Viewing the Treasures of California’s State Archives

October celebrates California’s State Archives. As part of the celebration, reporters were allowed into areas of the archives closed to the public, including a vault containing the most significant treasures.

Among the treasures are English copies of California’s 1849 constitution and its 1879 constitution which was signficantly revised after a constitutional convention that concluded the same year. There are also Spanish copies since Spanish was one of California’s official languages during its first 40 years of statehood.

On the signatory page below, John Sutter’s flourished signature is in the upper right. that of M. G. Vallejo is in the lower right.

Below the 1879 constitution are some of the other items in the vault. The file boxes are a fraction of those lining the vault’s back wall containing tapes, transcripts and other evidence from the investigation into Robert Kennedy’s assassination. The gun that killed him is also located somewhere in the vault.