November 1, 2024

A Message from the President

Dear Voters, Members, Supporters, and Friends,

What if you woke up this coming Wednesday morning to these headlines?

“VOTE FOR PRESIDENT PILING UP IN EVERY SECTION OF COUNTRY EXCEPT IN DEMOCRATIC SOUTH”

“Overwhelming Majority In Electoral College Expected With Total Reaching 300;

As Hours Roll On Coolidge Continues To Gain”       

“La Follette Leads Only In His Home State, Wisconsin”    

“At 2 o’clock this morning, President Coolidge was maintaining his advantage in the East and Middle West and had established leads in the country beyond the Mississippi which if maintained would give him an overwhelming majority in the electoral college, with a total running over 300 votes.

“John W. Davis had to his credit only the states of the ultra-Democratic South, but was leading also in Oklahoma, Missouri and Tennessee, all carried by Harding in the 1920 Republican landslide. He also had a slight margin in New Mexico but had surrendered the lead to Coolidge in Kentucky in a nip and tuck race.

“The Coolidge column continued to mount in the East as the house rolled on and the most interesting uncertainty there was the fight between Governor Smith and Theodore Roosevelt for the governorship of New York. Governor Smith, of course, polled a heavy vote in greater New York, but Mr. Roosevelt down from upstate counties with a majority which at first seemed to indicate his election.

“Just before midnight, Charles D. Hilles, one of the vice chairmen of the Republican national committee, gave it as his opinion that Governor Smith would carry the state by more than 80,000 and the governor on the basis of reports made to him said he believed he had been elected.”     

An interesting sidebar when you compare the number of individual votes California has today to totals from 1924:

“Latest California Count Finds President with Plurality of 181,000”

“The only question that remained to be settled in California tonight was the extent of the majority for Calvin Coolidge. At 2 a.m. today, a tabulation by the Associated Press from 3,681 of 7,465 precincts gave: Coolidge, 371,946; La Follette, 190,102; Davis, 50,623; Faris, 5907.

“Senator La Follette appeared to have carried only 11 counties, although seven other smaller counties had not been heard from when the foregoing figures were tabulated…”

To refresh your memory, Coolidge did not originally ascend to the presidency through direct election, but was elevated to the office after the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923…

“At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible.

“Coolidge was ‘distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement,’ wrote a Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. ‘His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history … in a time of extravagance and waste….’

“Born in Plymouth, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, Coolidge was the son of a village storekeeper. He graduated from Amherst College with honors, and entered law and politics in Northampton, Massachusetts. Slowly, methodically, he went up the political ladder from councilman in Northampton to Governor of Massachusetts, as a Republican. En route he became thoroughly conservative.

“As President, Coolidge demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying. He refused to use Federal economic power to check the growing boom or to ameliorate the depressed condition of agriculture and certain industries. His first message to Congress in December 1923 called for isolation in foreign policy, and for tax cuts, economy, and limited aid to farmers.

“He rapidly became popular. In 1924, as the beneficiary of what was becoming known as ‘Coolidge prosperity,’ he polled more than 54 percent of the popular vote.

“In his Inaugural he asserted that the country had achieved “a state of contentment seldom before seen,” and pledged himself to maintain the status quo. In subsequent years he twice vetoed farm relief bills and killed a plan to produce cheap Federal electric power on the Tennessee River.

“The political genius of President Coolidge, Walter Lippmann pointed out in 1926, was his talent for effectively doing nothing: ‘This active inactivity suits the mood and certain of the needs of the country admirably. It suits all the business interests which want to be let alone…. And it suits all those who have become convinced that government in this country has become dangerously complicated and top-heavy….’

“Coolidge was both the most negative and remote of Presidents, and the most accessible. He once explained to Bernard Baruch why he often sat silently through interviews: ‘Well, Baruch, many times I say only yes or no to people. Even that is too much. It winds them up for twenty minutes more.’

“Both his dry Yankee wit and his frugality with words became legendary. His wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, recounted that a young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, ‘You lose.’ And in 1928, while vacationing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he issued the most famous of his laconic statements, ‘I do not choose to run for President in 1928.’

“By the time the disaster of the Great Depression hit the country, Coolidge was in retirement. Before his death in January 1933, he confided to an old friend, ‘. . . I feel I no longer fit in with these times.’

