H26.1471B

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Placer Gold
1942
California
Museum Purchase
H26.1471B






Photographs, 1 set, "Placer Gold". Progressive study prints. (1-20) (Joellen Lippett, 3/4/97) The label on the back of the photo states: "The first tool used by the placer miners was the gold pan. The miners searched or prospected for gold along the river beds, scooping up gravel in likely places to wash out in the pan. Because they had to dig the mixture of gold and gravel before washing it, they called the mines "the diggings." During the early gold rush days the rivers were considered the most likely places to find gold."

Picture This Information

This artifact is part of the OMCA's Picture This website. More about the context and history of this artifact is available at Picture This.

About the Picture This web project: California's Perspectives on American History is a resource for teachers and students to learn about the experiences of diverse peoples of California by using primary source images from the Oakland Museum of California's collections. Organized into 11 time periods spanning from pre-1769 to the present, more than 300 photographs, drawings, posters, and prints tell stories from the perspectives of different ethnic groups. Historical contexts are provided to offer a framework of California's role in relation to American history.

The National Archives state that primary sources, "fascinate students because they are real and they are personal: history is humanized through them." Picture This invites students to examine the historical record, encouraging them to connect history with real people and explore how images tell stories and convey historical evidence about the human experience. History becomes more than just a series of facts, dates, and events.      

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