Fresno Historical Society Grapevine Newsletter

Monthly news & updates

February 1, 2020

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

“ Anyone successful never works alone.” I can’t find the exact attribution for this adage that may seem like common sense but, surprisingly, these simple five words often seem to slip our collective minds.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Helen Keller’s message of collaboration seems to ring even more true in a time of divisiveness and competing interests

across our country and around the globe.

Yet, we at the Fresno Historical Society are committed to the power of partnerships. Every day, we work to embrace the creative talents, skills, knowledge and wisdom of those in our

community and beyond who, together, can make our Valley stronger in every way.

Every project we are undertaking involves multiple partners and generous collaborations. The FHS is excited to be a part of the Italian American Heritage Project team, comprising a number of local families who are all dedicating countless hours to memorializing the stories of the

significant contributions of those who chose Fresno County as their home after bravely saying “Arrivederci” to their beloved Italia in search of a better life for their families – a true immigrant

tale. The fruits of these labors will first be seen at a breathtaking and technologically forward exhibit debuting at the Fresno County Historical Museum at the Big Fresno Fair this October. We are collecting photos, letters and other items that will help bring to life and preserve this

important piece of our region’s history.

Throughout the year, as America commemorates 100 years since women were extended the right to vote, the Fresno Historical Society is working with several partners including the Marjaree Mason Center to exhibit for the first time dozens of photos and ephemera that chronicle the legacy of the YWCA in Fresno. You will have the chance to learn about some mighty strong ladies who were determined to make a difference in our community.

Our partnerships with the City and County of Fresno are, thankfully, flourishing. A lot of energy and effort goes into ensuring Kearney Mansion remains viable and intact. We simply could not even begin to make that happen without these steadfast entities. Perhaps we don’t say thank

you for all they do enough but here is one big THANK YOU!

A new collaboration with the Clovis Veterans Memorial District Community Heritage Center will showcase some of the earliest items in our collections dating back to World War I and the

sacrifices of our young soldiers on the battlefields in Europe.

Fresno State has stepped up as a grant collaborator which will allow our archives team to develop some amazing curriculum featuring local history in the second half of the 20th century including the arrival of our Vietnamese and Hmong citizens and so much more.

The list is long and, I am so excited to say, getting longer each week.

"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else." - Booker T. Washington.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Warm regards

Elizabeth Laval

President

Happy Birthday M. Theo Kearney!

February 5, 1842 – the auspicious birth date of a true visionary, Martin Thomas Carney – or, as you know him best, M. Theo Kearney. His roots were in Liverpool, England and, in the mid-1800s, for a man like Kearney, relocating to the Central Valley of California may not have seemed a likely or desirable choice.

At the age of 12, Carney and his family sailed to America and settled in Malden, Massachusetts, a small Irish community about ten miles north of Boston. Kearney left Maiden at 18 to seek employment in Boston. Initially, he worked as a clerk in a box or trunk manufacturing company. During the next eight years, in what would become his trademark style, he had moved from a position as a trunk salesman to the manager of the prosperous company. During the first five years of his life in Boston, and concurrent with his rise in the business world, Kearney embarked on an intense period of self-education. He took lessons in German, French, elocution and dancing, and sought to acquire the tastes and manners of genteel society. Truly, this son of an Irish laborer created his own persona – one more aligned with the man in the portraits that grace the walls of our own Kearney Mansion.

In 1868, the 26-year-old entrepreneur decided to give up his comfortable position in Boston for a new life in the booming West. Kearney reached San Francisco in February 1869, where he presented himself as a distinguished gentleman of fine breeding, good education and elegant manners. Speaking with a clipped Bostonian accent, not a trace of Irish brogue betrayed his background; Kearney exhibited a quiet, reserved style that quickly gained him access to the city's high social circles. By the end of his first year in San Francisco, his diary records that he was buying property. At that time, vast tracts of land in the central San Joaquin Valley were being acquired by syndicates of investors and young Kearney was hired by Bernard Marks and William Chapman to help develop the first colony farm in Fresno County.