“As America’s 30th President (1923-1929), Calvin Coolidge demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts of frugality amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying during the 1920s era.” Source: whitehouse.gov

Six days later, on the anniversary of Armistice Day, just one week after the election, papers were back to reporting the news of the day with the exception of the ongoing tallies in a few states such New Mexico. However, their stories were buried on page 4. 

With that, and as the holidays ramp up, all of us at The Fresno City & County Historical Society wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving. For a lovely tradition, try to visit the KMM during our Christmas at Kearney season, beginning November 29th and, even better, bring the little ones out to see Santa and shop at our Marketplace on December 7th and 8th. 

All the best,

Elizabeth Laval                                               

President                                                 

Fresno City and County Historical Society 

CHRISTMAS AT KEARNEY OFFERS A SWEET CELEBRATION THIS YEAR

NOVEMBER 29, 2024 - JANUARY 5, 2025

This holiday season, the Society will fill the Kearney Mansion Museum & Gallery with the splendor of the season with our annual Christmas at Kearney display. The Mansion will feature 16 decorated trees, each representing a local decorator's interpretation of a favorite dessert for our Christmas at Kearney: Holiday Sweets and Winter Treats theme.

From November 29th through January 5th, guests will learn the history of treasured family recipes and how they came to be favorites around the world. Additionally, visitors will tour the Kearney Mansion and learn the story of M. Theo Kearney and the Fruit Vale Estate.

Sponsored by: Keller Williams and other generous donors.

Don't miss your chance to see the Big Man himself, Ole' Saint Nick, on December 7th & 8th, at our annual Meet & Greet with Santa at the Kearney Mansion Museum. Plan to bring the whole family to take pictures on our big Red Couch with Santa and enjoy a self-guided tour of this historic home decorated with 16 themed Christmas trees. Tickets include a cup of cocoa and a holiday craft for each child.

New this year, the event will also offer a Christmas Market with holiday gifts and handmade items for sale, food, and hot beverages. You are sure to find unique presents and stocking stuffers that are perfect for someone you love.

Children who have not yet reached their 4th birthday and members of the Fresno City & County Historical Society receive FREE admission. Parking is not included with ticket price.

Join us for Stitch & Sip - Embroidery on December 12th at 5:00PM and create a new Christmas tradition at this special event.

Bring your embroidery to Kearney Mansion for a new twist on the old sewing circle!

Enjoy bottomless champagne and hot gossip, paired with lessons from our expert who will guide you through a tutorial on a holiday-themed embroidery project.

ONLINE 30-DAY HOLIDAY BID BASH

Bidding Opens November 15th - Register Now

The Fresno City & County Historical Society is excited to announce our upcoming online gift auction kicking off bright and early at 8:00AM on November 15, 2024, running through December 15, 2024, just in time for holiday giving! This fun contest will play a valuable role in funding educational programs and furthering our mission to create a home for the treasures donated by generations of Fresnans.

Pre-registration is OPEN NOW, and we look forward to revealing all of the juicy details very soon!

Bring History to Life with the Fresno City & County Historical Society’s Time Travelers’ Education Days Event! 

We invite you and your students to take part in an extraordinary educational experience! On October 9th, we welcomed over 145 students from around the Valley to explore the rich history of our community. At our Time Travelers event, students engaged with 10 interactive Stations, including: 

• Square dancing  
• Quill pen writing  
• California Bear Flag history  
• Mountain man exploration 
• Three captivating historical reenactors 
• A vintage photo booth 
• Our fascinating Chinese Historical Artifacts exhibit 
• Kearney Ranch gift shop 

The event takes place at the beautiful Kearney Mansion Museum, where students can dive into the past and gain a firsthand understanding of our Valley’s history. 

If you’d like your students to be part of this incredible journey through time, we have room on the following dates: January 22nd, February 12th, April 9th, and May 7th. 

Space is limited and filling up fast, so don’t miss out on this unforgettable experience! 

For more information or to reserve your spot, please contact Debbie Unger by email at dunger@valleyhistory.org or by phone at (559) 441-4087. 

We look forward to sharing history with your students! 

ARCHIVAL SPOTLIGHT

By Cami Cipolla, Director of Educational Services and Community Engagment

Hello Friends of the Archives!

As many of you know, we’ve been hard at work preparing for the big move to our new home, The Archive on Kern. This is an exciting time for us, but the process is complex and multi-layered. We are collaborating with Scott Vincent Architects to retrofit the building, transforming it into Fresno’s official historical repository. At the same time, we’re re-accessioning our collections, researching advanced digital cataloging systems, and ensuring that every step we take enhances the accessibility and preservation of Fresno's rich history.

