Many hands contributed to breaking Sacramento’s history, and many hands are needed to fix it. If you have research to contribute, please contact research(at)lostsacramentos(dot)com. While the Gold Rush and its Sacramento aftermath is this project’s focus, other periods, people and places are well worth exploring.
Periods: Modern historic literature about early California relies on a deeply flawed layer of for-profit production, particularly during the 1880s. A meta-history of this dynamic would be particularly helpful, starting with Bancroft’s self-proclaimed “Literary Industries.” We would also benefit greatly from understanding a wave of critical interest during the 1910s, most remarkably revealed by Phinney, Cate & Marshall’s Map of Sacramento City.
People: Lots of people had lots of bad experiences investing in Sacramento land. Surely some vented their frustrations in writing sent to loved ones back home; others no doubt took their written recollections when they finally gave up and left these troubled lands. Pioneer letters and journals stashed around the country will be a great help. Your ancestors’ mysterious gripes from Gold Rush Sacramento could provide a breakthrough!
Places: Sacramento seems to be an extreme case, but certainly similar dynamics have unfolded elsewhere. The “Lost Cause Mythology” is a well-known example of false history, which surely included episodes of dispossession suffered by freedpeople and their allies – most notably the populist revolt of the Farmers’ Alliance, which erupted on the west Texas plains and spread nationwide. Please get in touch if land shenanigans have happened in your neck of the woods.
Lost Sacramentos 