Join me for a fascinating exploration of Sacramento's significant historical evolution with our passionate guests, Walter White, President of the Sacramento Historical Society, Delta Pick Mello, Vice President and Gregg Lukenbill, Vice President. Listen in as Gregg passionately outlines Sacramento's monumental contributions from the Civil War, the Gold Rush, and the construction of the transcontinental railroad to the electrification that even inspired Walt Disney. We'll uncover how Sacramento's unique geographical attributes, such as the Sierra Nevada watershed, have played a crucial role in its scientific advancements. Walt and Delta share the mission and evolution of the Sacramento Historical Society, emphasizing their efforts to document, preserve, and elevate the global significance of Sacramento's history.

In our discussion, we also highlight the importance of collaboration among local institutions dedicated to preserving Sacramento's history. We address the challenges faced by small nonprofit organizations, including funding struggles and the pursuit of fiscal sustainability through various initiatives. The chapter on preserving Sacramento's historical significance takes us back to the founding of the Sacramento Historical Society and its pivotal moments, such as the preservation of artifacts and the re-founding of the society by Joseph McGowan. The conversation underscores Sacramento's rich history and its far-reaching impact, advocating for broader recognition of its importance beyond being just the capital of California. Sacramento is truly, the center of the Golden Triangle that is made up of San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento. Might it be possible we could construct a Smithsonian style museum to commemorate and memorialize all the city has contributed to our country? To learn more about The Sacramento Historical Society, you can visit their website: https://www.sachistoricalsociety.org/

Episode Highlights
(02:50 - 04:25) Sacramento's Role in Global History
(06:59 - 09:12) Historical Insights and Laser Beam Analysis of Jaon Didion
(10:48 - 12:38) Honoring Joan Didion in Sacramento
(17:02 - 19:15) Sacramento's Historical Significance and Potential
(23:30 - 25:01) Significance of Sacramento's History
(27:31 - 30:09) Elevating Sacramento's History Smithsonian-Style

Chapter Summaries
(00:00) Sacramento's Significant Historical Evolution
Sacramento's rich history, from the Civil War to Walt Disney's inspiration, is documented and preserved by the Sacramento Historical Society.

(13:53) Sacramento's Historical Organizations and Collaboration
Sacramento's rich history, challenges of a nonprofit, collaboration with local institutions, and opportunities for revitalization and growth.

(20:47) Preserving Sacramento's Historical Significance
The Sacramento Historical Society's history includes preservation of artifacts, renowned speakers, fundraising events, and collaborations with organizations like the Firefighter Burn Institute.

Thank you so much for listening! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

Gregg: [00:00:00] I still haven't figured out how the hell we came up, we came to a free state. So I'm actually ordered up the constitutional convention, a discussion that was recorded to try and figure that out because this state was so racist when it was born, I still get, I'm puzzled because the South came over here to make it a slave state.

James Polk declared war to make us a slave state, right? Take it from the Mexicans and make California a slave state. We ended up a free state. In Northern California, that free state outcome in Monterey lit the fuse that created the, the, uh, civil war. That ended up creating the context of the environment we're living in today.

Jeff Holden: I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to the nonprofit podcast network, our purpose and passion. Is to highlight a nonprofit organization in each weekly episode, giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story in their [00:01:00] words, to better inform and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices and to both encourage and support the growth of local nonprofit organizations. Through podcasting. Thanks to our founding partners for their foresight in helping us transform the way conversations start. CapTrust, fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Runyon Saltzman Incorporated, RSE, marketing, advertising, and public relations creating integrated communications committed to improving lives. And Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families. It's not often there's an organization in town that's over 70 years old, has a keen awareness of the nuances and developments that took place to get our great region to where it is today, and it's not only an incredible resource for [00:02:00] true documentation of our city's emergence, But it's also the formal archivist for those very same documents that could so easily be forgotten or lost.

The historical equity of the organization, thanks to the foresight of all who have maintained and grown its influence, has such a significant responsibility that we need to know it not only exists, but it's doing great things with such great opportunity in front of it, provided it can get some attention for all the right reasons.

A steward of our history, I'm referencing the Sacramento Historical Society. We'll be speaking with the president, Walter White, vice president, Greg Lukenville, yes, that Greg Lukenville, who just also happens to be an avid historian, passionate about our city's upbringing and future and Delta pick mellow.

