Exhibitions: History

CERA exhibitions represent a variety disciplines including art, history, nature, and photography. Browse the exhibition categories listed to the left to see the full array of CERA exhibitions available. Current CERA history exhibitions include the following:

Past Tents: The Way We Camped
This exhibition explores camping in California from post-Gold Rush to the mid-1900s.

Hobos to Street People: Artists Response to Homelessness from the New Deal to Present
The exhibition compares artistic interpretations of homelessness created during the 1930s to today with an emphasis on California.

Bear in Mind - ask for Grizzly Break Lining

Bear in Mind: The Story of the California Grizzly
This compelling exhibition tells the story of one of California's most beloved and feared animals - the grizzly bear over the centuries is one of dualities, expressed in fear and fascination.

What's Going On? - California and the Vietnam Era
“What's Going On?” focuses on events in California from the 1950s Cold War era to the present, with emphasis on the tumultuous years from the Vietnam conflict's escalation in 1965 through its end in 1975. The exhibition features historical artifacts, photographs, and documents interwoven with oral histories contributed by veterans, activists, and former refugees.

Aurelius O. Carpenter: Photographer of the Mendocino Frontier

This is the first comprehensive exhibition on Aurelius Ormando Carpenter (1836 - 1919), one of the early and most talented photographers to set up shop in Mendocino County. A. O. Carpenter gives a representative documentation of period photography and early Northern California history.

Hunkpapa Sioux Indian boys, Fort Yates, North Dakota. Photo by Greg MacGregor.

Lewis and Clark Revisited: A Trail in Modern Day

Following in the footsteps of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they searched for the Northwest Passage, contemporary photographer Greg MacGregor traces the historic 19 th century journey west to see the route as it exists today. The exhibition pairs MacGregor's photographs with journal entries from the Lewis and Clark dairies, showing the transformation of the land and its people.

Hydraulic Mining, North Bloomfield, Nevada Co., California, ca. 1870. Albumen print by Carleton E. Watkins. Collection of the California State Library.

Gold Fever! Untold Stories of the California Gold Rush
This exhibition presents California before the fateful discovery of gold in the American River through the frenzied rush to the gold fields overland and by sea.

Multiply by Six Million: Portraits and Stories of California Holocaust Survivors

This exhibit presents a visually arresting and powerful first-person history of one of the defining events of the 20th century through portraits and personal stories of Holocaust survivors.

Pave It and Paint It Green, Yosemite National Park, mid-1960s. Photograph by Rondal Partridge.

From the Byways to the Highways: Rondal Partridge Photographs California 1936 – 1969
Rondal Partridge's unique combination of photographic skills – learned from his mother, Imogen Cunningham; mentors; and colleagues – and a keen, personal vision, enabled him to successfully capture three decades of tumultuous change in California.

Sing Me Your Story, Dance Me Home: Art and Poetry from Native California
In this multimedia exhibition, California Indian stories, songs, and dances take form in poetry, paintings, baskets, photographs, and sculpture.