This page includes many interesting items. One is a series of oral history transcripts about mining operations in and around Napa Valley and the effects that these operations had on those areas. Information on these volumes is included under the "Knoxville Mining District, the McLaughlin Gold Mine, Northern California - Oral History" tab. There are also several interesting books on California history under the "Books on California History" tab, including pioneer priests, a history of California farmworkers, the agricultural development of the West, including California, and more! We also have copies of some absolutely fascinating oral histories collected by U.C. Berkeley historians, and you can find these books under the "Bancroft Oral History Collection (Fascimiles)" section.
Courtesy of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, the NVC library has copies of transcripts from those interviewed about the mines.
| Volume | Years Covered | Interviewees | Interviewer | Interview Dates | Call Nujmber |
| 1 | 1978-1995 | James Anderson (Homestake vice-president - Exploration); Will Baker (citizen activist); Norman Birdsey (metallurgical technician); Brice Bledsow (director, Solano Irrigation District) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1995 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 1 |
| 2 | 1935-1985 | Anthony A. Cerar (mercury mine, 1935-1995); John P. Ceteras (organic farmer in Yolo County); Harry M. Conger (president, chairman, and CEO, Homestake Mining Company, 1997-1994); John Jay Corley (chairman, Napa County Planning Commission, 1981-1985); William H. Cornelison (Superintendent of Schools, Lake County (Includes an interview tihe John A. Drummond, Lake County Schools Attorney)) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1995, 1996 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 2 |
| 3 | 1982-1995 | David Crouch (homestake corporate manager - Environmental Affairs); Elmer Enderlin (Miner in fifty-eight mines); Clair Fuller (Fuller's Superette Market, Lower Lake, 1982-1995); Dennis Goldstein (Homestake corporate lawyer); Rex Guinivere (Homestake vice-president - Engineering) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1995 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 3 |
| 4 | 1975-1995 | Donald Gustafon (Homestake exploration geologist, 1975-1990); Bonny Jean Hanchett (owner and editor, Clear Lake Observer, 1995-1986); James H. Hickey (Director of Conservation, Development, and Planning for the Napa County, 1970-1990); Irene Jago (the Jagos of Jago Bay, Clear Lake); James Jonas (Lake County fuel distributor); Dolora Koontz (environmental engineer, McLaughlin Mine, 1988-1995) | Eleanor Swent | 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 4 |
| 5 | 1978-1997 | William Kritikos (operator, Oat Hill Mine); Jack Landman (rancher, Morgan Valley); Roberta Lyons (journalist, environmentalist); Roger Madsen (Homestake mechanical engineer); Beverly Magoon (merchant and craft instructor, lower lake); Edward McGinnis (worker at the Reed Mine) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 5 |
| 6 | 1978-1995 | Robert McKenzie (McKenzies in Monticello, Beryessa Valley); Harold Moskowite (Napa County Supervisor); Marion Onstad (neighbor and employee of McLaughlin Mine, 1980-1995); Ronald Parker (resident manager of the McLaughlin Mine, 1988-1994); Richard Stoehr (Homestake engineer and geologist to senior vice-president and director); Joseph Strapko (expoloration geologist, McLaughlin Mine discovery, 1978) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1995, 1996 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 6 |
| 7 | 1944-1988 | Jack E. Thompson, Jr. (general manager, McLaughlin Mine, 1981-1988); Twyla Thompson (County Supervisor, Yolo County, 1975-1985); Avery Tindell (Capay Valley Environmentalist); John Turney (McLaughtlin metallurgist: pioneering autoclaving for gold); Della Underwood (Knoxville rancher, McLaughlin Mine surveyor); Walter Wilcox (county supervisor, Lake County, 1979-1995); Peter Scribner (boyhood at Knoxville mine, 1941-1944) | Eleanor Swent | 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 7 |
| 8 | 1978-2001 | Dean Enderlin (mine geologist, reclamation manager, McLaughlin Mine); Susan Harrison (McLaughlin Natural Reserve); Raymond Krauss (environmental manager, McLaughlin Mine) | Eleanor Swent | 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2001 |
CAL 622.092 Knoxville v. 8 |
Oral historians have interviewed Californians over the years, trying to get a snapshot of what life was like for those participating in various local industries in California's past. The collections listed below are fascimiles of original documents that can be found in The Bancroft Library, which is located on the campus of the University of Calfironia, Berkeley.