Another great Sacramentan working to preserve and share the knowledge of the region's history. Delta is currently CEO of the Sacramento History Alliance and the Sacramento History Museum and has been Executive Director of the [00:03:00] California Auto Museum and held positions with the Railroad Museum and the Sacramento Zoo.

We are in for an interesting conversation. Walter, Greg Delta, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Thanks for having us, Jeff. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Greg, I'd like to start with you as most people in the community don't recognize you as the passionate historian that you are. They see you for your development prowess and your bringing the Kings to the city and your construction.

What they don't realize is the significance and your passion for our city and the history of our city. So, in an abbreviated description, if you could touch on going back to the Civil War, the Gold Rush, Theodore Judah, up to the electrification, the significance of those elements that brought the city to where it is back in the day, and then will continue to progress after that with Walter and Delta.

Gregg: So, you know, in a context, I guess, if you want to go back to the Greeks and the Egyptians [00:04:00] and the significant historical evolution of This, the world that we live in as it relates to actual science, scientific advancement, which is a lot different than other types of evolution. And when I say that, I mean, Copernicus, Galileo, Einstein, people like that, that have evolved science in a, in a very substantial, factual historical way because science is based on the history of the prior evolution.

Sacramento's history is probably the most consequential of any city on the planet. And I, I don't, I don't think there's any question about it, not in terms of people, but in terms of location. We have this distinctly unique, unusual Sierra Nevada watershed, probably similar to the Alps dumping into Germany on the North side, but similar, you know, Phenomenon that all routes from the Sierra Nevada watershed that is based on the gold, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Delta that probably the most important aspect of that to me is the Delta and the diversity that is delivered to our [00:05:00] contemporary community.

Times and the electrification that inspired Walt Disney to create the Disney magic light parade, right? And so honestly, in the world I live in, along with the state capital and the temperate climate, those are the six things that make us the most unique. And I think distinctively scientifically advanced and advancing city on the planet in terms of the birth that we gave the University of California, Berkeley to the Bay area.

And to San Jose. And I'm sure they would argue that they were, you know, Spanish missions before we became anything. But the truth of it is the science came from here. It didn't come from the money came from here. It didn't come from there. It's nice to be a showboat on, on the, on the most beautiful Harbor on the planet, which is San Francisco's claimed affinity.

But that doesn't give you a right to stewardship, which they're currently evidencing in a not so great way as it relates to how to, how to manage that from an operational standpoint. So our history goes from the gold rush, which actually brought in [00:06:00] people from all over the planet and was the greatest migration history of the planet at that time, that George Hearst himself, current owner of KCRA, Called the greatest economic event in the history of the United States in 1890.

To give some context to that, Sacramento basically birthed the gilded age out of that reality. And when I say that's would also be known as the second industrial age in the United States, it went from 1870 to 1910 and it came directly from Sacramento. Without a doubt, it came from the railyards, the science in the railyards.

It came from the electrification. It came from the automation of. Agriculture being produced out of the delta. It came from the Sierra Nevada watershed hydroelectric power It came from so many things that are all were all birthed right here Just think of this as a little bit of a scientific test bed for the planet And that's what sacramento represents on a historical basis Okay, and there's no place as ty smith in the railroad museum [00:07:00] phd in history would say, you know There's no place on the planet that has had this many Globally altering events in one location in any place in the world and that's my introduction to You My love and our love, all of our love for Sacramento history and how significant it is to the future.

Because as our little slogan, uh, States history is about enlightening our future with scientific facts. 

Jeff Holden: And we're going to come back to that future too, because history often you see is a predictive of the future since we tend to repeat it over and over. If I can go to you, Walton Delta, could you give us a little bit of background on the organization itself?

Walk us through the purpose of what the Sacramento Historical Society is. 

Walter: I'll go first and then turn it over to Delta. But the Sacramento Historical Society was formed roughly 70 years ago by a group of really research, record, and share the rich history of the Sacramento region [00:08:00] and how, you know, that legacy of Sacramento is part of the enlightenment of our society.

So that's a big part of it. I'll turn it over to Delta. Do you add on to that as well? 

Delta: Yeah. The academic recording of the history of Sacramento was, I think, one of the main tenets of the organization. It's a very old organization, the oldest historical organization in this area. I work with the Sacramento History Museum, which came later and is more of a public facing interpretive.