Alongside these efforts, we have been fortunate to partner with California Revealed, a statewide initiative dedicated to helping heritage organizations digitize and preserve archival materials. Their mission is to make these historical treasures available online, providing free tools, education, and support. This invaluable work empowers underrepresented communities to contribute their own stories to California’s historical narrative, ensuring that voices often overlooked are heard and safeguarded. The services they provide are essential to protecting our shared heritage, making certain it remains accessible to current and future generations.

In 2018, we teamed up with California Revealed to tackle the digitization and preservation of Fresno County’s Justice of the Peace Criminal and Civil Docket ledgers, which date from 1887 to the mid-1900s. These fascinating documents offer deep insights into the evolution of local law enforcement, providing a clearer understanding of how the justice system operated, crime trends of the era, and the development of law and order in our region.

We are thrilled to announce that the first set of ledgers has been fully digitized, cataloged, and made available online! You can now explore these invaluable pieces of Fresno County history through California Revealed, the Internet Archive, and our own website. This milestone represents a significant step forward in our ongoing mission to engage, inform, and educate the public by preserving and sharing the stories of our unique region.

To date, we have submitted a total of sixty ledgers for digitization, and an additional fifty are awaiting their turn in this important process. But that’s not all! Through another California Revealed project, we have applied for funding to digitize several of our World War II collections. These groupings are particularly diverse, including everything from scrapbooks and diaries to letters home, pilot training booklets, and promotional materials from Hammer Air Field. Together, they provide a comprehensive look at Fresno’s contributions to the war effort and the lasting effects of the war on the Central Valley. The wide range of voices, spanning various demographics, helps us paint a fuller picture of life in the Valley during wartime—a story that deserves to be shared and remembered.

This funding will also support our ongoing efforts to move the Archives to their new home at The Archive on Kern, ensuring the integrity of the legacy left by Fresno’s citizens.



As we move forward with our conservation initiatives, both with California Revealed and our in-house Archives Ally Program, more collections will be digitized, properly maintained, and made publicly available. We are committed to preserving these stories for generations to come, but we cannot do it alone. If you are passionate about history and want to support our work, consider becoming an Archives Ally. Please reach out to learn how you can help us continue to make history.

Cheers, friends!

ROOTS OF THE VALLEY: BEYOND THE FRESNO SCRAPER…CELEBRATING OUR LOCAL INNOVATORS

Following the breakthrough of the James Porteus and the Fresno Scraper– if you don’t know the story, visit valleyhistory.org – a number of inventions evolved from the minds of Fresno County’s finest innovators, particularly in connection with agriculture. Patents awarded to local originators include a substantial quantity for specific varieties of fruit trees and vineyard rootstock, often disease and pest resistant, as well as for trellising components or systems, such as the Dried on the Vine (D.O.V.) method of drying raisin grapes. Not surprisingly, many ideas emerged from a specific need, such as the desire to have a particular crop ripen ahead of, or even later than usual for that species. 

However, not all County creations were destined for the farm. From the workshop of Sylvester “Tib” Smith in Reedley emerged several lauded industrial and automotive-related devices. Jim Bulls wrote of Smith, “Ford put America on wheels and Tib helped keep the wheels on the road – getting the produce from the fruit basket of the world to market faster.” 

In an effort to foster development of imaginations around the region in the 21st Century, the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was established at Fresno State. The Center helps steer novice inventors through the challenges of bringing a design to the marketplace.

Now, we would like to take some time to showcase a few other men of ingenuity and impact from right here in Fresno County.

R.C. Baker 

Coalinga’s Reuben Carlton Baker, speaking on the Fiftieth Anniversary of his first patent remarked, “I conceive practically all of my inventions while I lie in bed at night…I work out all the details of the invention mentally.” R.C.’s patented drill bits (1903) and Casing Shoe (1907) revolutionized the oil drilling industry, so vital to Fresno County’s western territory. In 1918, Baker opened his first manufacturing plant in Coalinga which would eventually become internationally renowned Baker Oil Tools. 

Claude Laval. Jr. and Claude Laval, III          

One of Fresno County’s most prolific inventors, Claude Laval, Jr. acquired the first of his numerous patents in 1947 for a stereoscopic camera that could take three-dimensional, still pictures in shafts of water wells to determine damage. From photos taken with this camera, the need for a way to remove sand from the wells became apparent. Thus, the Laval Separator, a device used to pull solid particles from water and other liquids, was born. Claude Laval, III, formed Laval Separator Corp (later known as Claude Laval Corp) in 1972 to market the Separator patents. 