| Interviewer | Title | Year(s) Conducted Interviews | Call Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Judith Dunning (with an Introduction by Larry Maes) | Gene Benedetti: Founder of Clover Stornetta Farms | 2001 |
CAL 929.2 Benedetti |
| Willa Klug Baum | Philip Bancroft: Politics, Farming, and the Progressive Party in California | 1962 |
CAL 973.911 Bancroft |
| Ann Lage, Bill Helfman, and Donald Patterson |
The Patterson Family and Ranch: Southern Alameda County in Transition: Volume i: Agriculture and Farm Life on Fremont's Northern Plain, 1890s-1980s (Interviews with Frank Berghi, Elvamae Rose Berghi, Ruel Brown, Donald Furtade; Tillie Logan Geold, William McKeown, Gene Williams, Mel Alameda) |
1975 and 1986-1987 |
CAL 979.461 Patterson v. 1 |
| Ann Lage, Carole Hicke, and John Caswell | The Patterson Family and Ranch: Southern Alameda County in Transition: Volume II: Water, Development, and Preservation in Southern Alameda County (Interviews with Mathew P. Whitfield, Wallace R. Pend, John Brooks, Robert Risher, M.D., Laurence W. Milnes, William D. Patterson | 1955, 1982, 1986, and 1987 |
CAL 979.461 Patterson v. 2 |
| Stanley Bry, Ann Lage, Knox Mellon, and Donald Patterson | The Patterson Family and Ranch: Southern Alameda County in Transition: Volume III: The Patterson Ranch, Past and Future: The Family's Perspective (Interviews with Donald Patterson, William Volmer, Jeannette Korstad, Marilyn Price, Sally Patterson Adams, John E. Adams, David G. Patterson, Robert Buck, Leon G. Campbell, Jr., Wilcox Patterson, George Patterson, Bruce Patterson, Abigail Adams Campbell) | 1964, 1977, 1986, and 1987 |
CAL 979.461 Patterson v. 3 |
There are several books in the collection that provide an overview of the people and places that have informed California's history.
| Author | Title | Call Number |
|---|---|---|
| Napa County | Inventory of the County Archives of California (No. 29) |
CAL REF 025.17 Inventory
|
| Henry L Walsh, S. J. | Halllowed Were the Dust Trails: The Story of the Pioneer Priests of Northern California |
CAL 282.7 Walsh |
| Sandra Lucile Nichols | Saints, Peaches, and Wine: Mexican Migrants and the Transformation of Los Haro, Zacatecas and Napa, California (dissertation) |
CAL 305.86872073 Nichols |
| Peter Hall | The Bay Area in the Twenty-first Century: Shall We Survive? (Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California, Berkeley) |
CAL 307.1209 Hall |
| John Muir (Edited by Sally M. Miller and daryl Morrison) | John Muir: Family, Friends, and Adventures |
CAL 333.72092 John |
| Gerald D. Nash | The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War |
CAL 330.978032 Nash |
| Cletus E. Daniel | Bitter Harvest: A History of California Farmworkers: 1870-1941 |
CAL 331.763 Daniel |
| Raymond F. Dasmann | The Destruction of Calfornia |
CAL 333.7 Dasmann |
| John Fraser Hart | Rural Landscape |
CAL 333.76 Hart |
| Frank T. Swett | California Agricultural Cooperative: With an Introduction by Henry E. Erdman (And interview conducted by Willa Klug Eaum) |
CAL 334.683 Swett |
| James H. Shideler (Editor) | Agriculture in the Development of the Far West (The Agricultural History Society) |
CAL 338.10978 Agriculture |
| Steven Stoll | The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California |
CAL 338.174 Stoll |
| Luther Gison (Publisher) | Mare Island, 1854-1946: Pacific Center for Naval Repari and Construction: Vallejo, California |
CAL 355.7 Mare |