Thank you. Institution, but the Sacramento Historical Society began by chronicling different aspects of Sacramento's history through what they call the golden notes. They were researchable archival documents for people to, to study. for in the future. And I think that that, that, with that being our origins, we are looking towards a future of really raising, [00:09:00] as Greg has just explained, those six of the many components that make Sacramento so unique.

We are trying to raise the bar of Sacramento's history and bring attention to the fact that our history is not just national, but international history. It's global history. And so that is our current status, I think, is really raising up. Sacramento's history to a greater level. 

Jeff Holden: As we look at the next steps, taking it from maybe where we left off with electrification and Greg's description, you know, the significance of history from both political and business perspectives, we made a significant impact beyond that as well in arts and culture and the creative scene.

And there was recently quite a bit of conversation about a very popular Sacramentan who had a significant contribution to the literary world, and I'm referencing Joan Didion. And I know the Sacramento Historical Society had a lot to do with the influence post her passing on getting a lot of [00:10:00] things done in recognition for her.

Could you guys talk a little bit about that? 

Walter: I'll pass it to Greg 

Jeff Holden: on this one. 

Gregg: Well, I, all I would say is she brought this very unique. She was like a double D a R double daughter of the American revolution. Both sides of her family went back to the American revolution, which is incredible to think about the dynamics of that reality.

Right. But, and evolved and came out with one of her great, great grandfather came out with the Donner party. I mean, history was weaved into her DNA from. Virginia to the Mississippi River to the Missouri River to California through her great great grandparents coming out here. And she, uh, had this distinctive sense of national, regional, and local history that I've never seen in anybody else from Sacramento in terms of what I would call her laser beam capacity.

To identify [00:11:00] issues from a historical context based on her reference points For the history and the evolution of things nationally and I mean from the east coast through particularly new york or boston To san francisco and california and all of the historical events that her family lived through right here in sacramento and her ability to See and write contemporary, about contemporary events like the death of RFK in that assassination by Sirhan Sirhan or About the Central Park 5 case and many, many other subjects like that about Miami and the drug trade or, uh, the Contras down in Nicaragua and Costa Rica and that whole battleground took down place down there with Reagan and, and the Iranian nonsense, her ability to laser beam her way through that stuff and see things that nobody else saw.

And they're right about them. Literally was the spark across the nation for so much [00:12:00] associated media that came from her laser beam insights into things, including the fact that the central part five, five black kids were all exonerated a decade later and ended up getting a 55 million reward from the courts.

For the liability of new york of how they handled it, but she starts that 1990 story in 1825 with frederick law olmstead. That's what I mean by a laser beam of weaving history into the future And she saw through that and you know as a famous author by the name of henry adams I mean, but it was his great grandson of john adams Obviously grandson of Joan Quincy Adams.

But the point of the point is he, he wrote a book about called the education of Henry Adams. It was published by Harvard university. It was a book about predicting the future, right? And he spent the last three chapters of that book predicting 2000. And it was published by Harvard in 1918, after he died in 1950.

And that was another day in Joan's life. I mean, everything she wrote was written the way he wrote that book, which was about looking at history and projecting the [00:13:00] future, which ostensibly In a non alternative facts way is exactly what Joan Didion was in Sacramento does represent in terms of the product of a system.

On a national basis and a state basis, although I still haven't figured out how that all became a free state, so I'm actually ordered up the Constitutional Convention discussion that was recorded to try and figure that out because this state was so goddamn racist when it was born. I still am puzzled because the South came over here to make it a slave state.

Janus Polk declared war to make us a slave state, right? Take it from the Mexicans and make California a slave state. We ended up a free state. In northern california that free state outcome in monterey Lit the fuse that created the the civil war that ended up creating the context of the environment We're living in today, although we're still living with the residue of that.

I'll just leave it there. I'm talking too much 

Jeff Holden: That's okay And that's a bit of a the history that I didn't want to hear come from you and and that's sufficient because we can tie It back [00:14:00] now because you didn't uh on honoring joan didion the sacramento historical society is responsible for A statue in her likeness, if I'm not mistaken, correct?

Gregg: We did four things, officially one, two, three, four, the fourth being something that did Ian's did for us. And that was, we did a sculpture, which ended up in the Sacramento room of the central library in downtown Sacramento as a gift to the city from us as a fundraising event that was so popular and dynamic that it led to us doing a scholarship at city college, which currently is at about 70, 000 prior to the fourth event that happened, then the next thing is we decided to put on an abandoned golden award on short notice.