Laval lowers Wellascope – February 9, 1950, Pop Laval Collection

Claude Laval, III with father, Claude Laval, Jr. holding R-40 Water Well Camera, The Claude Laval Corp 

Sam Iacobellis - “Father of the B-1 Bomber”

Sam Iacobellis, better known as “the father of the B-1 Bomber,” was born August 17, 1929, in Fresno, California. His Italian-born father, Frank Iacobellis, became a fruit and vegetable farmer on the West Side where Sam grew up. His mother, the former Mary Ceppaglia, was born in New York City also to Italian immigrant parents.

Young Sam was the quarterback of his Edison High School football team. When deciding whether to have Sam play the accordion or play football, his parents asked one of his more assimilated uncles what he thought. The uncle said, “If he were in Italy, play the accordion; in America, play football.”  

Iacobellis (pronounced EYE-koh-bell-is) was also an excellent student who graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Fresno State in 1952. He always remembered his Fresno State days fondly as he met his future wife, Helene Myers, while a student there.  

The day after graduation, Sam began work as a draftsman at North American Aviation (later Rockwell International) at an hourly wage of $1.62. He was just in time for a career fueled by the Cold War and space race. With tuition paid by his employer, Mr. Iacobellis earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and was later awarded an honorary doctorate from Fresno State University.

Though contented to work behind the scenes, Sam’s fame came as the Los Angeles Times wrote, “when President Reagan wanted 100 B-1 bombers built as fast as possible in the early 1980s to challenge the Soviet Union. He handed one of the toughest manufacturing assignments of the Cold War to a little-known engineer, Sam Iacobellis.” The plane was credited with winning the Cold War as the Soviets could not match the speed and efficiency of the production of the B-1 as well as the airplane’s superior performance.  

In order to build this plane, Iacobellis directed a new plant to be built in Palmdale while creating a national supply network and a workforce of 40,000 people. A gregarious, charming and energetic manager, he sweated six or seven days a week over every detail of the manufacturing program. 

We worked like we were on the front line of the Cold War - SAM IACOBELLIS

“Sam was an icon of the aerospace industry,” said Donald Beall, former Rockwell chairman. “He was so flexible, running our rocket engine business, our aircraft unit and even our division in Thousand Oaks that worked on cleaning sulfur from flue gases. But he was best known for the B-1.”

The B-1 contract with Rockwell International for $20.5 was a cornerstone of Reagan’s strategy to end the Cold War by engaging the Soviets in a costly arms race that would threaten them with bankruptcy.

The strategy worked, according to what Russian generals and astronauts later told Robert Cattoi, the former chief engineer for Rockwell, in large part because of the B-1.

“A group of us from Rockwell were in Krasnoyarsk [Russia], having dinner with some of their astronauts and Air Force generals, when one of them asked me, ‘Do you know Sam Iacobellis? If you see him, tell him he was far more responsible for ending the Cold War than he might realize. We didn’t have the resources to match it,’” Cattoi said. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The B-1, with its adjustable sweptwing design, has been what the Air Force calls “the backbone of America’s long-range bomber force.” The program was begun under the Nixon administration in 1970 to replace an aging fleet of B-52s and reverse what was viewed then as Soviet air superiority. 

“The Soviet military knew they could then achieve a ‘first strike’ on the U.S. by catching the older B-52s on the ground,” said Erik Simonsen, who was a spokesman for the B-1 program. The B-1 “negated” that first-strike capability, Mr. Iacobellis stated.

First proposed in the late 1960s, the B-1 bomber program was designed to carry nuclear bombs long distances and fly as low as 200 feet above the ground to elude radar. Development of the aircraft was scrapped as too expensive, however, by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and was resurrected as the B-1B Lancer by Reagan in 1981. Critics branded the aircraft a “flying Edsel.”

The first B-1B was delivered to the Strategic Air Command a little more than three and a half years after the production contract was signed, years faster than the customary schedule.

By the time he retired from Rockwell in 1955, Iacobellis was one of three chief operating officers, in charge of the company’s rocket engines, aircraft and spacecraft operations, including the space shuttle program. Shortly before his retirement, he told the Los Angeles Times: “There has not been a day where I’ve gotten up and not looked forward to coming to work for Rockwell. To work in all these programs, go back to school, have the company pay for tuition, I just wish others could be as fortunate.”