Over the next few decades, Kearney’s life may have even surpassed his own dreams. By 1900, this bachelor's life included a grand tour of Europe in his $25,000 custom Mercedes-Benz limousine, a position among the cultural elite of the continent and America and extensive plans for the construction of his five-story Chateau Fresno modeled after France's great Chateau du Chenonceaux. The source of Kearney's wealth lay in the heart of California -- the raisin vineyards of his Fruit Vale Estate located in Fresno County.

His untimely death in 1906 aboard a steamer at sea curtailed plans for his castle but, through an unexpected gift to the University of California, his benevolence led to the preservation of Kearney Park and several original buildings. Despite being a man of the world, Kearney’s remains are right here in Fresno.

Check in each week to the Fresno Historical Society’s Facebook page to learn more about the “Prince of Fresno.” For now, Happy 178 ^th Birthday Mr. Carney!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

FRESNO'S EARLY MAYORS EXHIBITION

OPENS FEBRUARY 15, 2020.

Mayor Toomey handing check to women of the YWCA on March 24, 1920. Photo by Claude "Pop" Laval.

Fresno has a history of colorful leadership with a list of early Mayors who each put their mark on our city and helped to shape the future that we are living today. In partnership with the Pop Laval Foundation, the Fresno County Historical Society will present a photo retrospective of the influential leaders who served the city in an exhibition to hang in the Society’s new gallery at the Kearney Mansion Museum from February 15 to March 31, 2020.

The Society invites our membership to a Reception from 3pm to 5pm in the Galley at Kearney on opening day, Saturday, February 15, 2020. If you are not yet a member, this is a great time to join. Become a member now by clicking here.

Volunteer Spotlight

We are kicking off a series highlighting the work of our dedicated archives volunteers. The Society could not continue to organize, preserve and make accessible our amazing local history collections without their hard work and commitment to our mission.

Sue Loucks has volunteered one day a week with the Fresno County Historical Society since late 2007. An expert scanner, she is primarily responsible for the digitization of our General Subject Photograph Collection and Portrait Collection. Currently, she is working on digitizing our Poverello House photograph collection. Sue has also been instrumental in digitizing content for our programs and exhibits, as well as our grant partnership with Fresno State.

A retired nurse, Sue has had family roots in Sierra foothills since the California Gold Rush. She is an active member of the Westerners, the Oregon-California Trails Association, the Daughters of the American Republic, and the Fresno County Genealogical Society, among others. She is also a digitization volunteer with the Pop Laval Foundation. Sue has two sons and six grandchildren. Her hobbies include quilting and reading.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

This month, I’m delving into our many mayoral collections for material to display in our Fresno’s Early Mayors: Perspectives from the Past exhibition at the Kearney Mansion Gallery. The exhibit opens on February 15 and will include L.O. Stephens’ campaign scrapbook and a campaign from Z.S. Leymel’s second run for mayor in 1941, as well as materials from our Dr. Chester Rowell Collection. Our gallery space offers new opportunities to display more of our collections. We are actively working on exciting exhibits for the coming year.

In other news, we have recently accepted the donation of the Pope Tire Company Records consisting mostly of photographs, see above. Pope Tire Co. was responsible for recapping (retreading) tires for many of the local 1930s - 1950s midget race car drivers at Kearney Bowl and other local racetracks. The collection includes several images of Bill and Eli Vukovich. Our Parcel Photograph Project is nearing the end of the digitization phase and will move into full-time database development in the next couple of months. Led by Eugene Sibley, the project began in November 2018 with the main goal of digitizing and creating a database of our residential and commercial property photograph collection from the Fresno County Assessor’s Office. Volunteer Meghyn Torabi is digitizing our Ethnic Oral History Project Collection from 1977-1978. The student project was assigned as part of a class at Fresno State and sought to interview members from the African American and Mexican American communities. We hope to make these oral history interviews available for research in the coming months. Stay tuned for more news from the behind-the-scenes activities of the Fresno County Historical Society Archives.

Archivist Katy Hogue has a B.A. and M.A. in History from Fresno State where she graduated with honors. Since 2016,

Katy has been dedicated to preserving the Society’s collections and sharing them with the public. Contact her at

archives@valleyhistory.org for research requests or donation queries.

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