That was very successful and that combination of things where the rest of the country was saying sacramento doesn't give a damn about joan didion Ended up with the didion family who really wanted the papers to be in sacramento and stated so Unfortunately, it didn't end up here and i'm not going to belabor that subject But it does speak to the competence of the city of sacramento and we'll say that and i'll just leave it at that [00:15:00] But the fourth thing is they they gave us nine hundred thousand dollars unrestricted to do what we wanted with And we took 450 000 of that along with the money we raised I think the crew Amount in that account.

It's probably about five hundred and forty thousand or something like that now but We created an endowment at sacramento city college Out of that with a chunk of that money and the rest of it We're using and that which kind of goes to another thing you're going to bring up But I'll just tell you our goal would be to endow At the historical society the way we endowed sacramento city as it relates to joan diddy And we don't have the resources to do that or the wherewithal at the moment.

That's one of our long term goals 

Delta: One of the next steps too is that they're the sacramento city college will be renaming their resource center After joan diddy and dedicating that in september. 

Jeff Holden: What an accomplishment for an organization that is relatively small and not as forefront as some of the other organizations who we don't get to see as much from.

So congratulations to you guys on that, you know, that accomplishment. We look at how history tends [00:16:00] to repeat itself and we can trace it back and see it and recognize it when it happens. But something we're seeing today, and Greg, this is a conversation you and I had over lunch. is we've been referred to as the Golden Triangle, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento.

And as important as those cities are historically, you know, all three of us, you know, here we are again today with, with the technology, with, with the research, with the agriculture, with the 

Gregg: artificial intelligence, 

Jeff Holden: artificial intelligence, AI 

Gregg: getting created right now out of the AI, out of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.

That is accelerating The entire context of time and results on a very compressed basis, much like the train did, much like the telegraph did, this AI is going to accelerate the evolution and the availability of broad knowledge worldwide, and it's going to raise the bar in the whole world, I think, on an accelerated basis, and on a very exciting basis, and that's right out of that [00:17:00] golden triangle, right?

It's the same dynamics where we are on the cutting edge of science that was birthed from Sacramento. By the gold rush by Theodore Judas, Transcontinental Railroad and the rail yards, which was the scientific center of the West in the 19th century. There was, there was for all intents and purposes, no Southern California, other than Pueblos and missions coming up from Unipero Serra.

Up until the late 19th century and then they stumbled on oil and then they get the gold their own version of the gold rush. Okay. 

Jeff Holden: And not to mention state capital and we've got the political equity in the state that's originated right here in Sacramento and a soon to be successful basketball team again.

Look, look, we can all lay off. We'll be back to continue this engaging conversation of our Sacramento roots. Right after a word from the people we appreciate for making the program possible. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is scott thomas with cap trust in our sacramento office. I [00:18:00] specialize in working with local non profits and associations Annually, we survey private and public non profit organizations across the country to better understand challenges They see in today's environment in our more recent survey We heard concerns about proper board governance mission aligned investment and how to implement all term investments If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com.

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many nonprofit agencies in our community. As a truly local health plan, you'll find individual and family options, employer options plans for CalPERS and Medicare Advantage. From medical services to pharmacy, health and wellness support, as well as behavioral health care, Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need.

As an employer, for profit or non profit business, individual or family, you can find more at westernhealth. [00:19:00] com. I was in the media business for over 35 years and had the great privilege of working with Runyon Saltzman, RSC, Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations. We collaborated on many different campaigns, but their commitment to the nonprofit sector hasn't changed since their founder Gene Runyon started the agency.

Over many years and many campaigns, Runyon Saltzman has been committed to improving lives by tackling California's most challenging issues. Guided by research informed strategies and insightful, creative solutions, RSE develops innovative communications campaigns that raise awareness, Educate and reduce stigma in diverse communities throughout our state and beyond.

To learn more about RSE, visit rs e. com. So getting back to the organization, how is the organization funded? 

