The History of San Diego Through Music

Many Strings Musical Group
with Jamie Burns and Chris Burns

For more information call 858-775-5788

Ghost Stories of San Diego County

Marilyn McPhie
Storyteller

For more information call 858-775-5788

The Nate Harrison Historical Archaeology Project

Dr. Seth Mallios,
UCSD anthropologist

Will speak on the latest discoveries of the Nate Harrison Historical Archaeology Project. 

For more information call 858-775-5788

The 130,000 Year-Old Cerutti Mastodon Site

Tom Demere,
Curator of Paleontology, San Diego Museum of Natural History

In the early 1990s a team of scientists from the San Diego Natural History Museum and other institutions, working at a site near San Diego Bay, discovered the bones of a mastodon and evidence of humans processing those bones with tools. Their discovery made this the oldest archaeological site in the Americas, in the words of the museum’s website, “pushing back the record of early humans on this continent by more than 100,000 years.” Dr. Deméré, who was part of that team of discoverers, will discuss their findings and the reactions that followed.

For more information call 858-775-5788

A Brief History of San Diego’s Chinese-American Community

Jacinta Wong,
Executive Director of the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum

Michael Yee,
Historian and Educator

Speaking on A Brief History of San Diego’s Chinese-American Community and the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum

For more information call 858-775-5788

Black Vacqueros

Javier Gonzalez-Meeks,
Assistant Professor of History, San Diego Miramar College

“This presentation highlights the lesser known story of Black Vacqueros or Cowboys of the ‘Wild West,’” says Professor Meeks, “such as Bass Reeves, who inspired the story of The Lone Ranger.”

For more information call 858-775-5788

Block 112: The Untold Story of San Diego’s Working Class in the 1880s

Cindy Stankowski
San Diego Archaeological Center

Will speak on the Untold Story of San Diego’s Working Class in the 1880s

For more information call 858-775-5788

The Railroad Project that Never Happened

Bruce Semelsberger
The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum

The 1887 railroad project connecting the Escondido, Poway, Bernardo and El Cajon valleys never came to be. Find out why.

For more information call 858-775-5788

Dan Rios Photographic Collection

Alexa Clausen
The Escondido History Center
Sean Visintainer
Cal State San Marcos Library

In 2018 Dan Rios, a former photographer for the Escondido Times-Advocate newspaper, donated
his entire collection of photographic negatives to the CSUSM University Library. The collection
holds an estimated one million images showing people, places and events covering almost 40
years of North County history.

For more information call 858-775-5788

The History of Oceanside

John Daley
Co-founder and board member, Oceanside Historical Society

“I will hit the highlights of Oceanside history and add some insights as a third generation Oceansider,” says Daley. “My great-grandparents came to Oceanside about five years after it was incorporated in 1888.” Daley’s business ventures include “running and owning the 101 Café, the oldest café along Historic US Highway 101, and helping to “start many non-profits, including the Oceanside Historical Society,” which he helped found in 1986.

For more information call 858-775-5788

Resources for Historic Research at the San Diego County Archives

Aditi Worcester, County Archives Manager,
Kiera Sullivan, Archivist and Records Manager,
Val Handfield, Assistant Recorder/County Clerk

Located within the Office of the Recorder/County Clerk in Santee, the San Diego County Archives was established in 2020 as the repository for official county records going back to the creation of San Diego County in 1850. Those records range from property deeds and mortgage documents to birth, marriage and death records. Our speakers will describe how to access these documents which provide historic snapshots of county life.

For more information call 858-775-5788

The Sikes Adobe and the San Dieguito River Park: Our Natural and Human History Saved

Leana Bulay, Senior Interpretive Ranger, San Dieguito River Park,
Blanca Drapeau, Interpretive Ranger, Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead

The San Dieguito River Park, created in 1989, has preserved crucial open space, wetlands and wildlife along the watershed of the San Dieguito River from Volcan Mountain in Julian down to Del Mar on the Pacific Ocean. In addition to natural wonders, the park also preserves historic sites like the Sikes Adobe, a farm established by the pioneering Sikes family in 1868. Leana and Blanca will describe some of the natural and historic wonders the park has to offer.

For more information call 858-775-5788

The Latest On Our Past: New Discoveries from the Harris Site

Richard Carrico
Instructor of American Indian Studies, San Diego State University

We welcome Richard Carrico, archaeologist, historian, and Instructor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University, to discuss findings from his recent study of the C.W. Harris site. The site, along the San Dieguito River, now includes the Crosby Estates Golf Course and other residential development. But it is also “one of southern California’s most important cultural resources,” says Carrico, and has been the focus of numerous studies since the 1920s. Carrico’s latest findings have confirmed “evidence of environmental shifts over several millennia…use of large earth ovens, near continuous site occupation for more than 11,000 years, and much much more.