| Robert Smyth Holden, P.M. | Yount Lodge: Its Beginnings, Growth and Maturity (Includes letter in envelope taped to inside front cover written by Dorothy Yount Gonzales and envelope addressed Ms. E. G. Yount) |
CAL 366 Yount |
| Dona (Stanley) Bakker and Ralph Milton Ingols (Compilers) | St. Helena High School Cirque 1940-1972: The Golden Years - An Age of Maturity & Achievement (Autographed by Ralph Milton Ingols and Dona Bakker) |
CAL 373.05 Bakker
|
| John R. Signor | Southern Pacific's Western Division |
CAL 385.09794 Signor |
| Richard Dunlop | Wheels West: 1590-1900 (Forward by Ray Allen Billington) |
CAL 388.341 Dunlop |
| Linda M. Ford | Folklore of the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country (Thesis) (Photocopy) |
CAL 398.2 Ford |
| N/A | Pacific Rural Press (Collection of articles from 1875 bound in one volume) |
Oversized Books CAL 630.5 Pacific |
| Edward T. Foley | The Story of Foley Farm (Inscription by author: To Francis Price Jr. with best wishes E.T. Foley November 1961) |
CAL 636.2 FOLEY |
| Caroline M. Churchill | Over the Purple Hills Or Sketches of Travel in California, Embracing All the Important Points Usually Visited by Tourists (1883) (delicate binding; handle with care) |
CAL 917.394 Churchill |
| Friar Francisco Garces (Translated by Jon Galvin) | A Record of Travels in Arizone and California 1775-1776 (donated by Gordon F. Davies) |
CAL 917.9 Garces |
| Warren A. Beck and David Williams | A History of the Golden State: From Earliest Spanish Explorations in the Sixteenth Century to the Present |
CAL 979.4 Beck |
| Bayard Taylor (Forward by Joseph A. Sullivan) | New Pictures from California: with Illustrations and Map |
CAL 917.94 Taylor |
| William Taylor | California Life: Illustrated (1859) |
CAL 917.94 Taylor |
| James Bradley Thayer (eddited with a forward and notes by Shirley Sargent) | A Western Journey with Mr. Emerson (The Book Club of California 1980) |
CAL 917.94 Thayer |
| Carl Ortwin Sauer | Seventeenth Century North America (1980 edition) |
CAL 970.02 Sauer |
| Carl Ortwin Sauer | Seventeenth Century North America (1971 edition) |
CAL 973.1 Sauer |
| Joseph A. King | Winter of Entrapment: A New Look at the Donner Party |
CAL 978.02 King |
| George R. Stewart | The California Trail: An Epic with Many Heroes |
CAL 978.02 Stewart (2 copies - 1 paperback; 1 hardback) |
| William Heath Davis (Edited by Harold A. Small) | Seventy-Five Years in California: Recollections and remarks by one who visited these shores in 1831, and again in 1833, and except when absent on business was a resident from 1838 until the end of a long life in 1909. |
CAL 979.4 Davis |
| Edward Cleveland Kemble (edited by Fred Blackburn Rogers) | A Kemble Reader: Stories of Calfiornia, 1846-1848 (The California Historical Society, San Francisco, 196) |
CAL 979.4 Kemble |
| Carey McWilliams (forward by Lewis H. Lapham) | California: The Great Exception |
CAL 979.4 McWilliams |
| Orra Eugene Monnette | California Chronology: A Period of Three Hundred and Fifty Years: 1510-1860 (2 copies - one hardback and one paperback) |
CAL REF 979.4 Monnette |
| Erwin G. Cudde; 4th edition, revised and enlarged by William Bright | California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names |
CAL REF 979.40014 Gudde |
| Jacob Wright Harlan | California '46 to '88 (1896) (Note in copy 1: 1846-1888) (Binding delicate for both copies; handle with care.) (2 copies) |
CAL 979.404 Harlan |