Walter: No, there's just that, you know, we're a small but becoming a mighty organization with our ability to [00:20:00] Record history and enlighten our society with that. You know, we're a private nonprofit. We're funded primarily through donations and through membership fees uh, however, we are in the process to create some more fiscal sustainability by Looking at our options for annual fundraising events because we think it's real important To take the foundation of the golden notes into more of a multimedia platform reach a larger audience 

Jeff Holden: And if i'm not mistaken, you're all volunteer.

Gregg: We don't have any stable even mid level Revenues at the moment to support our expenses. So I use the phrase kind of eating the seed corn right now frequently, but This is our moment to actually, you know, elevate and celebrate and raise the bar, as Delta said, as to who the heck we are and maybe get a footprint on the ground here that's institutionalized on an economic basis rather than a smoke and [00:21:00] mirrors basis that we've managed to hold together and create a structure of a multiplicity of revenue sources like membership, which is currently only about 10, 000 a year.

Our expenses are in the neighborhood of 75, our, our guaranteed revenues that we're pretty consistent on. It's probably 20, 000. So we're burning about 50 grand a year right now in negative consequences. But so far we've managed to stay, do pretty good with that. Last year, we probably, aside from the dead end adventures, we probably ended up with a positive of about 40 And so we're trying to figure out how to tread water and then break out into an endowed basis in the future.

And so that that's our goal in terms of where we're trying to get to We're a long ways from there at this point. And so we're trying to create little opportunities explore opportunities and develop resources or Mechanisms or formulas that will facilitate More stabilized long term revenue on a on a [00:22:00] positive basis Preferably on an annual basis and honestly jeff.

We're doing it through benchmarking on a national basis So we've got models like The Smithsonian or National Geographic or PBS or Nova, or, you know, the kind of things that Ken Burns does. And so that the historical relevance projected into the future. And so that, and he spent a lot of time here at the center for Sacramento history has made three trips here and camped out there for quite a while.

So the significance, because we are the only place that has any relics from the gold rush, because of the San Francisco earthquake and fire that destroyed all of those, all of those records and artifacts in the Bay area. So. And then, and then if you look at what I've said about, and you think about the significance of that gold rush impact in Sacramento and recorded in Sacramento history, coupled with the train, coupled with the electricity, coupled with all the, all of the things that we sort of take for granted around here that are the best kept secret in Sacramento, like the Folsom powerhouse to the six and eight power station, the rail yards themselves, that's [00:23:00] Sacramento at its best, the Capitol mall, which is supposed to be a replication of the national mall.

The national mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. And we have the same thing from the tower bridge to the, to the, but we get much like everything else. We just a little bit out of culture off base in terms of the way we approach these things. And so we always managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, even though it's all been handed to us on a silver platter.

And I do think the silver platter, I do think that being so blessed really wrecks the appetite for actually accomplishing anything in Sacramento, because it's all been handed to us on a silver plate into the 20th century. And I think. We kind of screwed up the 20th century. I, I really believe that. I think we should be so much better than we are, and we have so many more resources and so many beautiful things to work with here that are, are abused by the way it's been managed by the government, to be honest.

Jeff Holden: Well, and I think we've got Sacramento Pride coming back. I really do sense that a lot of people who are here today are here today because they choose to be. They see the value, they see the opportunities, they see our farm to [00:24:00] fork movement, they see the technology moving from the Bay Area because it's affordable to bring it into Sacramento.

We've got venture funds now here that are capitalizing a lot of these new opportunities from like you said, Greg AI and both agriculture and every other category that you can imagine where there's an investment opportunity. One of the things that we look at with the organizations that we talk to is collaboration and certainly you're, you're oriented with.

other organizations, you know, maybe Delta, could you explain a couple of the other people that you work with, the universities, the schools, the rail museum, et cetera. 

Delta: Yeah, certainly. We work with many of the historical institutions in, in Sacramento. Again, the Sacramento Historical Society is really the oldest one, but we have our archives and collection center, which is the Center for Sacramento History.

That's where all of the objects are, and we collaborate with them. We work with the Sacramento History Museum, where I'm at, and also the [00:25:00] California State Railroad Museum. Sacramento city college, um, Sacramento public library. So we really do collaborate in, in ways that are beneficial to elevating our history, whether it be bringing in speakers or in the case of Sac city college, giving them money.

Or collaborating with groups like the Sacramento Firefighters Burn Institute, bringing their history to light. The development of that organization, which is again, a nationally known organization, even internationally known. We have collaborated with them to bring attention to that organization and that history, how it was, it was developed.

