Mapping a Changing California

Opens August 25, 2022 at the California Historical Society

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Historical Society's (CHS) exhibition Mapping a Changing California: Selections from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century presents the diverse and at times difficult stories of California's growth and development through maps dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.

Beginning in the 1600s, the earliest maps depicted California as an island. Following Spanish colonization, maps of the mission and rancho periods reflect the growth of established settlements and the devastating impacts on Native communities. Interest in plotting the newly formed state surged in the decades following the Gold Rush, and maps documented the rapid urbanization of towns up and down California.

Mapping a Changing California also considers how maps document change through three thematic lenses: changing environments, real estate and gentrification, and tourism. "These thematic sections provide an opportunity for visitors to dive deeper into the fascinating and often complicated aspects of California's history. The maps and accompanying materials in these galleries highlight issues that are still relevant to us today, including changing landscapes, surging real estate prices, and iconic attractions that draw tourists to California from near and far," says Paige Laduzinsky who served as guest curator for the exhibition.

Highlights include maps of Nueva California in the late 1700s, a submerged ghost town in Shasta County, geologic surveys of the Sierras, the burned portion of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake, and early depictions of downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood. Related photographs, manuscripts, and archival materials help reveal the complex legacy of cartography in California.

The exhibition includes Mapping YOUR California, a free hands-on gallery designed for all ages to explore some of the basic concepts behind maps, what they depict, information they provide, and how they relate to our lives. This interactive gallery puts the visitor at the center of the experience, asking them to share what places are special to them and create a map that reflects their California story.

Read the full release and see the media kit.

SOURCE California Historical Society