His hobbies included pinochle, golf and horse races.

When Sam died in 2016 at the age of 87, he was survived by his wife, Helene, his son, Sam Jr. and daughter, Lee Ann Schantz. His sister was the late Anna Saladino wife of Don Saladino, founder of Saladino’s Sausage Company which originated in West Fresno.  Mr. Iacobellis often said that Don’s sausages also helped win the Cold War because they were a delicious incentive he used to keep his staff working the necessary long hours to build the B-1.

ADDITIONAL NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1950s – Eugene Beals is credited with inventing the first pop-up gauge for poultry. Since its inception, the gauge has been placed in more than two billion turkey products. In the mid-1970s, Mr. Beals and his wife opened a gourmet shop, Bon Appetit, in Fresno

1960 – Don Towt of Kingsburg patented the “weeder with the wiggle,” the Hula-Ho. Its high-carbon, heat treated blade ensured durability

1978 – A patent is issued for a keyboard stringed musical instrument, to Fresnans Richard Rotramel and Charles Fisher

1998 - Handcuffs sweatshirts, with extendible cuffs that become finger-less gloves debuted at the Magic show in Las Vegas. The shirts are patented by Bob and Chuck Mellon of Fresno and become international retail favorites

2007 – Following in the mighty footsteps of Universal Gym inventor, Harold Zinkin, Fresno brothers Dennis and Randy Keiser received Patent Number 7,172,538 for an exercise apparatus that offered a range of adjustability and resistances so that a single piece of equipment could be used for many different exercises.

Look for more local inventors in future installments of Roots of the Valley.

This community project invites Fresnans of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds to visit The Archive On Kern in Downtown Fresno where participants can record their oral histories and have family photos and memorabilia professionally digitized. Their stories and images will then be preserved in The Archive, accessible to the community, and provided to participants to keep for future generations.

If you’re interested in participating, please click HERE to submit your survey. Thank you for helping us Make History Every Day!

The Fresno City & County Historical Society’s Sharing Our Heritage Project is funded in part by the City of Fresno Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund administered by the Fresno Arts Council.

MAKING HISTORY EVERY DAY

Executive Profile: Elizabeth Laval

Reprinted from The Business Journal, October 25, 2024

AGE: 62 | FAMILY: WIDOWED IN 2009, MY SON, ALEX LAVAL-LEYVA IS A GRADUATE OF WEST POINT (UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY) AND IS NOW A CAPTAIN IN THE U.S. ARMY. AFTER SERVING MORE THAN FOUR YEARS IN THE PACIFIC THEATER – MAINLY SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN, HE, HIS OKINAWAN WIFE, HISAKO, AND THEIR BELOVED DOG, EIN, ARE IN BOSTON WHERE HE IS GETTING HIS MASTER’S IN PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS. IN 2026, HE WILL JOIN THE FACULTY AT WEST POINT AS A PROFESSOR FOR THREE YEARS AND THEN, HE COULD END UP ANYWHERE HE IS NEEDED. DAUGHTER, DANIELE LAVAL-LEYVA, IS A GRADUATE OF SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY WITH A DEGREE IN SOCIOLOGY, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON ETHNIC STUDIES. SHE SERVED A YEAR IN AMERICORPS, HELPING TEACH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ESL STUDENTS HOW TO WRITE IN ENGLISH. SHE AND HER PARTNER, SKYLER, LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH THEIR EIGHT CATS, ALL NAMED AFTER FAMOUS ARTISTS — SUCH AS FRIDA KAHLO. MY MOTHER, DARLENE, IS 86 AND IN FULL-TIME CARE. I HAVE ONE YOUNGER BROTHER, JEROME, JR. AND A YOUNGER SISTER, JENNIFER. ALL LIVE IN FRESNO WITH THEIR FAMILIES.

What we do:

For over 105 years, the Fresno City & County Historical Society has worked to bring life to the variegated tapestry of our region by collecting, preserving, and holding in public trust the stories, records and artifacts that document the rich heritage of the people of Fresno and the Central Valley of California. We provide the community with educational opportunities through multi- cultural curriculum, oral histories in several languages, diverse events, ethnic and artistic exhibitions and by making our collections available for study and research.

Tell us a little about your career to your current position.

Prior to assuming the role of president of the Fresno County Historical Society in 2019, I served as senior vice president for content and development at Valley PBS and was executive producer for a number of series, documentaries and Community Conversations, including Valley’s Gold and the Emmy award-winning Silent Sacrifice: The Story of Japanese American Incarceration. I have won three Emmys so far! My position also included creative and successful fundraising, grant writing and many events for children and adults.