So we are always looking for collaboration in presenting different perspectives of Sacramento's history. Through our programs and through our publications of golden notes. 

Gregg: You know, just as a little aside, I was looking this up from a historical standpoint. There's one other organization that was kind of was involved with giving birth to the Sacramento Historical Society, which dealt [00:26:00] us right about the history of this organization, which was founded as the Sacramento County Historical Society.

And we took that county out about eight years ago, but it's the Sacramento Book Collectors Club. And they were actually founded in 1939 and then ended up creating a nonprofit. But the book collectors club set many of the members of that group, a half a dozen of them were part of the founding 20 or so members.

Wrapped around Joseph McGowan in 1953 that started the Sacramento Historical Society, because nobody was doing anything about Sacramento's history. And there's a little side story about another one that was, believe it or not, the middle of 1941, also called the Sacramento County Historical Society, that got involved in the demise of what was the Deal Mills Bank that originated in 1850, became the California National Bank around the turn of the century.

That went bankrupt in 1941 And ended up with a whole bunch of artifacts that were literally from 1850 gold rush and deal mills bank It's second and I think it was [00:27:00] second and k or second and j street And I think the building may still be under the freeway there at delta. You can walk over and check that out Anyway, the the point of the story is is that the This organization's history is that was saved by a company, uh, right at third and R street.

And that is actually where the Sacramento Valley railroad, which theater Judas railroad originated from in 1854. And there's a plaque on that building and the name of the company's right on the tip of my tongue. But anyway, the founder of that company and his sidekick has ended up going to. The bankruptcy court and getting a whole bunch of stuff for a hundred dollars in the name of the Sacramento County historical center, they were quite a creative entity to get it out of the courts because it was bankrupt and they were taking bank assets, right?

And in turning it over and it was turned over to the archives. So I called Gary Kuritz, who used to run the archives in Sacramento is now retired and the short version of it is I got a listing of all the stuff that was checked into the archives in 19, believe it or not, [00:28:00] as crazy as this From 1941, when they got that stuff out of there, just think of this right at the Genesis of World War II.

And they actually, that stuff's still sitting over there in the state archives, which included not only a number of gold related bank related things, but actually some gold scales from 1850 from the riverfront, as crazy as that sounds, which, which really touched my soul in terms of the reality of recognizing.

So I got a nine page inventory out of Gary as to when that was done and how it was done, original Sacramento County. Then it just disappeared in World War II and nobody ever heard another word for it. So it was re founded by McGowan in 1953. First speaker was Peter Shields from UC Davis. Founder of UC Davis as the director of the Department of California, Department of Agriculture for, in 1905.

So sorry for all the belabored history, but the roots are all over the valley here and into the Bay Area and bouncing back as it relates to Davis being a subsidiary university farm facility from University of California, Berkeley, which [00:29:00] of course came from, largely came from Sacramento to begin with and the wealth and the, and the trading and everything that went on there.

But that was a Lincoln form. That was a Lincoln land grant. Cal, Cal was. 

Jeff Holden: This is the significance that we want to convey is if people really understood the history of Sacramento, the way the history really took place, as opposed to the second city or the third city or the fourth city just happens to be the capital of California.

But my gosh, why did they put it in Sacramento? There was a reason and a purpose for it being in Sacramento, and that was because of the significance of the city. And as more and more people move here, I think it's that much more important for them to understand that there's so much more behind what took place here over the course of time, as opposed to, it just happens to be a more affordable city in the state of California, and it happens to be the capital.

And you guys are making a point of all that. And that's what I think is the beauty of the organization and people don't know. As much about your existence. So we want to do what we can [00:30:00] to push that up a little bit and make it a little more convenient for people to know that there's history here. If you look at an opportunity, let's say money were no object.

What would the organization look like? And Delta, I'll start with you because Greg, I know we'll go on for a long time about that one. 

Delta: We would have nationally known speakers. That come to speak that have ties to Sacramento, but are nationally known. We would have fundraising events that celebrate history that are mega fundraising events.

It'd be the event of Sacramento. And we would be flush in the development of both videos and booklets or, or pamphlets or, or books that are based on our golden notes and different subjects in Sacramento. We'd have our own television channel either way too. 

Jeff Holden: Walter, how about yourself? 

Walter: Yeah. I, you know, to tie into a lot of what Delta said, you [00:31:00] know.