| Robert Louis Stevenson; photographs by Michael Kenna | The Silvarado Squatters (Colophon: This edition of The Silverado Spatters is limited to 250 numbered copies for sale and 26 lettered copies hora de commerce. Each copy has been signed by the photographer Michael Kenna.) (Signed by Michael Kenna, copy 79) |
CAL 979.40453 Stevenson
|
| Janice Marchner | California 1850: A Snapshot in Time |
CAL 979.404 Marschner |
| John Waters Jr. (with the Sharpsteen Museum) | Images of America: Calistoga |
CAL 979.419 Waters |
| Marjorie Gordon | Changes in Harmony: an Ilustrated History of Yuba and Sutter Counties (Inside note from author: 20 May 1989 To Jamie Moore, another historian with best wishes Marjorie Gordon) |
CAL 979.434 Gordon |
| Jack and Richard Steed | The Donner Party Rescue Site: Johnson's Ranch on the Bear River (signed by Jack Steed) |
CAL 979.435 Steed |
| Robert Leonard Reid (Editor) | A Treasury of the Sierra Nevada (The collection includes excerpts from diaries, articles, letters, and other personal artifacts.) |
CAL 979.44 Treasury |
| Kristin Delaplane (in collaboration with Sabine Goerke-Shrode and Photographs by Philip Adam) | Solano's Gold: The People and Their Orchards |
CAL 979.452 Delaplane |
| I.N. (Jack) Brotherton | The Annals of Stanislaus County: Volume 1: River Towns and Ferries |
CAL 979.457 Brotherton |
| John Haskell Kemble | San Francisco Bay: A Pictorial Maritime History |
CAL 979.46 Kemble |
| Lawrence Kinnard | History of the Greater San Francisco Bay Region: Volume I |
CAL REF 979.46 Kinnard v. 1 |
| Lawrence Kinnard | History of the Greater San Francisco Bay Region: Volume II |
CAL REF 979.46 Kinnard v. 2 |
| Lawrence Kinnard | History of the Greater San Francisco Bay Region: Family and Personal History: Volume III |
CAL REF 979.46 Kinnard v. 3 |
| George R. Stewart | Committee of Vigilence: Revolution in San Francisco, 1851: An account of the The Hundred Days when certain citizens understook the suppression of the criminal activities of the Sydney ducks |
CAL 979.46 Stewart |
| Frank Thomas Searight | The Doomed City: A Thrilling Tale (A vivid and graphic tale of the world's greatest catastrophe, the direful cataclysm that confulved the golden shores of the land of promise; realistically described by one of the refugees; an authentic story fo the great calamity, with a full history of many marvelous stounding escapes from the jaws of death; profusely illustrated with characteristic picture of the horrible storm of fire and flame - many fascinating and terrible scenes of falling buildings, government troops dynamiting mammoth steel structures; escaping refugees and other interesting views of the appalling havoc ewrought by the earthquake in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, San Jose, Napa, and other California cities) (note and signed by author) |
CAL 979.461 Searight |
| Garfield M. Quimby | History of the Potrero Ranch and It's Neighbors |
CAL 979.49 Quimby |
| Kevin Starr | Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era |
CAL 979.49 Starr |
| Marjorie Pierce (Foreward and Cover Art by Barnaby Conrad) | East of the Cabilans: The ranches, the towns, the people - yesterday and today |
CAL 979.493 Pierce |
| Col. J. J. Warner, Judge Benjamin Hayes, and Dr. J. P. Widney | Historical Sketch of Los Angeles County California: From the Spanish Occupancy, by the Founding of the Mission San Gabriel Archangel, September 8 1771, to July 4, 1876 (Reprint of the original edition published by Louis Lewin & Co. in 1876)(1936) |
CAL 979.493 Warner |
| Elizabeth C. MacPhail | The Story of New San Diego and Its Founder Alonzo E. Horton |
CAL 979.498 MacPhail |