Earlier in my career, I spent nearly a decade overseas producing international sporting events in 42 countries through my positions as vice-president, international group of the ATP Tour men’s professional association based in Sydney, Australia, and five years as the international coordinator of sports for Dentsu, Inc. from their headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. I learned to speak, read and write Japanese. I’ve published five books on local history and appeared for many years on Great Day as a community correspondent, sharing Pop Laval’s photos and stories.

How did you get involved with the Historical Society?

In 2019, the Fresno City & County Historical Society turned 100. Their board of trustees thought it would be a great time to have a new strategic plan crafted with a look to the future and engaged me to create that plan. Apparently, someone liked the work because shortly after, I was asked to serve as president and lead the organization on a fresh path forward while putting back into our mission some fundamentals that had been languishing untouched for some time. If you asked me what one key factor was in the turnaround of the FCCHS, I would have to say our many varied partnerships. As the County’s keeper of the past, we also, as mentioned earlier, are committed to capturing the present so those in the future have a multitude of material, from various firsthand sources of all ethnicities, backgrounds and so much more. This County was created by the hard work, struggles and investment by a virtual cornucopia of people. With our focus Oral Histories (more about that soon) we will ensure all are represented in our archives.

What’s the latest with the former Downtown Club space?

Which leads us right to the acquisition of the former Downtown Club, now known officially as The Archive on Kern. The renovation will be staged and take some time depending on how our fundraising goes. Some of the highlights will include a permanent, state-of-the-art oral history studio that will be able to memorialize on camera dozens of our unique Valley stories each year. Currently, we can accommodate Oral Histories in English, Spanish, Hmong and Punjabi. Our Sharing our Heritage project is just getting underway thanks to a grant from the Fresno Arts Council and Measure P. Also, the main floor will include a permanent exhibit of Chinese artifacts, rescued in the 1960s from our own Chinatown – there is way more to this story which people can learn once the Chinese Gallery is open. We are working together CAMP, the Chinese American Museum Project, to ensure the best possible educational (and fun) exhibit. Again, our work is being forwarded because of a Measure P grant through the Fresno Arts Council. 

How has the legacy of your great-grandfather and his photography touched your life?

Pop Laval was a legend in his own time and hopefully, our community will one day recognize the precious gift he gave us. Few communities or regions have the plethora of images of themselves that Pop created. After my dad died, I had young children and it was an ideal time to be able to start to organize Pop’s work because I could still have my kids nearby and, as I was raised at the knee of my dad, who put together the As Pop Saw It series of books in the 1970s, my youngsters were able to watch as we opened a Gallery with Pop’s work to help raise the funds needed to digitize the thousands of negatives and images that remain in the Collection. Thanks to several amazing volunteers, we have scanned at a very high resolution close to 30,000 of Pop’s images over the past 21 years. We are not done but that endeavor continues. 

What was your very first job and what did you learn from it?

My first paying job was working for the irreplaceable Joe Levy at Gottschalks during high school. How many people did that incredible man set on a pathway to successful futures? He is sincerely missed.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Hmmm, this could be the most difficult question. Actually, I still study Japanese daily since my daughter-in-law is from Japan and any future grandbabies will enjoy talking to me in the languages of their dad (otoo-san) and mother (okaa-san). Helps with the in-laws too. I also am still responsible for quite a menagerie of my daughter’s many pets, including one piggy, named Wilbur. Motherhood is a lifelong career for sure.

Photo Credit Above: Photo by Pop Laval | On Sept. 9, 1917, Valley residents gathered to honor those destined to serve on the battlefields of Europe in the final years of WW I.

Now that’s interesting!

San Joaquin Valley Town Hall

Daytime Speakers Series

On November 20, 2024 at 10:30AM at Saroyan Theater Nate, Humanitarian and Former CEO

of World Central Kitchen, will present his lecture:

“Turning Ideas Into Impact”

Don’t miss this enlightening session with Nate Mook, a dynamic leader and visionary entrepreneur, known for turning ideas into real-world impact. Nate collaborated closely with Chef José Andrés, providing meals to disaster-stricken communities and revolutionizing food resilience. With his blend of tech-savvy, filmmaking, and nonprofit expertise, Nate crafts compelling narratives that ignite action and unite communities. Come hear him speak and discover how YOU can change the world.

Tickets are available HERE.