I think we would try and expand those cross silo collaboration efforts if we add more time and funding and active members You know, she had touched on one with the the firefighter burn institute Sacramento fire department is the oldest paid fire department west of the mississippi and The firefighter burn institute was established In 1973, there was a horrific plane crash into a feral's ice cream parlor You But as a result of that, Sacramento Fire Captain Cliff Haskell really led the charge, worked with UC Davis Hospital, and when they formed the Firefighter Burn Institute, they've literally generated millions of dollars to bring the finest burn care treatment in the world right here to Sacramento, because at the time they realized Sacramento didn't have adequate burn care treatment for the survivors.

That effort that Sacramento did has been replicated in many [00:32:00] other communities. And in fact, Sacramento Fire and Sacramento Law Enforcement have participated in what is known as the longest standing charity football game of its kind. Uh full contact charity football game and that also has been replicated in many communities throughout the nation And you know efforts like that that start right here in sagramento We want to have the funds to create multimedia presentations of that And share that, uh, to a much larger audience.

Jeff Holden: Okay, Greg. Money's no object. 

Gregg: Become the Smithsonian. The West Coast version of the Smithsonian Institution. That would be what I would like us to do. 

Jeff Holden: I'd love it. 

Gregg: And that's got lots of little, lots of little, as Walt put it, silos to it, okay? But, or what I would call plate spinning, uh, sources. And that would be, uh, as Walt just mentioned, the idea of, and Delta mentioned, the idea of us having, uh, going on television on a [00:33:00] regular basis or having an outlet and the ability to produce those things.

And we're getting closer to that, you know, again, to be the Smithsonian and the way that they do things to record things, to develop things, to showcase, as I said, elevate Sacramento's history. To a national scale, which is really what our ultimate goal is to do to celebrate our history in a way that spotlights and showcases the extraordinarily dynamic things and how blessed we are to be living in the shadows here in Nevada watershed, in spite of the fact that the brilliance of this planning put built the footprint of the city of Sacramento.

In the riverbed of two rivers at the same time, which is unusual on a global basis, right? So the fact that I think we've been able to survive that probably has a lot more to do with the argonite experience of going out into the unknown to see if we can make something out of nothing and Rising up from the watershed and you know pat kennedy the supervisor just told me about two weeks ago We're within less than five years of having a 500 year flood protection footprint implemented with [00:34:00] all of their levee reconstruction and the dam elevation and the sites reservoir and that type of thing.

It's going to really change the footprint of Sacramento's safety from flooding, which I've grown up with my whole life, and most of us who've been in Sacramento have experienced. I think we as an organization, again, Smithsonian, I could, if I was going to say it in one word, it would be Smithsonian. 

Jeff Holden: I think it's, it's a, it's a wonderful aspiration.

Really want to thank you guys for taking the time this morning and sharing what's most important and necessary element in the well being of our city and, and allowing us to share that information with the community. Not only the community, but the podcast is geography agnostic. Anybody can listen from anywhere around the world.

And as they hear some of the things that you said, and they recognize the pride and the passion in our city from people who are archiving it from academia, from research and statisticians and people who put these things together for us. on a long term basis so [00:35:00] that it's not lost. Without you, we wouldn't have that.

And in spite of the financial struggles that many non profits have, you've survived 70 years. So I suspect you're going to be here for another 70 because of the significance of what you do. So thank you for what you are doing to make Sacramento a better place and make the world aware of And so, uh, I think it's important to understand what it is that we've got, you know, our blessings and our, our opportunities.

Gregg: Well, how blessed are we to live in this environment and area in scientific cutting edge advancement, really? I mean, how blessed are we? 

Jeff Holden: Delta. 

Delta: Thank you. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. This is what I've spent my career working in is, um, the museum field and presenting the history of Sacramento or the history of Sacramento's cultures.

Uh, it's important to understand. To know who we were, we can move forward appreciating who we are today. So thank you for this opportunity. 

Jeff Holden: Walter, 

Walter: just thanks for allowing us to [00:36:00] share a little bit, the Sacramento historical society and. You know why it should be important and to all of us. So I appreciate your time today.

Jeff Holden: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If what you heard moved you, please reach out to that organization and do what you can to help. If you like and appreciate what we're doing to support local nonprofits, please give us a positive review, subscribe and share.

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