Cheryl Anne Stapp

His namesakes are Stanislaus County, and the Stanislaus River. He was Chief Estanislao, famous for leading bands of armed Native...

All Hallows Eve is next Sunday, when centuries-old pagan beliefs insist that ghosts and goblins haunt old graveyards at the Midnight...

Does a life filled with adventure and diverse occupations beget a physically vigorous, mentally alert old age? That was certainly true of...

In October we start thinking about trick-or-treaters, and making plans to deck our porches with jack-o-lanterns and other Halloween...

Women were scarce in Gold Rush-era California, a mere 8% of the state-wide population in 1850, and only 30% ten years later, in 1860....

Thousands of people poured into California during the 1850s: gold miners, merchants, farmers, families, professionals and tradesmen of...

Once an intriguing fable captures the collective human mind, it is very hard to dismiss it—especially if the stark truth is less...

It’s a hotel, restaurant and special events facility permanently moored at the Old Sacramento Riverfront now, but ninety-odd years ago...

Dueling was outlawed in California at its pre-statehood Constitutional Convention in the fall of 1849. However, the penalty imposed for...

Today’s Sacramento History Museum, which opened to the public in 1985, is housed in a replica of the city’s 1854 City Hall and Waterworks...

Hollywood! To movie fans all over the world, the name is synonymous with glamour, stardom, and cinematic dreams; a place also known—by...

In mid-nineteenth century California, rich men tended to own racehorses, or perhaps sponsor a horse or two owned by someone else; or at...

In the Age of Sail, not everyone who entered California’s harbors came to settle. In the early 1820s, the ships of many nations began...

Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood was the capable, determined 19th century woman who paved the way for desegregated education for children of...

In her later years Mary Frances Hopkins was publicly castigated as a rich, vain, willful woman; her conduct judged foolish and scandalous...

San Francisco’s First Unitarian Church congregation gaped at its new pastor with a mix of curiosity and consternation. Could this small,...

Gunplay was so common during the chaotic, early days of the California Gold Rush that many incidents, though duly reported, drew little...

By 1884 California was leading the nation in educational innovations with its system of pre-grammar-school schools, based on ideas...

The proverb “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” is from the 17th century play The Mourning Bride, and means that no one is angrier...

In bygone days Californians celebrated the coming of a new year much like we do today, with parties, games, spectator sports, and...