California State Archives Artifact Storage Room

On the first floor of the California State Archives, the Artifact Storage Room holds all sorts of various sized treasures from throughout California history. These artifacts, or three-dimensional objects, make up just a small percentage of the Archives' collections, but they are often the most unique items. This desk was Governor Earl Warren's. It was used in the 1940s and early 1950s for ceremonial bill signings. More recently, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger liked to borrow this desk from the Archives for his bill signing ceremonies. These items came from the Preston School of Industry, an institution for juvenile male offenders from 1889 to 2011. The school had a military training program and vocational programs for construction, agriculture, and cooking. The California State Archives is a division of the California Secretary of State's Office, so one of our collecting areas is artifacts and ephemera related to elections and voting. This voting machine is from Sutter County, circa 1960. This mid-century voting machine was last used in the 1988 presidential election. Gifts to the state's elected officials are often housed at the State Archives. In 1968, Pine Isefeller donated this beaded replica of the Great Seal of the State of California. She used over 87,000 beads, and for many years it hung in the office of former Secretary of State March Fong Yu. From 1976 to 1982, the Capitol Restoration Project served to shore up the foundation to the California State Capitol. The State Archives is the official repository of the project's artifacts, which show the original fine craftsmanship from 1860 and also include many architectural elements and on-site finds, such as old bottles, pottery shards, and more. To find more about what we store or to view a collection at the California State Archives, visit our website at www.sos.ca.gov slash archives.