To view Mr.Carricos talk on Native American Placenames back 2015. CLICK HERE

For more information call 858-775-5788

Hidden Treasures in the San Diego City Archives.

Samantha Ely
Archives Program Manager
Anne Miggins
Deputy City Clerk

Among the primary functions of the Archives Center is the identification, preservation and storage of records with permanent reference value that capture the City’s history. These records do not simply provide a chronology of events, but rather, they provide a window into the City’s past: the culture, values, challenges and issues that helped to shape the City of San Diego we know today.”

For more information call 858-775-5788

From Measures to Missiles

Vincent Rossi
Historian and Author

Mr Rossi will discuss his latest book that outlines a complicated history reflecting the intersection of science, national security and politics. And by politics that means not only governmental politics but also inter-service, inter-departmental and interpersonal politics as well, told by the people who were on the ground, making it happen. From 1951 to 1971, a United States Government laboratory was in operation at Corona, California, During that period some of the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the nation engaged in groundbreaking work in service to the national defense. That work included the creation of the first guided missiles in the U. S. arsenal.

This talk is the story of that lab.

For more information call 858-775-5788

Brewers, Bootleggers and Bosses: Women in San Diego Brewing History

Judith Downie
Retired Special Collections and History Librarian at Cal State San Marcos

Among the special collections Downie oversaw before her recent retirement was a new research collection, Brewchive ®, founded in 2017 and dedicated to preserving the history of craft brewing in San Diego. San Diego County has been proclaimed the craft brewing capital of the United States, as a result of a wave of breweries established in the 1980s. But the industry has a history going back as far as the 1860s, a history in which women played an essential role.

For more information call 858-775-5788

The Floating City at Sea

Jean Harris
A veteran navy officer and longtime docent at the U.S.S. Midway Museum, describes how an aircraft carrier has to function like a city of 4,500 people while on sea duty.

For more information call 858-775-5788

Rancho Guajome and its Cast of Characters

Ron Quirk

For more information call 858-775-5788

San Diego’s Forgotten Empire: The Legacy of John Diedrich Spreckels

Sandra Bonura, Author

Dr. Bonura is a native San Diegan. She last spoke at our Speakers series in June of 2017. She is an author that prides herself on telling stories about her native San Diego’s history. In February she will talk about her book about one of San Diego’s founders John D Speckels who was a major developer of downtown.

For more information call 858-775-5788

Past Programs from Previous Years

Click on a Month Below to View Video on YouTube

2019

October 12- Rediscovering the Historic MiraMar Restaurant and Hotel
Annemarie Cox

September 14 – The History of Indian Gaming
Ethan Banegas

August 10  – The La Jolla Atlas and Map Museum
Richard Cloward

June 8 – 10,000 Years: Prehistory of the San Diego Region
Cindy Stankowski

May 18 – The Mexican War – How It Shaped Two Nations (No Video)
Blaine Davies

April 13- The Kings Highway
Max Kurillo

March 11- Rancho Bernardo Study of Healthy Aging
Linda McAvoy and Gail McLaughlin

February 9- History of the Bernardo Winery
Ross Rizzo Jr.

January 12- Prayer and Politics: The Hawaiian Revolution
Dr Sandra Bonura

2017

October – The Poway Midland Railroad
Chuck Cross

September – The History of Water Development in San Diego
Garry Butterfield

August – Local History Stories for Children
Marilyn McPhie

July – Palomar: Bridge to the Stars
Mark Carlson

May – SD County Agricultural History
Eric Larsen

February – Times were tough but pioneers were tougher.
Marilyn McPhie

January – Flights to Oblivion, Flights to Fame, The New York to Paris Race
Mark Carlson

2015

October – Hiking around San Diego
Tom Leech

September – Contributions Made by the Women of Vista
Jack Larimer
Director of the Vista Historical Society Museum.

July – Evaluation, valuation and care of precious works of art and artifacts.
Jennifer Garey
Museum Director

June – Background of the Escondido History Center
Wendy Barker
Executive Director, Escondido History Center

May – Significance of Native American placenames in our region.
Richard Carrico

April – Origins of the San Diego County fair, which has been in existence since 1880.
Linda Zweig

March – Story of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
Faye Jonason
Museum Division Officer MCB Camp Pendleton.

January – The story of the Californios
Bonnie Martland